JOHANNA Konta has appointed Michael Joyce as her new coach.

The British No 1 has been looking for a replacement for Wim Fissette since they parted company in October and has turned to the 44-year-old, who used to coach Maria Sharapova.

Joyce will be in Konta’s camp for the first tournament of the new season in Brisbane, starting on January 1.

“Michael is a fantastic coach with a great pedigree and I’m really excited to work with him,” she announced yesterday.

“2017 has been amazing but I feel like there is so much more to come.

“Our first tournament together will be the Brisbane International and the plan is for Michael to travel with me full-time through 2018.”

Konta ended her partnership with Fissette after a disappointing end to what had been an impressive 2017. She won her biggest singles title of her career in Miami and followed that up with a run to the Wimbledon semi-final.

But that proved the high point of her campaign and a poor run of form in the autumn saw her part ways with Fissette in October.

After a lengthy recruitment process she has now appointed Joyce, who worked with Sharapova for seven years and helped the Russian to two grand slam titles.

The American, whose highest rank as a player was 64 in 1996, has most recently worked with former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka.

Konta has retained Gill Myburgh as her strength and conditioning coach, Milly Mirkovic as her physio and Elena Sosa as her mental coach.