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.
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