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Britain's Johanna Konta continues career-best run at Wimbledon

With Karolina Pliskova out, Great Britain's Johanna Konta emerged as a favorite in the women's draw.
Jon Wertheim|
Britain's Johanna Konta continues career-best run at Wimbledon
Britain's Johanna Konta continues career-best run at Wimbledon

One of the inefficiencies of sports betting markets: fans make wagers based on emotion, not reasons. Want to win a bet? Pick against the Dallas Cowboys. Why? Because the ‘Boys have the largest army of besotted fans, and the betting lines are distorted accordingly.

With KarolinaPliskova eliminated from the draw yesterday, Johanna Konta, the top British player, emerged as the favorite in the women’s draw. This seemed to be a classic case of emotions overwhelming data, British fans siding irrationally with the local favorite. Coming into the event Konta had won a grand total of one match here. In her previous match she nearly lost to Donna Vekic before prevailing 10-8 in the third set. Yet on Friday, Konta looked like, well, a favorite, looking comfortable on the grass and in front of the home crowd, beating Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-1. The sixth seed faces Caroline Garcia on Monday.

Last year, Croatia teenager Ana Konjuh held match points over Aga Radwanska, only to slip on a ball twist her ankle and lose.

The tennis fates starting paying off the debt. Konjuh took down Dominika Cibulkova 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 boldly serving out the match. She now faces Venus Williams, who won a slug-a-thon against Naomi Osaka.

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Jon Wertheim
JON WERTHEIM

Jon Wertheim is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and has been part of the full-time SI writing staff since 1997, largely focusing on the tennis beat, sports business and social issues, and enterprise journalism. In addition to his work at SI, he is a correspondent for “60 Minutes” and a commentator for The Tennis Channel. He has authored 11 books and has been honored with two Emmys, numerous writing and investigative journalism awards, and the Eugene Scott Award from the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Wertheim is a longtime member of the New York Bar Association (retired), the International Tennis Writers Association and the Writers Guild of America. He has a bachelor’s in history from Yale University and received a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He resides in New York City and Paris with his wife, who is a divorce mediator and adjunct law professor. They have two children.

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