Johanna Konta will walk on to Centre Court at Wimbledon on Monday afternoon for the first time, and across the net will be the ice-cold stare of Maria Sharapova, the hands-down toughest player in women’s tennis.
That is some way for Britain’s in-form women’s player, ranked 126 in the world and a wildcard here, to announce her arrival to a TV audience of millions on the game’s most sacred court, just after Novak Djokovic begins the defence of the men’s title against Philipp Kohlschreiber.
She has lost here in the first round for the past three years but this really is the big stage.