Johanna Konta became the first British woman in 36 years to reach the fourth round of the French Open on Friday, 31 May, and then revealed her regrets over her dog, Bono, being absent from her side in Paris.
It was the absence of Bono which was causing her distress even if she was referring to her beloved pet dog rather than the veteran frontman of Irish rockers U2!
"He needs a puppy passport, and we haven't gotten him a puppy passport yet," Konta said of her miniature dachshund.
"So he will need some vaccinations for that and those vaccinations need to set in, and so it is quite a procedure.”
There is little doubt that Konta is close to her pet dog. She even says Bono instantly recognises her voice when she appears on TV.
"I got a video of him listening to my on-court interview, and I swear he recognises my voice because you can see his little ears go up,” she said.
She also added, "Honestly, it's so adorable. He's so cute. He has his little white bib."
Konta has Grand Slam pedigree of her own having made the semi-finals of majors on two occasions, the 2016 Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2017.
Against Vekic, who is two places above her in the world rankings, she stands 3-3 in career meetings.
Konta defeated Vekic at Wimbledon in 2017, thanks to a 10-8 final set of a second round encounter which was memorably delayed due to an invasion of flying ants. However, they have never met on clay.
Not that Konta has been paying too much attention to the action unfolding at Roland Garros.
"The apartment where I'm staying has no TV so that kind of takes care of that," she explained.
(Published in an arrangement with PTI.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)