The weather was fair, rather than baking hot, at the All England Club on the last Saturday before the 2021 Championships, but Johanna Konta was a ray of beaming sunshine as she chatted about the pleasures of returning to Wimbledon after last year’s enforced hiatus, and her life in general right now.

“It’s nice to be back here, isn’t it?” she smiled happily, before so much as a question had come her way. Then, catching sight of herself in the Zoom-o-sphere, she added: “I can see myself on the camera! I’m not sunburnt – I don’t know why I look so red! I used my SPF50.”

Actually, the newly-engaged No.27 seed simply looked glowing, determined to see the tests of life in the tennis bubble as comparatively unimportant.

“Bubble life is very odd,” she said. “It’s odd to drive past my home every day on the way to Wimbledon. But it’s a small price to pay to be able to be back again here. The set up is quite similar to the US Open. It kind of feels like an all-inclusive cruise. I’ve never been on a cruise, but it’s how I imagine an all-inclusive cruise to be.”

Could be worse, then – and it seems her difficulties with her right knee currently fall into much the same bracket. The tendon problem first presented itself two years ago, at which time Konta thought it would eventually pass. But time has proved the opposite. It is most definitely chronic, and she has previously discussed how grass courts are “not too kind” to it, with the required knee flexion “actually quite painful”.

It is a problem which is not going to obligingly disappear, and must instead be carefully managed. So after her glory at Nottingham earlier this month, where she became the first British woman to lift a trophy on home soil since Sue Barker in 1981, she withdrew from Birmingham as a precaution, subsequently following suit for her hometown tournament in Eastbourne.

“I feel pretty good,” said Konta brightly. “I was able to kind of offload it, and then build it back up. The pain has stayed quite low and the management of it is going well. I’m playing normally, so I’m looking forward to competing here.”

Speaking of which, her first opponent will be Katerina Siniakova. The Czech may be a doubles specialist – she includes the 2018 Wimbledon title among her three Grand Slam crowns with Barbora Krejcikova – but her singles scalps include Naomi Osaka at Roland-Garros two years ago, when the Japanese was world No.1 and winner of the two most recent Slams. Moreover, Siniakova comes into Wimbledon in good form on the green stuff, finishing runner-up in Bad Homburg just an hour or so before Konta was speaking.

“She’s a very good player and has been around for years and years,” said Konta – although at 30, she is five years Siniakova’s senior. “She’s very competent on this surface. It will be a great opportunity for me to play someone who’s in good form, on one of the biggest stages in the world.”

It’s four years since Konta’s ranking peaked at No.4 after she reached the semi-finals here. Before Nottingham this month, she had won only three of 10 matches in 2021, unable to put together back-to-back wins since Cincinnati last August. That professional form was something of a contrast with her “very happy home life” with fiancé Jackson Wade, and she is full of gratitude for it.

“I’ve got used to saying ‘fiancée’ but I haven’t really said ‘wife’ yet,” she smiled. “Although, when I was trying on my engagement ring, I tried on a wedding band as well. And we were both like, ‘whoa, wedding band’. Oh my God, that’s what comes next.”

It’s a feeling that many will recognise, just as they would recognise her take on the global events of the past year. “Everyone, everywhere has been affected,” she said, suddenly serious. “A lot of people have lost their lives, lost their jobs, seen very difficult times. Everyone is just trying to do their best to pull through and start continuing their lives.

“To have Wimbledon back is a bit of a boost. It’s just such a big part of our sporting summer. It shows a bit of normality coming back. Just to have it back for sports fans and tennis fans is really good. It’s great.”