Johanna Konta arrives at Roland Garros on a high - and has perfect chance to break French Open duck

British No 1 Johanna Konta will surely never have a better chance to open her account at Roland Garros – the venue where she has suffered four straight first-round exits – than when she faces qualifier Antonia Lottner on Monday.

These women have arrived at this opening match via contrasting paths. A week ago, Konta was collecting a cheque for 262,000 euros and a runner’s-up trophy in Rome, one of the biggest tournaments on the WTA calendar. Whereas Lottner – the world No 149 from Germany – was recuperating from an injury retirement at a second-tier event in Trnava, Slovakia.

The 22-year-old Lottner must have made a strong recovery, judging by the three straight-sets victories she scored last week to qualify for the French Open. But she has never previously won a match at a major.

Neither has she faced a top-100 player since a strong run in Lugano – where she upset the dangerous Belinda Bencic – almost two months ago.

“I've played some tough opponents in the first round here,” said Konta on Saturday. “Players who've had a bit more experience on the surface in this kind of setting. But I couldn't say one specific reason why [she hasn’t won a main-draw match in Paris before].”

During the recent renovations at Roland Garros, the interview room in which Konta last year referred to the tennis media as “bastards” was demolished. Judging by yesterday’s press conference – held in the tournament’s museum – her mindset has changed almost as radically.

Twelve months ago she was clearly on edge, concluding a heartfelt answer about the pressures of her job with the words, “You guys don’t make it easy.”

But victories have a funny way of soothing the nerves. Only in the last month she has reached two clay-court finals and scored a morale-boosting victory over last year’s French Open runner-up Sloane Stephens.

“Winning matches on any surface will definitely give you a much larger element of trust in what you’re doing,” said Konta, whose recent surge has carried her back into the grand-slam seedings for the first time since last summer’s Wimbledon.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to have had good wins and great matches to back that up for myself.”