[8] This period included her best Grand Slam result up to that time, the semifinals of the 2016 Australian Open,[9] a quarterfinal appearance at the Rio Summer Olympics[10] and her maiden WTA Tour title in Stanford.

Having been granted British citizenship in May, Konta received a main-draw wildcard to Wimbledon; she faced 28th seed Christina McHale in the opening round, being beaten 10–8 in the deciding set.

[32] A $50k final appearance at Lexington in July helped to maintain momentum, and the following month Konta qualified for the US Open, bridging a gap of almost 150 places in the rankings to upset world No.

[38] However, after losing her opening match against Paula Ormaechea, Great Britain captain Judy Murray decided that Elena Baltacha would replace Konta in the Sunday reverse singles.

[40] Following Wimbledon, Konta started her build-up to the US Open by winning a $25k event in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where she defeated fellow British player Samantha Murray in the final.

[51] In May, Konta reached the final qualifying round of Roland Garros for the first time, defeating Sachia Vickery,[52] and Paula Kania,[53] before losing to Yuliya Beygelzimer.

[60] She then moved across to North America to play the Connecticut Open; she also encountered a recent opponent here as she faced top seed Peng Shuai in the second qualifying round and was eliminated.

During this period she focused instead on the ITF Circuit, winning her first-round match in each tournament she entered,[67] reaching three quarterfinals, one semifinal and the final of the event in Jackson, Mississippi (lost to Anhelina Kalinina).

[113] Konta defeated qualifier Zhang Shuai in the last-eight[114] before her run ultimately came to an end in the semifinals, where she lost to eventual champion Angelique Kerber, in straight sets.

Konta then moved to the United States to participate in the Premier Mandatory events, the highest level on the WTA Tour, at Indian Wells and Miami.

[138] She teamed up with Jamie Murray in the mixed, losing in the opening round to the eventual gold medallists (the United States pairing of Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock).

[150] Victory over Tímea Babos at the next stage set up a third-round clash with Karolína Plíšková,[151] which Konta won,[152] reversing a previous 0–5 head-to-head record against the Czech.

Victory over Keys saw Konta enter the top ten for the first time in her career, making her the first British woman since Jo Durie in 1984 to be ranked amongst the elite of the WTA.

1, Caroline Wozniacki,[179] where she hit 31 winners to six and did not face a single break point on serve,[180] and 30th seed Ekaterina Makarova to reach the quarterfinals without dropping a set.

[182] Her next action was in the Fed Cup Euro/Africa Zone Group I. Konta won her three singles matches in the round-robin pool as Britain reached a promotion play-off against Croatia.

[12] With Premier Mandatory events second only to Grand Slams in terms prestige, some commentators rated Konta's Miami triumph as the most notable title for a British women since Virginia Wade had won Wimbledon 40 years previously.

[188] Following her Miami triumph, Konta returned to Europe and joined back-up with the British Fed Cup team as they travelled to face Romania in the World Group II play-offs.

Konta had been trailing in the second set prior to the interruption, but on resumption won five successive games to overturn the deficit and win the match, which levelled the tie at one rubber each.

[199] She pulled out of the tournament on the morning of her semifinal because of a back injury she sustained in her quarterfinal match against Kerber, raising questions over her fitness for Wimbledon the following week.

[200] Konta showed no ill-effects of the injury as she faced Hsieh Su-wei in the opening round of a Grand Slam championship for the second time in a row, defeating her in straight sets.

On 18 October, Konta revealed that she and coach Wim Fissette would be parting and she would be ending her season, passing up being a reserve for the Finals or playing in the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai.

[212] For being the first woman since 1978 to reach the Wimbledon semifinal and the first to win a Premier Mandatory title, Konta was nominated for the 2017 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, placing 11th of the 12 nominees on the public's vote.

[218] On resuming WTA play, Konta was eliminated prior to the quarterfinals of her next three tournaments,[219][220][221] before failing to defend her title in Miami, losing in the fourth round to Venus Williams.

Konta and Heather Watson were brought in as late replacements to play this, and though they won the opening set against the Japanese pairing of Miyu Kato and Makoto Ninomiya, the hosts fought back to win the rubber and claim overall victory.

[227] She was looking to become the first British player to win a WTA Tour level title on home soil since Sue Barker in 1981, but was beaten in the final by Ashleigh Barty.

Following these defeats Konta split with coach Michael Joyce[233] and agreed a trial with Dimitri Zavialoff for the final event of the regular WTA season in Moscow.

[241] Following a victory for teammate Katie Boulter in the opening rubber, Konta beat Aleksandra Krunić in a dramatic match to seal Britain's progress to a World Group play-off despite collapsing off-court after the end of the second set and requiring a medical timeout.

Her next tournament was at Monterrey, where she reached the semifinals, defeating Kim Clijsters, Tatjana Maria, and Anastasia Potapova, before falling to eventual runner-up Marie Bouzková.

[277] In August 2014, when the LTA decided to close the National Tennis Centre as a base for elite players, Konta began working with Spanish coach Esteban Carril.

[278][279] A dramatic cut in her LTA funding for 2015 encouraged Konta to move her training base to Gijón in northern Spain, where Esteban Carril and José Manuel García oversaw an increasingly rapid rise up the rankings.