EASTBOURNE, England -- Johanna Konta has been given one of her Wimbledon wishes after the All England Club confirmed she would be offered a place in the lady members' locker room at The Championships.
The British No.1 has repeatedly insisted she takes little notice of ratings or rankings but, at the Aegon International this week, has twice mentioned eligibility for the far more luxurious changing area, which is only open to the top 16 seeds and former champions.
When the seedings were announced, Konta said: "No. 17? Almost upstairs. Almost made it upstairs."
The withdrawal of Victoria Azarenka through injury on Thursday meant Konta was elevated to 16th seed and will have the chance to mix with Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Garbine Muguruza. A spokesman for Wimbledon said: "Johanna will be offered a place in the lady members' dressing room."
Speaking after her semifinal defeat by Karolina Pliskova in Eastbourne on Friday, Konta admitted she was looking forward to the special treatment next week.
"I felt like I had been upgraded, like at an airline," she said. "It's pretty much business class. You don't have to walk all the way to the back of the plane."
However, Jo Durie, a member of the All England Club and the last British woman to make it into the top tier of rankings, warned her compatriot there are downsides that come with the luxuries.
"I know from my playing days that it can be a bit frosty in there to start with," said Durie, who had a career high ranking of 5. "Everyone tries to psych everyone else out all the time. It's just part of the locker room. You have to stand up for yourself a bit.
"You have to tell yourself that you deserve to be there, hold your head high and hold your own. Locker room pressure can be quite severe at time but Jo deserves it and I think the others will have enough respect for her."
Wimbledon has two main locker-room areas for the professionals during the tournament fortnight, divided between the men and women.
The women's members' area is said to include make-up tables, beauty products, a room with couches to relax on, physio room and staff to supply food and drink, and to draw baths for the players.
Players outside the top 16 get less space and fewer luxuries. Durie said players used to call it the 'dungeon'.
"There are about seven cubicles in the members' locker room with padded benches where you can go and shut the saloon-style doors," Durie said.
"It depends who bags them, but I know Serena has because when I was playing in the 'oldies' one seemed empty and then Venus came around to say I couldn't go in there because it was Serena's.
"The other dressing room is down two flights of stairs and is very big with loads of lockers. It's more friendly because you all muck in together.
"Then you have 'the dungeon vs. the top dressing-room' and whenever someone from downstairs is doing well against a seed, everyone is watching the TV and cheering the lower-ranked player on."
Konta faces Puerto Rico's Monica Puig in the first round at Wimbledon in what promises to be a close encounter, given both women made the last four in Eastbourne.
The two have met just once before -- a victory for Konta in the round at 16 at last year's Nottingham Open -- and the Briton admitted she had limited information about her opponent.
"She's been playing well and made the semis here," Konta said at Eastbourne."It will be a tough match, but we played I think once previously last year on the grass and it was a close match then. I'll expect nothing other than it being tough.
"I guess I'm healthy, so my prospect [at Wimbledon] is that I'm going to be playing, which I'm most looking forward to. I'm playing a very good player in the first round who has done well on the grass these weeks and this year has played some very good tennis."