Johanna Konta insisted she is not far away from being able to win a grand slam title despite falling short against Venus Williams in her first Wimbledon semi-final.

After raising hopes she could become the first British woman to triumph at SW19 since Virginia Wade in 1977, Konta produced a disappointing performance against her 37-year-old American opponent, who rolled back the years to win 6-4, 6-2 in 73 minutes on Centre Court and set up a final with Spain’s Garbiñe Muguruza. Yet the British No1 preferred to stay positive afterwards, saying that the level of her tennis over the past fortnight proves she is on the right track.

“I’m very happy with how I was physically and mentally able to hold up this past grass-court season,” Konta said. “I did play every week. I stayed healthy and I stayed mentally quite fresh.

“That only strengthens my belief that, if I’m ever in a position to be involved in a slam for the full fortnight, I will be able to keep myself in that mental and physical state to be able to deal with hopefully one day playing for a title.

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“I would like to be sitting here enjoying the fact that I would be playing here on Saturday. That is my preference. But I think I’ve also got to acknowledge the level of how my opponent played today. She was just better than me. I need to take the good things that I did but I’m also very aware of the things I can do better. I’m more than anything looking forward to working on those.”

The 26-year-old agreed the five-times Wimbledon champion possessed too much experience. “Definitely. This was my second grand slam semi-final. It was her 202nd, I bet, so she definitely came into the match with a lot more experience than I did. I think I was in with just as much of a shot of winning this tournament here. I think today it came down to the day and Venus played better than me. That’s really all I can say.”

There was no reason for Konta to be too downhearted, however, bearing in mind that her run to the last four will catapult the world No7 into the top five when the new rankings are released on Monday. “I think I definitely have a lot more to improve on. There’s a lot of exciting things that I can still get better at, which is exciting for me and exciting for my team, and my own development. But I definitely feel like there’s no reason why I would not be able to be in a position to win a title like this one day.”

Williams, who had not reached the final since 2009, praised Konta’s efforts. “She played an amazing tournament,” the 10th seed said. “She showed a lot of courage, played in tough situations against players who were in form. I feel like she wants these majors; she’ll have an opportunity.”

But not on Saturday. Williams will be the slight favourite against Muguruza, who destroyed Magdalena Rybarikova in the first semi-final. Muguruza, the 14th seed, lost against Serena Williams in the 2015 final, and Venus will ask her younger sister for some pointers. “I’m sure she’s going to give me some things that will make a difference for me in the match,” she said.