Newcombe: Don’t burden Barty with pressure

AUSTRALIAN tennis great John Newcombe has moved to temper expectations on Ash Barty despite earmarking the young prodigy as a potential world No.1.

Gushing in his praise of the 21-year-old, Newcombe says Barty has the game to challenge for grand slam titles on any surface, but is cautioning against burdening her with too much pressure.

Barty enters the summer as Australia’s top-ranked player after a meteoric rise from 272nd to a career-best No.17 in 2017.

The Queenslander will be eighth seed at the seasonopening Brisbane International starting on Sunday.

“I love watching her game. I thought she had an all-court game when I first saw her at junior Wimbledon and that’s sort of developed but more than I thought it would,” Newcombe said.

“I thought she needed to get perhaps a little bit quicker around the court and stuff like that, and get a bit more selfconfidence in herself.

“She went away from the sport and came back with no expectations and it’s just developed for her.

“She’s only touching the edges of how good she could be. She has the all-court game and as she adds the other things that are necessary, she could become No.1.”

But that won’t happen overnight, according to Newcombe, a seven-times grand slam winner and the first Australian to hold down the official world No.1 ranking.

“All the little components need to be improved on, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” he said. “When people get ahead of themselves, it puts pressure on the athlete.”

Barty is embracing her time in the spotlight, but reminded fans that the third round was as far as she had ever ventured at any of the four majors, achieving the feat in Melbourne and New York.

“We all know the very famous saying in tennis that pressure’s a privilege,” she said.

“That’s something I will carry into the summer and I’m very excited. I can’t wait for it to start.”

SHE’S ONLY TOUCHING THE EDGES OF HOW GOOD SHE COULD BE ... SHE HAS THE ALL-COURT GAME JOHN NEWCOMBE ON ASH BARTY