Ash’s timely advice
TENNIS great John Newcombe has moved to temper expectations on Ashleigh Barty despite earmarking the young prodigy as a potential world No.1.
Gushing in his praise of the 21-year-old, Newcombe believes Barty has all thecourt 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 – woman or man – after a meteoric rise from 272nd to a career-best No.17 in 2017. The Queenslander will be eighth seed at the season-opening 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 self-confidence in herself.
“She went away from the sport and came back with no expectations and it’s just developed for her. Watching her play, 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 ever hold down the official 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.
“My advice would be put all the pieces together that need to be put together to strengthen anything that’s a weakness.
“It could take another two years or it could happen quicker, but don’t think it’s going to happen immediately.
“It could require a tremendous amount of hard work, but the potential is there.”
Barty is embracing her time in the spotlight, but reminded fans that the third round is as far as she’s ever ventured at any major.