AWE AT ASH RUN
Coach hails form after long break
ASH Barty has exceeded her coach’s expectations with an almost flawless run into the Australian Open quarter-finals.
Craig Tyzzer knew the world No.1 was in great shape but he can’t stop smiling about the level of play from Barty, who is on a nine-match winning streak leading into her showdown with Karolina Muchova.
The 2019 French Open champion hasn’t missed a beat after her 11-month layoff, winning the Australian Open warm-up tournament and then not dropping a set through the first week of the tournament.
“It was a bit of an unknown for missing so much tennis, not playing matches for a while,” Tyzzer said.
“To sort of come back and keep getting better and keep progressing. She’s put it together really well, probably better than I expected and I’m just happy where she’s at.”
The draw has opened up perfectly for the Australian, who if she can get past Muchova faces either unseeded American Jessica Pegula or 22nd seed Jennifer Brady in the semi-finals.
“To be where we’re at is fantastic, to keep playing in a grand slam, it’s always difficult to win matches,” Tyzzer
said. “You’ve got to be there on the day, win seven matches to get there. She knows how tough it is to do. She’s done it once before.
“She’s preparing the best she can. She’s getting ready every day, doing all the right things. The best part is when she’s going out, she’s really competing really well.
“I just hope that keeps going. I know if she goes out and does her best, her best is often good enough.”
Tyzzer explained how he’d been able to guide Brisbane-based Barty’s preparation last year despite them being in different states — he was stuck in Melbourne because of COVID-19 restrictions.
“Once we thought we were getting closer to playing, I was able to actually watch her sessions from Melbourne through the camera set-up they have in Brisbane,” he said. “I could hear what was going on and everything. I just had to ring her on the phone if there was anything I wanted her to do, work on anything, I could contact her during those sessions and say ‘work on this, try this’.
“We had an early preseason. We started in October and it’s gone for a while. It’s probably the longest preseason we’ve ever had.”
The match-up with 25th seed Muchova is an intriguing one as it’s almost two-and-a-half years since their only meeting, in the third round of the 2018 US Open. Barty prevailed 6-3 6-4, but came away impressed by the little-known Czech who was ranked 200.
“She’s (Muchova) supertalented, she’s a great athlete, she’s got all the shots, an attacking player, likes to come forward and I actually like the way she plays tennis,” Tyzzer said.
“I know Ash is looking forward to it. She enjoyed that match (at the US Open), too. It was a really high-quality tennis match.
“It’s a great test because she is such a quality player, obviously improved out of sight from back then to where she is now. I think it will be a great contest.”