Barty has eyes on a home party
Ash Barty faces the double burden of being world No 1 and the focus of an expectant host nation as she seeks to win the Australian Open amid challenges from record-chasing Serena Williams and a host of other Grand Slam winners.
The 23-year-old Queenslander Barty spectacularly climbed to the top of the women’s rankings in 2019 and will start her Melbourne Park campaign next week having won her maiden Grand Slam at the French Open and the WTA Finals in Shenzhen.
Her successes saw her become the first Australian woman since Evonne Goolagong-Cawley to gain the world number one accolade and also raised hopes that she could end the country’s 42-year wait for a home winner in Melbourne.
She will be the cynosure of the sports-loving nation and the local media when the year’s first Grand Slam kicks off on Monday but going by what happened in the recent past, handling the pressure could prove arduous for Barty.
In November, leading Australia’s charge to win the Fed Cup against France in Perth, she suffered an upset loss to Kristina Mladenovic which ended her team’s hopes of winning the trophy for the first time in 45 years.
Yet Barty, who regained her No 1 spot in September after holding it for seven weeks following her Roland Garros triumph, says she is ready for the next daunting chapter.
“Having a number next to your name doesn’t guarantee anything. It doesn’t guarantee wins. You still have to go out there, do the work — put all those kind of runs on the board, I suppose — and work from there,” the former cricketer said. “All you can do is try to do your best every single match.”
Having a number next to your name doesn’t guarantee anything... You still have to go out there, do the work
Japan’s Naomi Osaka knows all about the struggles of coping with the pressure of being world No 1 but she will defend her crown having rediscovered her confidence.
Osaka started 2019 by lifting her second straight Grand Slam title in Melbourne following her success at the 2018 US Open but subsequently suffered early exits at the French Open and Wimbledon.
Yet Osaka regained some end-of-season form with the Pan Pacific Open and China Open titles and, after having dropped to No 4, is back to third in the world behind Karolina Pliskova.
Williams, who has for years thrived under the pressure of expectation that faces Barty, has won seven of her 23 Grand Slam singles in Melbourne but faces a different test in the twilight of her illustrious career.
She was eight weeks pregnant when winning in Melbourne in 2017 but similar success in Slams has proved elusive since she returned to the circuit as the mother of baby Olympia. — Reuters