Barty fired up for Wimbledon

ASHLEIGH Barty has the weaponry and versatility to span grand-slam tennis’s greatest divide — the gap between the French Open clay and Wimbledon grass.

Australian strategy analyst Craig O’Shannessy, who works for Novak Djokovic and the ATP Tour, has crunched Barty’s numbers from the 6-1, 6-3 win at Roland Garros and believes the Queenslander can repeat at Wimbledon.

“The numbers behind Ash Barty’s successful Roland Garros campaign bode very well for the upcoming grass-court season,” O’Shannessy said.

“Barty didn’t grind on the clay. She forged her biggest statistical advantage over opponents at the beginning of the point, which is exactly what she will be looking to replicate at Wimbledon.”

O’Shannessy pointed to statistics which showed how successful Barty was by keeping points short.

“Barty created her biggest advantage in the 0-4 shot-rally length over opponents — in a segment of the rally where she only hit the ball a maximum of two times,” he said. “This is a perfect primer for Wimbledon. Barty seized the title in Paris by playing a very aggressive game style.

“Right around two points out of every three she played were a maximum of just two shots. This is the ideal game style to achieve Wimbledon glory as well.”

O’Shannessy said Barty used an “an extremely forehand-dominated strategy at Roland Garros, hitting 93 forehand winners and just 15 backhand winners”.

“The goal of the backhand, especially the slice, was to frustrate opponents and make them over-hit,” he said.

“The backhand is all about giving them [opponents] nothing and making them lose their minds. The role of her forehand was to finish points out wide with depth, power and spin.”

O’Shannessy said Barty’s balance of net and baseline points was “an ideal mix that she will look to replicate on the lush green grass courts at SW19”.

“Barty hit the most aces at Roland Garros this year with 38, while only committing 15 double faults,” he said. “As a comparison, finalist Marketa Vondrousova hit just nine aces for the tournament while double faulting 25 times.

“Barty’s big serve is going to be a huge asset at Wimbledon in a few weeks. She’s going to be a factor at Wimbledon.”