NOW BRING ON THE GRASS
AUSSIE CLAY QUEEN BARTY READY TO ROLL
ASHLEIGH Barty will “wipe the slate clean” after a few days off before zeroing in on Wimbledon.
The Aussie French Open champion is determined to celebrate and rest after her breakthrough Roland Garros success, conceding she’s now the hunted rather than the hunter.
“Yeah, it’s gonna be interesting,” Barty (pictured) said of her new-found status as grand-slam winner and world No.2.
“Wimbledon is a long way away [July 1], and I have to be able to celebrate this with my team, take a few days off, and make sure I get my body and mind right, so when I come out to play my next tournament I’m ready to go.
“Obviously I love the grasscourt season. I’m excited to play over this next month in the UK. And hopefully I can bring some really good level of tennis again to potentially give myself a chance to go deep in a major again.”
Barty has a massive incentive to excel at Wimbledon, where she has always been regarded as most likely to achieve success after winning juniors there in 2011.
The Queenslander is only 136 rankings points behind Japan’s Naomi Osaka in the race for the world No.1 ranking.
The only other Australian to hold the No.1 computer mantle is Evonne Goolagong in 1976.
Barty paid tribute to her original coach Jim Joyce.
She said she would start planning for Wimbledon after a round of golf at The Belfry.
Her current coach Craig Tyzzer said Barty would not change because of major success. “No, she’ll keep her feet definitely on the ground,” he said.
“That’s one thing that Ash is so good at. She never gets ahead of herself, never gets her head too big.
“I mean, she’s got such a strong family around her and a good core group of people that we all work with.
“We’ve got no egos, we don’t worry about stuff other than Ash. She’ll be fine.
“She looks forward to the grass-court season every time she plays on clay, so I’m not sure what she’s going to expect now.
“She’s had a pretty good clay-court season.
“So it’s going to be hard to top what she’s done here.”