Now to make short work of Wimbledon

ASHLEIGH Barty insists her diminutive size is not a barrier to winning Wimbledon and believes she boasts the power game needed to claim the greatest prize in tennis.

Barty ended Australia’s eight-year wait for major when she won the French Open on Saturday.

She will now head into the grass-court season in careerbest form having won 31 matches — more than any other player on the WTA Tour — this year.

The new world No.2 was too hot to handle for Marketa Vondrousova in the Roland Garros decider with her power belying her 166cm frame.

Barty is the shortest player in the current top 10, dwarfed by recent All England champions Karolina Pliskova (186cm), Garbine Muguruza (182cm) and Serena WIlliams (175cm).

Although current champion Angelique Kerber (172) is also not from the land of the giants, none of the past 13 winners of the Venus Rosewater Dish over 38 years was under 170cm. American great Chris Evert was the same height as Barty when she won the last of her three Wimbledon titles in 1981 against Hana Mandlikova.

But despite her lack of centimetres, the Queenslander’s record on grass is more than respectable and she considers it her favourite surface. In 2011 she won junior Wimbledon and was victorious at the Nottingham Open last year in addition to reaching the decider at the Birmingham Classic 12 months earlier.

While no Barty credits the coaching received in her formative years from junior mentor in Brisbane Jim Joyce for giving her the solid platform for success on all surfaces.