Ash Barty reveals ‘strangest feeling of my life’ after Wimbledon win and why she struggled in Tokyo

‘It was probably the strangest feeling of my life.’ Ash Barty reveals how her second grand slam title at the All-England Club came at a significant mental and emotional cost.

MASON, OHIO - AUGUST 22: Ashleigh Barty of Australia holds the championship trophy after defeating Jil Teichmann of Switzerland during the women's singles finals of the Western & Southern Open at Lindner Family Tennis Center on August 22, 2021 in Mason, Ohio. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Ash Barty has revealed she felt lost after winning her second Grand Slam title at Wimbledon.

The world No.1 has continued her brilliant season with a dominant victory in the final of the Cincinnati Masters to claim her fifth title of the year.

Barty demolished Switzerland‘s Jil Teichmann 6-3 6-1 to become the first Australian to win the tournament since her idol Evonne Goolagong Cawley did 48 years ago in 1973.

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Ash Barty is back in great form leading into the US Open.

Afterwards the Aussie superstar admitted she had been struggling with mental fatigue since her Wimbledon triumph, which explained her disappointing performance at the Tokyo Olympics.

Barty suffered a shock loss to Spain‘s Sara Sorribes Tormo in the first round at the Tokyo Olympics. She later won a bronze medal in the mixed doubles with John Peers.

“It was probably the strangest feeling of my life in those days after winning Wimbledon,” Barty said.

”I kind of wasn‘t sure what I should be doing. I didn’t know what to do.

“It certainly took a little bit longer. I felt like I still had a lot of fatigue in Tokyo. I had a lot of fatigue the last two weeks. Even at the start of this week, I was a little bit unsure of what my tennis was going to be like, purely from a mental and emotional standpoint.

Ash Barty was knocked out in the first round in Tokyo.

“But being able to kind of scrap through practice and trust myself, knowing that, give yourself a chance to play, give yourself a chance to work into the tournament and you‘ll kind of find it. I think we’ve been able to do that this week again.”

Barty, who has been on the road for five months, said her team had worked diligently on peaking at the right time for major events, which gave her confidence ahead of next week‘s US Open in New York.

“I think there was probably a part of me that was a little bit unsure of how this year would go for a couple of reasons,” Barty told the WTA.

“One being, 7-8 eight months out of the tour last year, and two, being in a completely new adventure, a new scenario, a new feeling for me of being away from home for so long.

“We were going to have to find ways to re-energise. We were going to have to prioritise weeks. That was going to be a massive part of our year, was scheduling correctly to make sure that we felt like we could peak at the right times.

Winning Wimbledon took a lot out of Barty.

“Whether we actually got the result is irrelevant. But actually to understand me as a human, before the athlete, and making sure that I was fresh for the big moments.

“I‘ve played a lot of tennis, I’ve played a lot of matches, and there haven’t been too many where I’ve come off the court and been disappointed with the output, which is all that I can ask.”