Ash Barty defends top ranking with Miami Open victory
Ash Barty has successfully defended both her Miami Open title and also her top ranking.
Hours after joining the rarest of company with her successful defence of the Miami Open, Ash Barty was kicking back with a beer at her hotel alongside coach Craig Tyzzer.
It was well deserved. She had defended both her number one ranking and a the title she first claimed in Florida two years ago.
The pair cracked open a couple of cans of Stella Artois and bottles of Moet.
The 6-3 4-0 defeat of Bianca Andreescu in the final – ended prematurely when the Canadian injured her foot – gave Barty a winners’ cheque of nearly $400,000 which made it a worthy party.
The 24-year-old joined the Williams sisters, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario as the only women to defend the Miami championship.
Barty said she felt “privileged” and “very cool” to be in that company.
We love Miami pic.twitter.com/9nuNc8hv0p
— Craig Tyzzer (@CTyzzer) April 3, 2021
But the sunny smiles of Tyzzer and Barty do not disguise the flinty resilience the 24-year-old has displayed since her arrival in Miami last month for one of the most prestigious tournaments outside of the majors.
After a horror transit, the Australian shrugged off early rustiness to defeat three grand slam winners and three top 10 ranked rivals on the way to her tenth career title in a field featuring all the top players except for Serena Williams.
It was a rebuttal to the pundits and social media critics querying the legitimacy of the Queenslander’s hold on the number one ranking.
Barty has repeatedly stressed she does not particularly care about the number next to her name but she was aware of the criticisms and it is clear they provided a spur.
“Everyone’s entitled to their opinion. I can’t control what anyone thinks or says. I feel like we deserve to be top of the rankings. We had such a fantastic season (in 2019),” she said.
“And everyone needs to understand it’s a pandemic, it’s probably once in a lifetime thing for a lot of us to go through, so it’s a difficult situation but it doesn’t get to me … it doesn’t stress me out at all.”
The precision of the Barty serve was key to her success in Miami, particularly in the quarterfinal against Aryna Sabalenka.
It is stark in contrast to the points made by those arguing an asterisk should be applied to her ranking given she missed much of 2020.
In that period Naomi Osaka, who had an opportunity to clinch the top spot again last week, has claimed two major titles including a second Australian Open title in January.
It is indisputable that Osaka, a four-time major winner, would also be a worthy number one.
But there are at least a couple of reasons why Barty is the incumbent and the Japanese star, who is yet to win a title on a surface other than hard court, is not.
On the initial point, the Brisbane resident had nothing to do with instituting the rankings freeze put in place to protect players during the pandemic.
Nor is she the only player to benefit from a policy that ensured players did not lose rankings points if unable or unwilling to tour last year during the midst of a global health crisis.
Andreescu, the 2019 US Open champion, did not play at all in 2020 yet remained in the top 10. So, too, did Roger Federer despite his prolonged absence from the tour.
The use of the word “freeze” is also a misnomer. Barty retained the points she claimed during 2019 and the early stages of 2020.
But rivals including Osaka and Simona Halep, the world No 3, were able to improve their ranking positions, which they duly did. They also skipped opportunities to play in decisions conveniently overlooked by critics.
The rankings system is based on sustained excellence over a 12-month window or, in the pandemic-affected period, a two-season window and the Australian has ticked a lot of boxes.
She won a grand slam, the WTA season ending championships and two other significant titles in 2019 on all three surfaces.
In 2020, she won the Adelaide International and reached semi-finals at the Australian Open and in Doha in February before the circuit shut down.
Since her return to the court, she has won the Yarra Valley Classic and also the Miami Open, along with a run to the Australian Open quarterfinals, from her four events.
The right-hander, who will play in Charleston this week, has now won 13 of her last 16 outings against top 10 rivals.
She joins Williams and Andreescu as the only women in the top 10 to boast a winning record against rivals ranked in that tier.
“I know there’s been a lot of talk about the ranking but I didn’t play at all last year and I didn’t improve my points whatsoever,” she said.
“There were girls who had the chance to improve theirs.
“I feel I thoroughly deserve my spot at the top of the ranking. I never feel like I have to prove anything to anyone.”
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Barty: "I feel like I haven't earned the right to be in a list of names with those champions. They are genuine champions of our sport, legends of our sport. I feel very privileged to be mentioned in that sentence. It's very cool and something I was unaware of.â€#MiamiOpenhttps://t.co/os8IGlYfvi
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) April 3, 2021
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