Ash Barty’s rise to no.1 catches Serena Williams off-guard

Serena Williams fires backhanded compliment at world no.1, patronising her as “the sweetest, cutest girl on tour”.

Ash Barty's elevation to the world no.1 ranking has apparently taken Serena Williams by surprise.

One of Ash Barty’s chief rivals for the Wimbledon crown, Serena Williams, has fired a backhanded compliment at the world number one, patronising her as “the sweetest, cutest girl on tour”.

At a pre-Wimbledon press conference yesterday, Williams said she had not known that the Australian 23-year-old was the world number one before then insisting: “I’m happy for her” and noting that she has had a good year.

Serena Williams speaks during a press conference ahead of Wimbledon. Picture: AP

Williams began by being disinterested about the succession of women who had taken the number one spot since she relinquished the position two years ago. She is ranked no.11 heading into Wimbledon.

But when told it was Barty at the top, Williams’ attention was piqued and she said: “Wow, that’s great. I think Ash — I don’t know anyone that has anything negative to say about her. She’s like the sweetest, cutest girl on tour. She’s so nice.”

Williams then turned to Barty’s all-round game, commenting that: “She has the most beautiful game, such classic shots. I mean, she does everything right. Her technique is, like, flawless.”

She then added: “Obviously I’m happy for her. Yeah, it’s good. It’s good for her. She’s really even-tempered. She’s just really chill. I feel like she’s just so relaxed in a way.

“She’s had a solid year, as well. It’s not just the French Open. I believe she won Miami. She’s had a really good year.”

Barty said her opponents had been “pretty cruisy” about her elevation to the number one world ranking but said the attention was just external noise.

“I haven’t seen too many of the girls. We’ve all been in our own little worlds practising and preparing,” she said.

“I’ve had a nice reception from a lot of the players. It’s nice to get that respect and acknowledgment from your peers. Knowing in a couple days’ time that’s all pushed aside and we’ll go play hard.”

Ash Barty gets in a practice session at Wimbledon. Picture: Getty Images

Barty could face Williams in the quarterfinals if both get through to the second week of the tournament.

Meanwhile, Andy Murray was lauding Barty’s natural athleticism.

He said: “She has great hand skills, moves well, reads the game extremely well. She’s got all the attributes obviously to be a good doubles player. Also she’s brilliant at singles, too, obviously. Her results this year have been excellent.”

He tipped further improvement: “Yeah, she’ll continue to get better.”

Barty said there had been much more attention directed towards her in the lead-up to Wimbledon this year, but vowed to keep to her routines: analysing her opponents the night before a match and having a morning coffee on the day of the game to prepare.

She said: “There’s more attention, there’s more of that outside noise. From what we’re trying to do on the court, it hasn’t changed much. We’ll just keep trying to grow and be better every single day.”