Ashleigh Barty unperturbed by Channel Seven treatment

Ashleigh Barty wasn’t too perturbed Channel Seven opted to broadcast the Kyrgios-Thompson match over hers.

Ashleigh Barty celebrates beating China's Zheng Saisai last night. Picture: AFP

Ashleigh Barty wasn’t too perturbed that Channel Seven preferred to broadcast the match between Australians Nick Kyrgios and Jordan Thompson over her first appearance at Wimbledon as the world number one.

Barty, 23, whipped through her first-round match on court one, dispensing of China’s Zheng Saisai in straight sets, while the two Australian men were engaged in a fiercely contested five setter on court three at the same time.

When Barty was asked if the Australian broadcasters should work out a way to make sure everyone gets a fair run, particularly in women’s tennis, Barty replied: “How do you want me to answer that one? If people can watch my matches, great. If they can’t, they can’t. That’s up to the broadcasters, not me.”

But the viewing public was not as pragmatic, complaining on social media about Channel Seven being sexist in only going to the Barty match in cutaways and not focusing enough on her play.

Cameron Bell tweeted: “Day 2 of Wimbledon and Channel 7 have stuffed it already. Thank goodness I have Fox Sports and was able to watch the world No.1 Ash Barty win the first set. Good luck to the Ch 7 PR people explaining dud call to stick with Kyrgios.”

Day 2 of Wimbledon and Channel 7 have stuffed it already. Thank goodness I have Fox Sports and was able to watch the world No.1 Ash Barty win the first set. Good luck to the Ch 7 PR people explaining dud call to stick with Kyrgios.

— Cameron Bell (@CameronBell) July 2, 2019

One viewer called Haylee tweeted that Channel Seven was disrespecting Barty. “Sad that Channel 7 (7two) would rather put Clown Kyrgios on the telly instead of Ash,” she said.

Some viewers supported Seven’s decision to show the two lower-ranked Australian men, pointing out that they may not progress too far in The Championships and that of the two matches, the explosive nature of Kyrgios and also Thompson’s occasional sprays made for a more entertaining game.

One fan tweeted: “There’ll be plenty of time to catch up with Barty later in the tournament, whereas Kyrgios will be playing Nintendo by then.”

Under the TV rights deal Seven has the first two picks of matches each day, and Fox Sports has the next three. It is believed Seven allowed Fox to take the Barty match so it could be seen in its entirety while Seven regularly cut between Barty and Kyrgios.

Kyrgios said he was one of Barty’s biggest supporters. ‘’I don’t have much to do with that (broadcast decision),’’ he said.

“But obviously, I mean, Ash, what she’s doing on the tennis court now is pretty special. I actually told a lot of people that I thought she was going to win Wimbledon as well.

I mean, I thought they probably would show both.’’

Meanwhile Channel Nine may be salivating a romance between one of its Married at First Sight stars Jessika Power and Bernard Tomic.

Tomic lost his first round match to Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in just 58 minutes, one of the quicker ever Wimbledon losses of the men’s game and he buried his head in his hand when asked about the MAFS star afterwards abruptly saying to reporters, “next question’’.

Tomic is being investigated by Championship officials and may be fined if they determine he didn’t try in the match despite picking up a loser’s cheque for £45,000. Last week Power revealed she was in touch with Tomic, telling Triple M “Bernie is currently away, he is playing.

“I was supposed to go and meet him somewhere where he was playing, but I have got priorities here. We are going to catch up when he is back in Australia; back on the Goldie.”