Barty embraces Open soap opera

Ash Barty is not intimidated by either her opponents or sense of occasion as she begins her Australian Open campaign.

Ash Barty of Australia has played a virtual grand slam over the past fortnight. Picture: Getty Images

Tennis. ... cricket ... back to tennis.

It was in her blood and bones.

“I think it’s what I was born to do,” Ash Barty told The Australian ahead of tonight’s first-round clash against Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum at Melbourne Park. “I’m a tennis player through and through. I just had to see that for myself. I walked away and thoroughly enjoyed my time in cricket. It was a gradual progression for me, during those two years, to want to come back to the sport I had played and loved since I was five years old.”

The Australian Open begins today. A good sort from Ipswich could hardly walk into a bigger soap opera if she flew to LAX, took a taxi to the Fairfax District, strode into the shoebox-shaped CBS Television City on Beverly Boulevard, whacked on some makeup and lippy, nailed an audition like she nailed Simona Halep in Sydney last week and received a supporting actress’s role in The Young And The Restless. She could hardly be surrounded by more divas if she went to New York City, caught the JFK Air Train to Times Square, alighted at 42nd Street, hustled through the madding crowd, found Broadway’s sprawling theatre district and hung out with Bette Midler and the rest of the cast of Hello, Dolly!

Point being, dramatic subplots are the fine print to the women’s Open. We’ll get to them in a sec. The young. The restless. The old. The cranky. But in the thick of the superglam slam is an unassuming type exuding the calmness of someone sipping a crisp white at the end of a hot summer’s day.

Australian Open

Women to Watch

Simona Halep (ROM)

The world No.1 endured an injury-marred end to 2018 and has also lost her Aussie super-coach Darren Cahill, but can’t be dismissed as a title threat is she navigates her way through the first week.

Australian Open

Women to Watch

Angelique Kerber (GER)

The revitalised former champion returns as a serious challenger once again after crowning her comeback from a disappointing 2017 season with a memorable Wimbledon final triumph over Serena Williams.

Australian Open

Women to Watch

Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)

The Great Dane arrives in the best headspace of her tumultuous career, having finally shed her tag as the best player without a major last year in Melbourne.

Australian Open

Women to Watch

Naomi Osaka (JPN)

The Japanese superstar is bidding to become the first woman to claim back-to-back majors in more than three years after stunning Serena Williams in their controversial New York final last September.

Australian Open

Women to Watch

Elina Svitolina (UKR)

The former world junior champion has entrenched her place among the elite with 10 titles in the past two years but has yet to excel on the grand slam stage, making only three quarter-finals.

Australian Open

Women to Watch

Serena Williams (USA)

The American superstar remains desperate to match Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 grand slam singles crowns after falling in the final at the past two majors.

Australian Open

Women to Watch

Aryna Sabalenka (BLR)

Best outsider

The young Belarusian Fed Cup star boasts eight top-10 scalps in the past six months, including Wozniacki’s, and soared from outside the top 70 at the end of 2017.

Australian Open

Women to Watch

Ashleigh Barty (AUS)

Australian hope

Enjoyed another breakout season in 2018, consolidating her place in the top 20 with titles in Nottingham and Zhuhai and a first-time charge to a grand slam second week in New York before opening the new year in blazing form.

Australian Open

Women to Watch

Daria Gavrilova (AUS)

Australian hope

Tough to predict what’s in store for the temperamental talent but two runs to the last 16 in her home-city slam prove she’s capable of challenging the best on her day.

Barty started playing at the age of five under the coaching of Jim Joyce at the West Brisbane Tennis Centre. She would hit a ball for hours on end against the wall of her Ipswich house. She was back at her home town in the off-season. “Jim was the one who made me strive to get better and better,” Barty said. “I remember my first lesson with him when I was five years old. I have such fond memories of those West Brisbane courts. Spending my Wednesdays, Thursday, Fridays there, and all my weekends. I was there more days than I wasn’t. I just loved it. Couldn’t get enough of it. It was nice in the off-season to go back home to see Jim and his brother Robbie at the courts. Honestly, they’re the best memories.”

Asked to explain the attraction of tennis, she replied: “I just loved it all. Everything about the sport. I still do. I love the one-on-one competition.

“I love the variety and points of difference that come in a match. The different surfaces. The different shots. The different situations you get during the match. You need to be versatile. You’re challenging yourself. You’re learning a lot about yourself. You train hard and then you get to go out and hopefully turn that into another good performance.”

Barty has just played a major by any other name. Eight matches in two weeks. Another seven await in the next fortnight if she’s to become Australia’s first Open champion since Chris O’Neill in 1978. She’s beaten five of the top 10 Open seeds.

At her last crack at Serena Williams, she’s been pipped 6-4 in the third set. I reckon the winner in Melbourne will come from Angelique Kerber, Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, Petra Kvitova or Barty.

“I’ve always had the belief that I can beat anyone in the world,” she said. “The only expectation is what I put on myself to do everything right. To put myself in a position to perform as best that I can. I’m just so excited to be back at the Australian Open. It’s the best way for us to start the year as Australians. The support we get is phenomenal. All Australians, you ask any one of them, it’s spine-tingling at times. I think if anything, it’s about embracing the support that you get. I’m excited to get out there and try and play my best tennis for myself, my team, and the Australian public, but there is certainly no extra pressure from them.”

She was beaten 1-6 7-5 7-6 (7-3) by ex-Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in Saturday night’s Sydney International final. Kvitova is a legitimate title threat at the Open, so why not Barty for the tin cup?

“It’s been a hell of a week,” she said.

“I mean, I couldn’t have left anything more out on the court. I felt physically fine. I’ve had an amazing start to 2019. Probably three or four points shy of being exceptional, really. I’m a different player than I was 12 months ago. A much better player. I’m a more complete player.

“Certainly with a week like this in Sydney, I’ve had probably one of the best weeks of my career. I’ll give myself a day to celebrate … it’s a bitter pill to swallow against Petra but we move on, we keep working, and we have a slam to look forward to.”

Barty versus Kumkhum is slated for 7pm on Margaret Court Arena. Fourteen Australians will get their running shoes on. Sydney men’s champion Alex de Minaur. Bernard Tomic. John Millman. James Duckworth. Matt Ebden. Jordan Thompson. Ellen Perez. Astra Sharma. Priscilla Hon. Kimberly Birrell. Zoe Hives. Jason Kubler. Marc Polmans.

A lot of competitors, but only one genuine contender. Her only blemishes are the loose games she produces out of nowhere and the tendency to become a little too passive when she should keep marching forward. Controlled risks have become her strength but occasionally she takes no risks at all.

“I had balls that I could have been more aggressive on,” she said after the Kvitova match.

“Hindsight is a beautiful thing. I’d love to have five or six forehands and backhands again, but that’s not the way the cookie crumbles. That’s not how sport works.”

The divas and their subplots? Williams is playing her first major since she lost the plot and ruined Osaka’s moment of triumph at the US Open.

Osaka is playing her first major since Williams lost the plot and ruined her moment of triumph at the US Open. Maria Sharapova is still desperate to win her first major since she returned from a drugs ban.

Victoria Azarenka is back at the Open after personal dramas, primarily a bitter custody battle, that really could make a Hollywood script.

Kvitova is chasing her first major win since she was attacked by a knife-wielding intruder at her home.

Top-seeded Simona Halep has always been prone to enough self-doubts for a Shakespearean play.

Tiptoeing into the arena is Barty, the sort of character who will be spurred rather than spooked by billowing crowd support. “I have to admit,” she told The Australian last week, “I’m loving all of this. The thought of going back to Melbourne Park, it’s giving me goose bumps.”