World No 1 Ash Barty produces perfect Australian Open preparation with stylish title run
Almost 12 months after she began a COVID-19 sabbatical, world No 1 Ash Barty has returned to competitive play with a title win.
Ash Barty calls them “cheapies”. The free points you take from your opponents.
Encouragingly in her return to professional tennis, they are coming regularly and is a vindication of the adjustments she made to her game during her sabbatical.
In the final of the Yarra Valley Classic on Sunday against dual-major winner Garbine Muguruza, “cheapies” proved critical in Barty’s 7-6 (3) 6-4 triumph.
And if the world No 1 is to end an Australian Open drought for locals dating back to Chris O’Neil’s success in 1978, free points are going to be vital over the next fortnight.
Back in June, when the Barty camp were hopeful of returning to the circuit in time to defend her Roland Garros title, a decision was made to switch strings to natural gut.
Coach Craig Tyzzer told The Australian he expected it would add up to 10kmh per hour to her serve, which in theory should help Barty garner more “cheapies” with the delivery.
The initial aim was to ignore balls flying this way and that as the Barty struggled to adjust to the new strings.
The longer focus was to make sure that as she gained confidence in the string, the switch did not flatten out too much the other strokes in her game.
The Queenslander had reached No 1 with a beautifully shaped serve, a forehand with zip off the court and a sliced backhand which slithers like a snake on landing.
If those strengths could be kept with added power, improvement would come naturally. And the signs on her return to tennis after almost a year out are positive.
“The change to half natural gut in the crosses was something I always wanted to do but never really had the time to learn how to play with gut properly,” she said.
“There’s still a little bit of an adjustment.”
There was a noticable disparity in the number of “cheapies” Barty notched compared to her rivals on serve on the way to claiming her ninth WTA title, and second on Australian soil, in the Yarra Valley Classic.
The Australian struck 35 aces to her rivals nine this week. And her delivery claimed her several more points with serves that were unreturnable.
In the decider against Muguruza on Margaret Court Arena, she struck 11 aces to her rivals two, including a pair to start the final game.
The numbers were similar to her quarterfinal triumph over Shelby Rogers, another whose stature would suggest she should possess the stronger serve, with the ace tally 10 to three.
Against Marie Bouzkova she struck eight aces to zero. And in her return to competitive play against Ana Bogdan last Tuesday Barty clipped six aces to four.
Importantly, the wins came in varying conditions, with matches won outdoors in the sunshine, in slower conditions at night and under a roof as well.
It was as perfect a preparation as possible in terms of having to adjust to the different conditions the Australian Open top seed might face over the next fortnight.
“It’s been a brilliant week in a sense. We’ve been tested against different opponents, different conditions, different times of the day,” she said.
“Almost everything, in a way, has been thrown at me this week. There have been challenges to overcome. We’ve been able to do that.
“That doesn’t change for us come Tuesday against our opponent. We go out there and we do the research. I chat to Tyzz beforehand.
“We try to bring the match to my hand as quickly as possible and as often as possible.”
Barty’s ability to claim a title after almost 12 months away from competitive play should not be understated.
It was a phenomenal performance. The calibre of rival she defeated is a measure of this.
Muguruza had been in superb form. On the way to the final, she dropped just 10 games.
In a reversal of their Australian Open final last year, she thrashed Sofia Kenin 6-2 6-2 in a quarterfinal. She then dropped just a solitary game against Marketa Vondrousova, the Czech who Barty defeated to win the Roland Garros title in Paris in 2019.
But Barty provided a far sterner test. She showed toughness in the first set tiebreaker and was able to “squeeze the court” against her athletic rival, which added pressure. The champion’s final five points were superb.
Holding a break point at 4-all in the second set, Barty angled a short, sliced backhand return which left her rival floundering and enabled the Australian to crush a winner.
She then served out the championship to love with two aces, another unreturnable serve and a topspin forehand lob.
Fed Cup captain Alicia Molik, a quarterfinalist in Melbourne back in 2005, was full of praise for a woman who she believes will continue to inspire other young Australian women to follow her footsteps.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s incredible because, even for the large majority of top players, to find form (so) quickly is pretty darn hard,” she said.
“It didn’t surprise me, but it’s absolutely amazing, because I feel like her level today was probably better than the week prior to the Australian Open last year, if I’ve got to be honest.
“It was a really high level of tennis, right throughout the whole match today. It was really impressive.”
Barty will play Danka Kovinic from Montenegro in her opening Australian Open match on Tuesday night on Rod Laver Arena.
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