World No 1 Ash Barty’s return a backhand compliment
Ash Barty unveiled a new-look backhand in her return to competitive tennis.
Ash Barty has already ticked off an initial aim for the Australian summer by posting a stylish victory at Melbourne Park on Tuesday night in her first tour match in almost a year.
The world No 1 produced a classy performance defeating Ana Bogdan 6-3 6-3, closing out the victory with an ace on her fourth match point in 1hr 17min.
A semi-finalist in the Australian Open last January, Barty was able to find her range quickly and seized control of the second round match from midway through the opening set.
She showed no signs of ring rust in her first official singles match since a semi-final appearance in Qatar in February last year.
“I had so much fun out here today,” she said.
“It has been a while, but I miss this feeling, I miss coming out and competition. Certainly being an official match is a little bit different ... and I felt great tonight.”
Ahead of her return to tennis in an exhibition match last Friday against Simona Halep in Adelaide, her coach Craig Tyzzer outlined a simple goal for the Australian.
Ideally, he said, Barty would play at least two matches this week to bolster her match fitness ahead of the Australian Open, where she will be the top seed.
The victory over Bogdan guarantees this. The 24-year-old will now play Czech Marie Bouzkova, who thrashed Sam Stosur on Sunday, for a quarterfinal spot.
During the season sabbatical caused by COVID-19, Team Barty made alterations to her game and equipment to improve an already world-beating game.
Barty switched to natural gut in her strings, with Tyzzer telling The Australian in June he believed it would help her add more power to her shots.
He was determined to ensure the string change did not flatten out Barty’s groundstrokes too much.
The amount of shape and spin Barty was able to impart off both wings on Margaret Court Arena suggests that will not be an issue, with the Australian using all areas of the court.
The manner with which the 2019 Roland Garros champion struck her double-handed backhand was also impressive.
Barty’s one-handed slice backhand remains both an offensive weapon and superb defensive shot capable of befuddling her rivals.
But the topspin backhand was a shot the Queenslander has been focusing on since resuming training in October when Tyzzer arrived in Brisbane after lockdown.
The pair decided on a slight alteration to her grip on the backhand and Barty struck the shot with confidence throughout her clash against Bogdan.
“I thought it was brilliant,” Barty said after the match.
“I thought I was able to stick to the idea of what we wanted to do, stick to our game plan of what we wanted to do tonight to try and dissect Ana’s game as best as we could. I thought it was solid throughout the whole night.
“Of course there are always things I’m looking to improve after every match, after every performance. But without a doubt, happy with how it went tonight.”
Several other leading Australian Open rivals also performed well in their first outings in Melbourne this summer.
Reigning Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin was leading Camila Giorgi by a set when the Italian withdrew from the match.
Three-time major champion Naomi Osaka, the Australian Open favourite, produced an ominous performance defeating Alize Cornet 6-2 6-2.
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