Tennis great Ash Barty is cautioning fans to be patient and not overburden teen sensations Emerson Jones and Maya Joint with expectation this summer.
At 17, Jones climbed to No.160 in the rankings this season after last year becoming the first Australian since Jelena Dokic in 1998 to reach world No.1 as a junior.
And at 19, Joint has rocketed up to world No.32 to be on track for a first-time grand slam seeding at the Australian Open in January after claiming WTA titles on grass and clay during her breakout 2025 campaign.
"I've spent a little bit of time with Maya on the court, and what's been really brilliant this year is you've seen her growth in her confidence, in her ability and her consistency really throughout the whole season," Barty told AAP.
"She had a really good start throughout the summer and then won a couple of titles and has done a really good job in some really tough locations, some tough tournaments, tough conditions.
"So next year will be a new challenge for her, a bit of a new beast in the different challenges that it presents.
"But Maya is a really lovely girl who works exceptionally hard and it's nice to see some of those girls that put in the work behind the scenes that not everyone necessarily sees day in and day out, they get the rewards because they deserve it."
A triple major winner and former world No.1, Barty hopes Joint will also one day contend for grand slam spoils, but warned fans against expecting overnight success.
"She's very much in the infancy of her career. This is her first full season on tour," Barty said while visiting wide-eyed students at Redeemer Baptist School in Sydney on Monday.
"So once she gets more comfortable within herself and that confidence and continues with that consistency, that's the challenge now for Maya.
"Whether that's in slams or it's in every other tournament, it's about going out there and giving her best showing each and every match and hopefully, fingers crossed, she can put it together in grand slams and experience what it's like to get into that second week and go deep, because it is really cool."
The 2022 Australian Open champion would love to see Jones, Joint and the like ride the hype and home support rather than feel any pressure to deliver.
"The girls in particular, I encourage them to embrace it, embrace the support, the warmth," Barty said.
"There's nothing like playing in Australia in January, and when I learned to embrace that and accept it more, that's when I played better.
"So I would love to see those girls really welcome it with open arms and enjoy the crowd for what it is, enjoy the occasion, enjoy the moment and hopefully play some of their best tennis."
The daughter of former world champion triathlete Loretta Harrop, Jones made her Australian Open main-draw debut this year as a wildcard, before reaching the final round of Wimbledon and US Open qualifying.
"She's very young. She's learning," Barty said.
"She's had some good experiences this year, so for now it's just about that growth and that development, continuing to be patient. It's not going to happen overnight.
"She's got a lot of growing to do in her body and her game, but it's exciting because we have no idea where the ceiling is.
"As fans and spectators, we get to go along for the ride and watch her flourish and grow and be patient with that, but be excited at the same time."
