Ashleigh Barty, who strips down many of her trophies and gives them to friends to recycle for juniors at a Brisbane club, writes the sort of story Australian tennis badly needs right now.
While various stars of the men’s game here, faded and flickering, former and current, embarrass themselves on an almost daily basis by bickering in public over private rows, the 22-year-old Queenslander with the open smile and rock-solid game has been quietly working her way to the fourth round of the Australian Open.
She beat the exciting Greek prospect, Maria Sakkari, 7-5, 6-1 on Friday and plays the 2008 champion, Maria Sharapova, on Sunday. Later, she politely turned away the inevitable questions about allegations by Lleyton Hewitt that Bernard Tomic had threatened him and his family for freezing him out of the Davis Cup team. Tomic denies the claim. Nick Kyrgios and others have been ducking for cover. It is all very unsavoury.
“I have no knowledge of what’s happening,” she said. “There are a million stories going around grand slam time because there are so many players, there are so many matches, there are so many amazing stories. From my point of view, it’s been a super positive week.”
Barty will have the country cheering her on against Sharapova, who went out in the third round to Angelique Kerber on her return here last year after her drugs suspension, but has looked back to near her best this week. The Russian, 30th in the world after a quiet 2018, had two easy wins then had to fight harder on Friday to overcome the defending champion, Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
After two hours and 20 minutes, Wozniacki gifted Sharapova match point with a double fault, but the Russian got anxious in a long rally and wasted the chance with a loose forehand. She was not so profligate with the next opportunity and there was little the world No 3 could do about her withering, angled backhand.
Wozniacki is the highest-ranked opponent Sharapova has beaten since her first-round victory over Simona Halep at the US Open in 2017, her first grand slam match since her ban. There has been a froideur between the two players since Wozniacki was highly critical of Sharapova’s welcome by tournament organisers on her return to the tour, leading to the Russian’s agent describing Wozniacki as “a journeyman”. Nine months later, the Dane won her first slam in Melbourne.
Loved every minute of today’s battle. 4th round 👊🏻💪🏻 @AustralianOpen pic.twitter.com/36UhHTmIIZ
— Maria Sharapova (@MariaSharapova) January 18, 2019
After defeat in the first match between the two since Sharapova’s 15-month suspension, Wozniacki said of their frosty relationship: “Our terms are the same as they have always been. She doesn’t really talk to anybody and has her team and has her own thing. And that’s that. I do my own thing. I have my friends, and that’s that. We are on tour. We are competitors. We both try our hardest when we’re out there on court.”
Wozniacki, who recently revealed she is suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, said the damp weather did not noticeably affect her game. “I feel good. I gave it everything I had. Definitely don’t want to blame it on anything else. She was just a little bit better than me today.”
Sharapova also flat-batted questions about her edgy relationship with Wozniacki. “I just really like winning. I’m just really happy and proud of the way I competed today and I’m into the fourth round. So that’s all that matters.”
Of the match-up with Barty, she added: “I know that it’s going to be a tough crowd, but I go out here to perform and play tennis. That’s why the nets go up, so we can compete. I love that opportunity.”
Barty, whose natural talent enabled her to play cricket for Australia with little background in the sport, turned her energies and talent to tennis full-time in 2016 and has risen to 15 in the world on a growing wave of impressive results. However, while tennis has put more than $5m in her bank account, cricket still competes for her attention, and, once done with media commitments, she dashed home from Melbourne Park to catch the Australia-India one-dayer at the MCG on TV.
If there is a minor concern about her prospects it is her reluctance to be specific about the medical timeout she took between sets on Friday. “I have just gotten to know my body well enough now to know when I need a little bit of help,” she said. “It was more just for a bit of reassurance and support.”
She said of her busy schedule: “There is nothing else can get you ready for matches than matches. It was a perfect preparation through Perth and Sydney [where she beat world No1 Halep and lost to Petra Kvitova in a thrilling three-set final], and now I come here feeling great.
“I feel like I have the matches and tennis under my belts. It’s getting to the point now where I’m feeling more and more comfortable on the court and can play my brand of tennis, which when I execute I know it works against the best in the world.”
The other eye-catching performance on day five was the win by the 17-year-old American Amanda Anisimova, the youngest player left in the draw, who beat the world No 11 Aryna Sabalenka, considered by many a serious threat to the leading contenders. Asked if she had a single dream she would like to see realised, Anisimova said, bluntly: “I want to win this tournament right now. Anything is possible.”
Born and raised in New Jersey of Russian parents, the former US Open junior champion took only 65 minutes to win 6-3, 6-2 and has now beaten seven of 11 seeded opponents in her short career – including Kvitova, her opponent in the fourth round.
The eighth seed, a semi-finalist here in 2012, could be a dream-wrecker. She looked dangerous again after beating the in-form Belinda Bencic, 6-1, 6-4, although the second set was way more competitive until she broke in the seventh game.
