Ash Barty viewed as Australia's great Grand Slam hope
Several analysts believe Aussie sensation Ashleigh Barty is on track for Grand Slam success in the near future. Barty, 21, realises that consolidating here potential breakout year is easier said than done.
Barty, who rose from World No. 272 to No. 17 over the past year, will build her remarkable rise at the forthcoming 2018 Brisbane International at the Queensland Tennis Centre. Barty will face Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko in her first-round match.
The Queenslander believes she gained considerable Grand Slam experience in 2017. “It’s been an exciting year and now it’s a new experience for me, expectation wise. You have to embrace it. The attention has changed. It’s been nice to get more support.
"That elusive top 10 (spot) feels close but it also feels very far away. It’s important to let the racquet do the talking in a sense and the ranking will take care of itself. Hopefully I can get stuck into the tournament and get a few good matches. I have to go into every tournament thinking I can win it," said Barty, who defeated former Grand Slam winners Garbine Muguruza and Jelena Ostapenko in 2017.
Ashleigh Barty destined for success, says Garcia
In September, Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia defeated Barty in their three-set final in Wuhan, China. According to Garcia, the 21-year-old Ash Barty is destined for Grand Slam success in the near future.
“I think she can win a Grand Slam title for sure. She is very calm on court and controls things very well. She knows how to do everything on court – she has variety in her game which not all the girls have. You always want things to go faster at this stage of a career. You have to follow your own path and we can see that sometimes things can go very fast. The match against Ashleigh (in the Wuhan final) was a big match with some ups and downs in the tennis," Garcia, who enters Brisbane as the No. 4 seed, said via The Courier Mail.
The 2018 Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the new year, will be staged at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Park between Jan. 15-28. The likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray could potentially skip the tournament due to injuries. The women's draw could also be missing Svetlana Kuznetsova and Victoria Azarenka. Could Ash Barty spring up a surprise or two at Melbourne?
