Ashleigh Barty beat Venus Williams 6-4 6-3 to book her place in the semi-finals of the Nature Valley Classic for the second time. Then she talked about the reasons why she is having a brilliant year.
“I think there’s been a general improvement across everything in my game,” The Australian said. “I feel like I’m becoming a more complete player.”
She continued, “It has always been a goal of mine to make sure I have all the shots and all the options, but it’s also about making the right decisions. I feel like I’ve been doing that a lot better this year. I’ve been looking after my service games, which is always a key part of my game. And I’m also trying to get into return games as often as possible. We’ve done the work, and it’s paying off.”
Barty gives her team a lot of credit for ensuring she is always well-prepared. “You can’t win a tennis match purely on tennis or purely on the mental side,” she said. “It has to go hand in hand. I’ve got an amazing team who help me with both of those components of my game and all facets of my game.”
“Everyone on my team is on the same page and we enjoy each other’s company. We make sure we’re relaxed and we have fun but, when it’s time to play, we do everything possible to give me a chance to win matches.”
Barty turns down Murray
Barty’s success in singles does have some drawbacks, as she discovered recently when Andy Murray asked her to play mixed doubles with him at Wimbledon.
“When Andy asked me to play, I was a little bit shocked to be honest,” the Australian said. “I would have loved to have grabbed the opportunity.”
“It was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make, but I took some time to think about it and decided that playing three events was just a little bit too much. I’d already made a commitment to play with Azarenka.”
“When a champion (like Andy) asked me to play, I was flattered and very honoured. I said to him, ‘there are some very good options out there for you.’ I’m sure he’ll find someone.”
She continued, “There will be a million people lining up for Andy. (He’ll go for) whoever he thinks will complement his game the most and he can go out there and have fun with.”
Barty was delighted to see Murray’s return at Queen’s. She said, “I don’t think there was a person in the tennis world that wasn’t happy to see him back out there again.”