For a woman who recalls “crying every night” for weeks on end after first leaving Australia to strike out on the professional tour, Ash Barty has come a long way. By the time she returns home to Brisbane later this year, the world No 1 will probably have been on the road for seven months, confined to a claustrophobic world of Covid protocols and bio-secure bubbles that must feel a million miles away from the wide, open spaces of Queensland she so loves.
Such is the nomadic life of the touring pro, one might say. Yet at a time of strict quarantine rules, sudden lockdowns and the kind of unpredictable travelling conditions Barty encountered en route from Brisbane to Miami, a journey that took two full days, the Australian contingent has it especially tough. When you hail from Brisbane, where international arrivals are capped at 1,300 a week and required to self-isolate for a fortnight, popping back home to see the family for a few days is not an option.
The fuss-free Barty has put a brave face on it all, rightly stressing that the tennis fraternity is lucky to be able to travel and compete at all in the midst of a global pandemic. Nonetheless, a repeat of her 2019 title triumph at Roland Garros, where she is the top seed and faces Bernarda Pera in round one, would go a long way to making up for any homesickness.
It is illuminating to consider a remark Barty made about the globe-trotting nature of the tour before the word “coronavirus” became embedded in the global lexicon. “I remember telling Mum that I hated it [the travelling],” she told the WTA’s My Story series. “And a part of me now still does.”
It doesn’t show; at least, not in a negative way. Since leaving Brisbane after her disappointing quarter-final exit to the wily Czech Karolina Muchova at the Australian Open the previous month, Barty has been on a tear. She has a tour-leading three titles to her name, an advantage of more than 2,000 points over second-placed Naomi Osaka in the world standings, and the business-like air of a woman determined to reap maximum benefit from her prolonged absence from home.
A hint of that inner steel has been discernible in the amiable Aussie’s robust response to questions about the legitimacy of her No 1 status. Her decision to skip both the US Open and Roland Garros last year led to suggestions that Osaka – who won in New York and Melbourne – was No 1 in all but name. When the subject was raised following her Miami Open win, Barty was having none of it.
“I never feel like I have to prove anything to anyone,” said the Australian, who retained pole position by virtue of a modified ranking system designed to protect players reluctant to travel during Covid. “I think everyone needs to understand that it’s a pandemic.”
The subsequent transition to European clay has shifted the terms of the debate. Osaka, for whom clay court tennis remains something of an unsolved mystery, has never been beyond the third round at Roland Garros, and early defeats in Madrid and Rome inspire little confidence of a title challenge this year. Time will tell what effect the controversy surrounding her media boycott has. Conversely, Barty’s recovery from match point down against Slovakian qualifier Kristina Kucova in Miami seemed to light a fire in the Australian, creating a momentum going into the clay-court season that brought victory in Stuttgart and a final appearance at the Caja Mágica.
Barty, who hit with Osaka on Court Philippe Chatrier this week, has also made some notable additions to her competitive arsenal. Her off-court training regime with strength and conditioning coach Mark Taylor has added fresh sharpness to her movement, while a switch to gut strings has given her extra speed on the first serve, more spin on the second and greater penetration with her two-fisted backhand.
She will need all those traits and more, however, if she is to prise the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen from the grasp of the defending champion Iga Swiatek, who she is scheduled to meet in the semi-finals.
Fresh from a 6-0, 6-0 demolition of Karolina Pliskova in the Italian Open final that earned her a maiden WTA 1000 title and propelled her into the world’s top 10 for the first time, Swiatek starts the tournament narrowly ahead of Barty as the title favourite. That status brings its own pressures, although the maturity with which Swiatek has handled her career since last year, when her breakthrough win in Paris brought overnight stardom and triggered a blizzard of media and sponsorship commitments, suggests she is admirably equipped to cope.
Credit for that must go partly to Daria Abramowicz, the sports psychologist who has been at Swiatek’s side throughout her meteoric rise, and has advised her charge to adopt a low-key approach to her title defence. “We are just focusing on treating this tournament the same as any other, because that’s the most important thing,” said Swiatek. “The season is long, and I have played many tournaments until that stage, and I’m going to have many more chances after. So I’m just trying to lower my expectations and remember that, from the experience of other players, it’s not easy to be a defending champion, so I’m giving myself time.”
Swiatek is unlikely to need too long. Her flawless performance against Pliskova in Rome offered a timely reminder of the composure and self-belief that carried the teenager to success on the Parisian clay seven months ago. A model of focus and consistency, Swiatek limited the hapless Pliskova to just 13 points, playing each rally with such ferocious commitment that she remained oblivious to the scale of her victory until afterwards, when she had to check the final score with her coach Piotr Sierzputowski.
It was precisely the kind of ruthless, relentless tennis that Swiatek has been targeting since winning in Paris last year. Like a heavyweight boxer out to clean up the division, the Pole is on a self-confessed mission to bring stability to the women’s game, to break the capricious cycle that has yielded a dozen different grand slam champions since 2017. “What women’s tennis is struggling with [is that] we are not as consistent as Rafa, Roger and Novak,” she said after clinching her Roland Garros title. “My goal is to do that.”
To make good on her ambition, Swiatek will need to improve a second serve that proved her undoing when she played Barty in Madrid. Having blitzed the Australian in the opening three games, when Barty was visibly taken aback by the violent ferocity of her topspin forehand, Swiatek contrived to produce three double faults at 5-5 in the first set and went on to lose in straight sets. Should Barty and Swiatek make it through, their semi-final showdown would be one of the most eagerly anticipated matches of the year.
Last year’s finalist Sofia Kenin, the fourth seed, will be keen to ensure that clash does not happen. Before the former Australian Open champion can think about a potential quarter-final against Swiatek, however, she must first overcome a tough opener against Jelena Ostapenko, the champion of four years ago, who showed signs of recapturing her best form en route to the last eight in Rome.
Also potentially standing in Swiatek’s way is the eternal riddle wrapped in a puzzle inside an enigma that is Garbiñe Muguruza. Assuming she has recovered from the thigh injury that has hampered her preparations, the gifted but unpredictable champion of 2016 could do anything from losing her opener against the 81st-ranked Marta Kostyuk to winning a second title.
What of Serena Williams? Four months shy of her 40th birthday, and with just one win in three matches since losing to Osaka in the Australian Open semi-finals, Williams remains in search of the elusive 24th major that would draw her level with Margaret Court on the all-time honours list. If she were to achieve that milestone in Paris, on her least favoured surface, it would probably rank as the greatest achievement of her career. Seeded seventh, the American’s path to the final is strewn with danger, with Angelique Kerber, Petra Kvitova and Aryna Sabalenka all potentially lying in wait before a projected semi-final showdown with Osaka.
A likelier candidate to come through the bottom half of the draw is Sabalenka, who wields her racket like a hammer and seems sure to make a correspondingly significant impression at the majors before long. Seeded third following Simona Halep’s withdrawal with a calf injury, the powerful Belarusian has enjoyed an outstanding build-up to Paris, reaching the final in Stuttgart before winning the Madrid Open. Infamously, she has yet to make the last eight at a slam, an anomaly that puts down to the pressure she puts on herself. It is a habit she is determined to change. “I just have to show my level and be there 100% and wins will come,” said Sabalenka. “This is what I mentally changed … before I was really thinking about grand slams, that I really want to win [one], which does not really help you.”