No sooner had Ashleigh Barty become the first Australian woman to reach the top of the Open-era rankings since Evonne Goolagong Cawley 43 years ago than she had to withdraw from the Nature Valley International in Eastbourne.
The French Open champion, having the season of her life with three titles and 35 wins from 41 matches, said on Monday afternoon she was taking no chances with the flare-up of a chronic shoulder problem and expected to be fully fit for Wimbledon next week.
“I’ve had it since I was 16,” the 23-year-old Queenslander said. “It comes up when I’ve had a spike in workload. It’s a bone stress injury and I need to look after it, particularly in these first few days. It’s important to get on top of it straight away. I think we’ll be fine for Wimbledon. We just have to be careful that we manage it properly the next three or four days, to make sure I’m ready to go.”
Barty, who won the Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham on Sunday, said she played through the shoulder pain at Roland Garros, where seven matches on clay put the injury under strain, but it was not alien to her. “It was something that was there but I’ve learned how to manage it. I pulled out of the doubles [semi-final in Birmingham] to try to give it the best chance to be ready for singles. It’s smarter to take time to let my body rest.”
Barty said after leaving Paris she was looking forward to preparing fully on grass in readiness for Wimbledon, where she will be a warm favourite. “The more grass court matches you can get before Wimbledon, the better,” she said.
But her coach, Craig Tyzzer, said on Monday: “We have to monitor how much she plays. If she had played a lot this week then maybe Wimbledon is not a viable option. So this makes sense.”
Clearly Birmingham took its toll. Although Barty did not drop a set, she had to beat Donna Vekic, Venus Williams, Barbora Strycova and her own doubles partner, Julia Görges.
Barty, who began the day as the top-ranked player in the world, leapfrogging Naomi Osaka, said: “It hasn’t sunk in yet, to be honest. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind – over the last month, over the last 24 hours. It’s been the most incredible time of my life, it really has. It’s come around so quickly, but I’ve done so much work with my team. I’m so proud of them and all the work that they do, all the time and energy that they invest in my career. I do have the best team in the world.”
Barty’s late withdrawal is a blow for the tournament, although it at least opens up the field for others, particularly the British No 1, Johanna Konta, who was on track to meet her in the third round. Konta beat the Ukrainian qualifier Dayana Yastremska 6-2, 6-4 on Monday and now faces Maria Sakkari of Greece.
Andy Murray hit briefly with his latest doubles partner, the experienced Brazilian Marcelo Melo, in preparation for their match on Tuesday against the No 1 seeds from Colombia, Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah, whom Murray and Feliciano López beat in the first round on their way to the title at Queen’s.
The former world No 1, who has been out for five months recovering from hip surgery, said the only aftershock from his comeback tournament was a stiff back. “Most players, when they come back from a big operation and haven’t played for five months, you’d expect to be a bit stiff and sore in a few places,” the 32-year‑old said. “But overall I’m really happy with how I feel. We had a light practice today. I’ll rest up and hopefully feel all right tomorrow. It’s a pretty quick turnaround.”
One of the reasons Murray has returned to the game is so his two daughters can see what their father does for a living. But he said when he showed the eldest, three-year-old Sophia, the plate he received for winning at Queen’s, “she wasn’t particularly interested”.
He is more relaxed now than at any time in his career and determined to enjoy the moment, rather than move on quickly to the next tournament.
He had wanted to sky-dive with his team after winning a title in Dubai in 2017, but they had declined. When it was put to him he might like to bungee jump off Beachy Head if he did well here, he smiled and said: “I’d be up for it, but I’m not going to do it on my own. I’d do it if all my team were up for it, although I don’t know if my hip surgeon would be particularly happy with me trying that.”
