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Ashleigh Barty is ‘ready to play’ and better than ever despite 11-month absence, says coach


World number one Ashleigh Barty is ‘ready to play’ right away despite a lengthy absence from tennis, says coach Craig Tyzzer.

Barty will come into the Australian open on the back of an 11-month lay-off due to the coronavirus crisis.

She has maintained her position at the top of the rankings during that time though because of a new temporary system the WTA put in place, and she’s ready to get straight back to work when he home Slam starts next month.

ā€œSheā€™s hit some pretty good form,” Tyzzer told AAP of Ashleigh Barty on Wednesday. “Weā€™ve played a lot of match play in the last few weeks so sheā€™s pretty ready to play. Iā€™m really happy with how sheā€™s striking the ball,ā€

ā€œMatches are completely different. No matter what you do, I donā€™t think you can replicate practice matches.

ā€œThatā€™s probably been the hardest thing for her. Thatā€™s why some of the boys have tried to push her and put her in some tough situations.ā€

Tyzzer also revealed Barty has made some technical changes to her game during the last year, and she is now able to strike the ball harder.

ā€œWe changed the gut in her racquet through the break as well because she just had so much time,ā€ he explained.

ā€œWe did try it once before and we just didnā€™t have enough time and she couldnā€™t find the feel with it.

ā€œBut itā€™s added a bit more weight to her ball, so thereā€™s a bit more power coming out of her racquet.

ā€œItā€™s also better on her arm. Sheā€™s had some issues with her arm and the gut is a bit softer in that sense.

ā€œSo I feel like weā€™ve done some things that have helped her improve her game and time will tell if weā€™ve got those right.ā€


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Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.