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BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL

January 9, 2020

Ashleigh Barty

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

J. BRADY/A. Barty

6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: First question.

Q. How about today? Didn't quite go right for you. What have you put it down to after your first thoughts of that match?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Oh, I mean, obviously, disappointing not to come out away with the result that we're after but Jen played an exceptional match today. I think all in all to only have one break in serve in the whole match I think shows how well we both served. And even my serves where I did get broken, I didn't do a hell of a lot wrong. Jen came out with a couple of really good returns and had some good depth. But yeah, all in all, it's disappointing not to get the result. But, yeah, not, after kind of going through it already there's not a lot really a lot that I'm stressing about.

Q. You had to have waited until Thursday to get on court in the singles match. Did that have any impact on your preparation at all, the wait that you have had to do?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Not really, no. It's normal in a tournament that second round is split over two days. And I've had tournaments where I've played first match on Monday morning. I've had tournaments where I played last match on the last day for first or second round, so it's nothing unusual. Obviously it was beautiful to play out there on Pat Rafter Arena. It's one of my favorite courts in the world. And, yeah, I mean, obviously we were prepared and did everything ready, we just didn't get result today.

Q. You have the doubles still. Do you up the workload at all or do you do more in terms of match play in the next few days before going to Adelaide? What do you do training-wise?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Oh, I think it stays much the same. My confidence comes from my preparation and my practice. And we did everything right. We did everything the way that we wanted to leading up to this match and it was just a bit of execution today. And, yeah obviously, we'll see if we play doubles tomorrow. If we don't we'll maybe even take a day off and kind of refresh and get sort of prepared for when we do play doubles. But yeah, nothing really changes in my preparation for Adelaide. It's nice that I get another opportunity. It's rare in sport that you get an opportunity every single week and so quickly. So I think that's one of the beautiful things about tennis is that next week you get a chance in Adelaide to kind of come out there and try and execute that little bit better.

Q. Is there a risk that we're perhaps underselling how well Jennifer played, particularly given she beat Sharapova and also going through qualifying as well? And it looked like she was making it very hard for you to try and penetrate there today.
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, Jen was in control of the match. She was in the center of the court being the aggressor and I think you have to give credit where credit's due. Jen is, yes, she came through qualifying, but she's got ranking that's kind of well above, I think, what a lot of people give her credit for. And I hit with her earlier in the week and we had a great practice session. And yeah, she's made a few changes to her team as well and I think that's brought a better standard for her. She's playing some exceptional tennis, so I certainly can't take that away from her. She played a great match today and deserved to win.

Q. Is that sort of life as the No. 1 for, a lot of your opponents now are qualifiers, it's probably some of the biggest matches they will every play and they leave everything out there. Is that something you've had to get used to?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Look, I think you ask any other player, it doesn't matter who is on the other side of the court they're not going to play any harder. They're not going to try and play any better. It's, I mean, we're all athletes, we're all competitors, you try and put your best foot forward every single match regardless of who is down the other end. So yeah, sometimes they may play with a little bit more freedom, but for me that doesn't change anything or any way I go about it, so it's kind of irrelevant, really.

Q. Obviously, disappointing to lose any match, but is it, is there more feeling in front of a home crowd, so much expectation from the Brisbane people to see you here? You obviously would like to go further, but is the feeling something a little bit more personal?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Oh, of course I would love to go further. And I think, in my point of view, there's no more expectation from however many thousand people were out there today to when I play anywhere else around the world. I think I'm just trying to do the best that I can and obviously try and put my best foot forward and try and play my best tennis, because I know that they have obviously come to see quality tennis regardless of who is on the court. They have taken the time out of their day to come and watch some quality tennis. And I know that Jen and I played a quality match today, regardless of the result. And I think now I look forward to kind of doubles here and then maybe going to Adelaide.

Q. Just on the expectation, I mean, there's all eyes on you throughout this Australian summer. You've had a bit of time dealing with that, I guess, but how is it, how has it felt, certainly in the first few days wandering around practice courts and people cheering you on and that sort of thing, how have you handled it? Have you had to do anything different?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Oh, I think that's all come you from you guys, if I'm being completely honest. It doesn't change the way that I practice. It doesn't change the way that my team and I prepare. It doesn't change me as a person. I think that you guys enjoy the fact that you get something to write about and you have something to talk about. So hopefully I make it interesting for you, but I don't look at it beyond that.

Q. Speaking on Jen's serve, what do you see in terms of maybe improvements from the last time that you played? But, yeah, whether it's you or Maria, it's been tough to even generate break points against her this week.
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, Jen serves exceptionally well. I think in the first set I had looks at second serves and I didn't make the most of it. And then her serving stats in the second set, from my point of view, felt like they were exceptional. I haven't looked at the stats yet. But yeah disappointed not to be able to create a break point opportunity throughout the whole match, which is probably something that I pride myself on is trying to put pressure on my opponent and get myself into those points and into those games. But two times I had 15-30 late in that second set and dumped some errors, some -- two slice backhands into nets, into the net, which is disappointing. But Jen served great. She really did. She looked after her own service games and I felt like I did the same on mine. She just was able to create that one game where she got a couple of opportunities.

Q. And then just in terms of first singles match of the year for you after the break, did you -- you've had a couple doubles matches already, so you've been on the competitive court, but where did you feel maybe the singles rust, if there was any, today?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: I think, I mean you can call it rust or you can just call it a bit of execution. For me it was on those returning games. I had probably had half a dozen second serve returns where I failed to make it into the court, in that first set in particular. And then Jen grew in confidence. And I think that was one of the points I really wanted to make today was to try and get into her service games and I wasn't able to do that. So I think you have to give credit where credit's due. But also for me that's probably the only point of the match where I look at and I'm a little bit disappointed in myself and a little bit disappointed with the execution.

Q. I know Craig's been working with you about trying to be more attacking, particularly with how good your volleys are. Did you try to implement a little bit of that today or was it just simply a case she was just so dominant from the back it was hard for you to really come in and take those opportunities?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, it's hard to be aggressive when your opponent's making so many first serves and I'm two or three meters behind the baseline. I felt when I was inside the court, particularly off my own serve, I was comfortable and I was able to care of points, but Jen was able to do that a little bit better and control the center of the court today.

Q. A lot of talk now about the possibility of a WTA Cup. What would you think about that?
ASHLEIGH BARTY: I'll think about it if and when the time comes.

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