MIAMI OPEN PRESENTED BY ITAú

March 25, 2021

Ashleigh Barty

Press Conference

A. BARTY/K. Kucova

6-3, 4-6, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Never in doubt, eh? (Smiling.) What was going through your mind as that match progressed and especially facing the match point in the third set?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Just never give up. Honestly you have to be in the fight to have a chance. It's about trying to just chip away over and over.

You know, matches like that are extremely fulfilling, I think, knowing that you have done the work over an extended period to kind of just get over the edge and just get that result that you're after.

Today was much more about the fight than the result, but certainly happy now to be able to give myself another chance in a couple days' time to be able to go again.

Q. How does it feel being back in an international event rather than just playing at home in Australia? Has it taken you by surprise and you're getting into a groove?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, my first bubble win, we'll say. It is nice to be back on tour. It is nice to come back to a place here to Miami where we have had such good memories honestly. It's a beautiful place to play tennis.

You just have to look at -- the simple thing for me is the weather. You know, it's blue skies, sun's shining. We're getting to play a sport that we love and we're getting to do what we love.

You have to do it with a smile on your face and be extremely appreciative and grateful that we've got the opportunity to do that.

Q. Right after the match, I noticed that you kind of like tapped your temple there. What were you saying there with that gesture?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Oh, just more than anything is that we never give up. No matter what the result, no matter what we're feeling, no matter the conditions, we just never give up.

I think that was a really tough one today and I enjoyed every single second of it. I enjoyed the fight, and really happy to be able to get through.

Q. Was there any moment where you doubted even for a second that you would pull that out?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Oh, of course. Naturally when you're match point down it's never easy to be able to see yourself coming back, but it's about continuing to do the right things and stick to the right processes over and over.

I think from that match point I hit a return winner and felt like I just needed to keep working, keep working, keep working. And you never know. Sport's a funny game. It was about just putting myself out there and trying to get in a position where I was still in the match.

Q. You did so much heavy lifting there to dig out of that 5-2 hole. Then you get down Love-40, 6-5. What are you thinking at that point and what was involved in turning that game around?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, in that 6-5 game it was probably a sloppy first point, but the next two points I hit my spot-on first serve and she came up with a great return. Then in the next point just missed a forehand.

I think it was just about having the right intent and then being able to make some big first serves. Digging myself out of that hole was big, but it was just playing those points in the right way, as I had been doing for an extended period and particularly late in that third set.

Q. To survive this today, and it was really kind of survival, what's that say about your chances here going forward, do you think?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: I'm still here. I'm still in the tournament. I'm still in with a chance.

I don't think it was survival as such. It was just a hell of a fight, it was a hell of a match, and any time that you're pushed right to the brink, right to kind of deep in the third set, those matches you learn so much from.

We'll take the learnings from today and continue to go to work and come back in a couple of days' time and be ready to go again.

Q. Is this the type of match that you'll sit down with your team and do a lot of analyzing of what went right, what went wrong? Will you even want to go and rewatch the match? How do you go about processing this type of a match that you pulled out of the hat and live to see another day?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, I have probably watched two of my matches ever, and both of them were near a year after they were completed.

But it's certainly -- I mean, Tyz and I already had the discussion about it, about the match. We sit down straight after and obviously we go through some of the clear things that happened, we go through some of my feelings, and then obviously the observations of Tyz from the sidelines is often different to how I'm feeling on the court.

So it's about marrying those up. We'll continue to chat about it over the next couple of days, without a doubt. Like I said, we take the learnings from it. We never stop learning.

On the practice court tomorrow we'll chat about it some more and work on a couple of things that we felt like we needed to refine from today. But the beauty of sport is there is always another chance. There is always next week. Fortunately we have another opportunity in a couple days' time to go back out there, use those learnings, use that experience, and go again.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the atmosphere. You know, obviously it's very limited to what it normally is here. How did you find the atmosphere playing today?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: It's always nice playing in front of some crowds regardless of how big they are. I heard some enthusiastic voices out there, which is always brilliant. I enjoy the fact that people get to watch us and enjoy the tennis as much as we do.

We enjoy playing, we enjoy the battle, and we enjoy the fight, and it's all the better when there are people there to share it with.

Q. Quite a few variables going on for you at this event just with the long travel day that you had here, first time kind of experiencing jet lag really for a long time probably, as well, all these sorts of things. How much of that weighs in a little bit of the physical and that ties into mental adjustment of getting back into overseas tournament play?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, it is an adjustment. You kind of forget how much it can take out of you, but you also have to be accepting of the fact that that's the way that it is.

With jet lag, you're always going to have nights where you don't sleep as well but your body will naturally catch up on sleep. You know, it can't go without it, so you just have to, in a way, not focus on what you're missing out on.

It's just get the quality that you can and then move on. Worked in my favor this morning being up bright and early. Got to watch some Aussie football back home. There is always silver linings, right?

No, look, I am just enjoying the fact we have the opportunity to come back out here and play. A match like that today I think just reiterates how much I love this support and how much I love the battle and love the fight.

Q. Looking ahead to playing Ostapenko in the next round, can you just talk about the challenge obviously of playing her?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah. News to me, but I knew that they were playing I think at a similar time today.

But Jelena obviously has got one of the biggest games from that first strike, both off kind of her first ball after serve and particularly off the return, as well. It's a little bit of a different matchup to what we had today.

Played her a couple of times. Yeah, it's going to be tough. I'm going to have to have my running shoes on and make sure I'm able to neutralize off that first ball as best I can to try and turn it back in my favor.

Q. Firstly, these virtual press conferences are relatively new for you. At least in Australia there was a mixture of people live and virtual. Is it difficult to get used to? What do you think of them?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Oh, it is what it is. You know, I still get to see you guys. I mean, it's not quite the same, but we still get to communicate and I always -- I don't know. It's just the way it is at the moment. So it is kind of a first for me having the full virtual, but it's pretty cool. I don't know.

Q. The other thing is no doubt you have been keeping touch with what's been happening at home. The weather has broken now. What are you aware of and your parents, your family, were they all okay? The flood situation is pretty dire at the moment.

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, it was devastating. I think particularly down south through Sydney and northern New South Wales they absolutely copped it.

I think first and foremost for me I was able to check in with friends and family and make sure that they are okay. It's been devastation across quite a large space. You absolutely feel for those families and those that were affected, but thankfully for me I was fortunate enough to not have my family or friends affected.

But, yeah, it has been devastating, so it's certainly nice to see that there was some blue sky and the sun was out over the last couple of days, and we can kind of go into a phase where we can kind of clean up. One of the best things about being Australian is the Aussie culture that people are always there to lend a hand. They always have your back.

You'll see over the next couple of weeks and over the next two, three, four weeks, however long it takes, Aussies will be arm in arm helping each other out and doing all that we can for each other.