US OPEN

September 2, 2021

Ashleigh Barty

Press Conference

A. BARTY/C. Tauson

6-1, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Could you just give us a little recap of your thoughts on your play at this particular point? So far a very successful first week.

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, it has been. Today was tricky I think to navigate through that second set and just trust myself and hit out.

But all in all happy to be moving through to the third round with some work to do but we are pleased to be able to go through and get another opportunity.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. One of the things I noticed is whenever you seem to hit a rough patch, you seem to have a better grasp on how to right yourself right after that. Is that just kind of the way you're made or do you have to consciously say to yourself something that gets you back on track?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: There is that conscious change I think obviously when things aren't going right. If you can't change it, you're digging yourself into a pretty big hole. I think being able to reset -- and a couple of times I was disappointed with service games today after when I was serving for the match and early on in the second set, I just played two pretty poor games. Being able to respond straightaway was a big part of that match, just refocusing and narrowing my focus and remembering what I needed to do to win the match as opposed to getting flat and passive where I was letting her control a little bit too much.

Q. One thing I noticed particularly in the first set was you moved very quickly away from your two-handed backhand and really used your slice a lot. Had you worked on straightening out the two-hander between Monday and today? Was that something you focused on?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: There's nothing wrong with my two-hander. I knew the slice would be effective today so that was a tactic of mine to bring in the slices as much as possible. Yeah, I mean, it was a game plan and I wanted to execute and it worked well.

I know that it doesn't work every single time I hit the slice, but over time that repetitive motion for my opponent having to get down, these balls are not easy to control. I think me being able to control the tempo with my slice was one thing I wanted to use today.

Q. A crazy night last night here. This morning, what was it like for you to wake up and see what the situation was and get on to site and warm up? How much of a curveball was it all?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, it was pretty devastating last night from everything that I heard, and obviously keeping it on the radar when the rain did hit Manhattan. Seemed like a lot of rain, but trying to grasp what was happening here on-site was quite unbelievable, and I know that there has been a lot of flash flooding and a lot of people in trouble.

Hopefully a lot of people from site got home safely, and New Yorkers in general were able to get home, because it was quite a wild storm. It did wreak some havoc, obviously there was a later start today I think because of obviously the damage to the site.

But for us, it took us a while to get in this morning, but we kind of allowed for that time, expecting there would be a little bit more of an issue than just a normal commute coming in.

I think we were kind of prepared for it in a way as best we could be, and, yeah, we just kind of got on with it.

Q. Swiatek was talking about practicing with you before the tournament. What do you make of her? What is the experience like for you? What do you get out of practicing with other top players?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, we practiced with Iga on Sunday, I think -- Monday, I think it was. Yeah, we're obviously good friends. We love her team. We get along really well, and we have a pretty relaxed kind of relationship, which is great.

When we hit, we go hard and we practice and we play well. Then when we are off the court, it's pretty relaxed and we get along and have similar interests, which is cool. We warmed up together this morning. She was a little bit (indiscernible) with some of the changes, and she jumped out and hit.

For me, I don't think too much of it. Obviously we get an opportunity to practice. We have played the once, and then kind of practiced a bunch together. Someone that I enjoy practicing with, I enjoy being around her and her team.

Q. The shadow that was so far into the court, was that difficult to have any gauge on returns coming out of those shadows or going into the shadow? Secondly, is there any concern about the situation when you're serving for the match, you dropped serve second match in a row, it happened at Wimbledon with Kerber, as well? What happens at that point?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, the shadow is difficult. It takes some getting used to. The way it moves across the court is something we were prepared for. You just accept it. Sometimes you lose track of the ball kind of last minute, but it's the same for your opponent. So you kind of can't think too much of it.

Serving for the match, it's happened a few times, but I have won 40-odd matches and it hasn't happened a lot. You guys can write about it as much as you like. It's not a concern for me.

It's just a few of those games I haven't been able to get up and hit my spots on first serves. When you give good players looks at second serves, you're going to get hurt. It's simple as that. I think there have been a few matches where it's happened but there have been absolutely plenty where it doesn't. It's not a concern, not something that I focus on.

Q. (Question off microphone.)

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, we saw she was reading "Gone With the Wind" last week. We asked her about it. I'm a massive reader myself, and we've been chatting about what books we have been reading.

Yeah, I think that was 1900 pages, I think she said. I said to her, I've had a 1000-page book or 980-odd-page book last week and that was long enough for me. I don't know how she stays interested in the big ones for so long. I prefer little ones that don't make my arms tired.

Q. What have you been reading?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Just general kind of easy novels that take the mind away from your everyday life.

Q. Coming into this tournament, what were the biggest questions that you thought you had to answer for yourself in the early-round matches? How have those answers been for you?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Oh, I think each and every round is a test. I don't come into this tournament with any expectation of myself to feel entitled to go deep into the tournament or win the tournament or whatever it may be.

I just have to play each and every match as I would every other tournament and be prepared to play my best tennis as best I can on that given day against my opponent. That's all I can ask from myself. Whether that's a first round or a final, my preparation and everything doesn't change.

I think that's been a massive part of our year is accepting that you don't win every single tennis match and you're certainly not entitled to make big finals or put yourself in the latter stages of tournament. You have to earn that right.

I think chipping away in these first two matches has been good. The tennis hasn't been as clean as it was a couple weeks ago, but we accept that. We keep working and go back to the practice court tomorrow, and now we give ourselves another opportunity in the third round to try and rectify that.

Q. What, if any, momentum carries over from Wimbledon? How does that affect you?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Wimbledon was a long time ago. I mean, there is momentum in a sense of that was one of my greatest goals was to win that tournament. I think playing and understanding how to win Grand Slams is very unique. Two weeks is a long time to be focused and to be able to have a bit of luck, stay healthy. I've learnt that the hard way that sometimes it doesn't always go your way. But also, it's a different surface, a different tournament, completely different conditions.

So it's hard to take too much confidence or momentum from that event. For us, we just come here each and every day and try and do our best. That's all we can do.

Q. You mentioned 40-odd wins. Based on statistics, based off of what other players say when they face you, your game is a tough one for people to solve at the moment. I'm curious, when you do opt to practice with other players, particularly top players, is there ever anything in the back of your mind that's kind of like want to keep it also a little bit of a secret, a mystery? Does the mystery, do those practices start to impact my aura of my game or things like that? Is that something you think about?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Oh, there are no secrets anymore. There certainly aren't. I think sometimes when you haven't played someone for the first time, obviously there is that period where you're feeling each other out and try and understand what patterns you're going to play.

You can do all the homework you want for tendencies and kind of comforts of the other person, but when you match up against someone, there is always an option where they're going to change and they're going to adjust and adapt.

I think once you have hit with someone once or twice, you learn pretty quickly, and I think for me, I tend to hit with the same 10 or 15 girls. I enjoy their company. I love to test myself against different types of girls as well.

There are certainly no secrets anymore, I think. For, I mean, a lot of players, there is all the vision in the world. You can do everything you want in the sense of getting your tactical vision and kind of understanding the way that someone plays. So when you're practicing with someone, in my opinion, there is no point in trying to adapt or adjust, because then you don't get out of the practice session what you need.

There are no secrets. I just play, do it with a smile on my face, and that's all that matters.