ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL

January 8, 2022

Ashleigh Barty

Press Conference

A. BARTY/I. Swiatek

6-2, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Talk us through the match, how it feels to be in the first final of the first tournament of the year.

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, it's exciting to be in a situation playing on Sunday for a title at home. As an Australian, there's nothing more exciting.

Tonight I felt I played a really solid match. Progressively throughout this tournament I've been playing better and better. Hopefully there's a little bit more improvement left come tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. In terms of the improvement in match to match, where did you find that you found the key improvements today compared to yesterday?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Today I felt like I was probably able to look after my service games really well. I felt like on Iga's service games I was able to get into most of them which is important when you're playing someone who can dominate with that first ball and first strike.

I felt like I was able to build pressure over time, making her play a lot of balls on her service games, not giving her too many cheapies.

I think all in all I was able to stay in most games. I didn't get blown away with too many runs of two, three, four points in a row, which was a nice improvement from the last couple matches.

Q. You seemed to be more offensive minded, hitting out a lot more, clean contact. How much of that was confidence in how you're striking the ball and how much of that was tactical, you had to be more on the front foot against Iga?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: Yeah, a little bit of both. I think tactically the matches from yesterday and today are very different. I think the players present different challenges. Obviously with Iga, she has the ability to take the court away from you and take positioning away.

It was a sense of as soon as I had an opportunity and a sniff, I needed to be able to take it, take the initiative. I felt I had a good balance tonight of being able to run and move and neutralize. As soon as I was able to get a little bit of time on the ball, I was able to create with the forehand, which is a good thing. It was what we were after tonight. I was able to do it pretty well.

Q. Facing Rybakina, playing her for the title, what are the challenges?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: She's an exceptional ball-striker. She loves to control the center of the court. Obviously looks to control her service games. Then it kind of allows her to play more freely on her return game.

It's going to be important for me tomorrow to again continue to look after my own service games and give myself a chance to have that sense of freedom, still play aggressively when I have the opportunity.

The ball striking, the way the ball comes off her racquet, is a little bit different to what I've played in the last few matches, but I'm excited for the challenge.

Q. This is the second straight season that you've kicked off the year by reaching a final. How important is that in terms of building a foundation for your year?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: It's exciting. I wouldn't say it's important, overly important, in the sense if it doesn't happen, it's not the end of the world.

It is exciting to be able to play well here in Australia. This is where I want to play my best tennis. I want to give myself an opportunity to play for titles in Australia. It's something really exciting to start the year off as an Aussie player in front of our home fans.

The more times you can walk on the court, the more exciting it becomes. So it's certainly really nice to have an opportunity in two finals tomorrow. It's going to be really exciting for my singles, then to go out there with Stormy and have some fun in doubles is going to be really good.

Q. How important is the crowd support?

ASHLEIGH BARTY: It's been brilliant. The crowd tonight was fantastic. I felt like there was a lot of energy, a lot of fun. I felt like Iga and I both brought a really good level. The crowd was able to get involved.

Over the last couple years with the situation that the world has been in, I think we've forgotten how much the crowd can impact a match and how much fun it can be.

It's certainly really enjoyable to be back out here with a really nice crowd here in Adelaide. They do a great job with the tournament. It's fantastic to be able to interact and be able to work with the crowd as well.