{"id":27083,"date":"2021-01-26T00:58:30","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T01:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=27083"},"modified":"2021-01-26T05:05:51","modified_gmt":"2021-01-26T05:05:51","slug":"impatient-barty-returns-after-really-tough-decisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=27083","title":{"rendered":"'Impatient' Barty returns after 'really tough decisions'"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Ash Barty<\/a> takes to the court in Melbourne next week, it will end an 11-month absence from tour-level competition.<\/p>\n

The world No.1 had made a great start to 2020 with a win in Adelaide, followed by semi-final runs at both the Australian Open and Doha, before the COVID-19 pandemic brought her season to a sudden halt.<\/p>\n

Strawberries and cream at Wimbledon was replaced by beers at the Gabba for Barty, as the tennis world took a five-month hiatus. Even after competition resumed, Barty chose to remain in Australia, skipping the defence of her French Open crown<\/a> and a shot at the US Open.<\/p>\n

Barty will headline 'A Day at the Drive' in Adelaide, an exhibition along with Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Simon Halep, before the summer of tennis gets underway in Melbourne on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"Ashleigh<\/p>\n

And after so long away from competition, the 24-year-old is itching to get back on the court.<\/p>\n

"It's been a long pre-season and I've probably grown impatient the last three or four weeks about wanting to start and wanting to compete again," Barty told the WTA's official site.<\/a><\/p>\n

"It's been a unique year for everyone without a doubt, a unique preparation for everyone.<\/p>\n

"It's been a little bit of a tricky one with everyone having to navigate through different things."<\/p>\n

The initial lockdown during the second quarter of 2020 meant plenty of time away from the court for Barty, although the Queenslander admitted the break didn't worry her initially.<\/p>\n

"The first couple of months I barely picked up a racquet and quite enjoyed that forced break," she said.<\/p>\n

\"Ashleigh<\/p>\n

"I found spending time with my family and all the things I have at home \u2013 I don't need a lot to be happy.<\/p>\n

"Tennis isn't the only thing in the world that brings me happiness."<\/p>\n

Barty announced in September that she wouldn't defend her French Open title<\/a>, citing the global health situation as well as the impact of the pandemic on her training schedule.<\/p>\n

"There were times we had to make some really tough decisions, but I feel like we made those tricky decisions for the right reasons," she explained.<\/p>\n

"That's all that matters.<\/p>\n

"That made me feel a lot better knowing that my team, we are all on the same page.<\/p>\n

"We believe in the same values and we know that if we make the right decisions for the right reasons, then it's all going to be OK in the end."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Ash Barty takes to the court in Melbourne next week, it will end an 11-month absence from tour-level competition. The world No.1 had made […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27083"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27083"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27085,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27083\/revisions\/27085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}