FILE — Australia’s Ashleigh Barty serves to Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo during their Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games women’s singles first round tennis match at the Ariake Tennis Park in Tokyo on July 25, 2021. (Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP)
Top seed Ashleigh Barty is working to get accustomed to hot, humid summer conditions at the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters after shaking off her Tokyo Olympic disappointment.
The world number one skipped last week’s US Open tuneup event in Montreal but is back and eager to get stuck into the final big event prior to the start of the Grand Slam in a fortnight.
“I’m looking forward to now changing back to hard courts and trying to find some rhythm and some groove,” she said on Monday.
“It feels like a long time since I’ve played on hard courts. Miami (March) was my last hard court tournament, and the conditions there are vastly different to here.
“It’s going to take some time to adjust, without a doubt. But we’ll just keep chipping away and try and get the best chance in each and every match.”
Barty fell flat at the Games after training with her team in the Bahamas prior to traveling to Japan.
The reigning Wimbledon champion admitted it will take some work for her to feel at ease on court this week.
“This is a place where I’ve never quite felt 100 per cent comfortable,” the Australian said. “But we’ve got New York right around the corner.
“This period of the year is always an enjoyable one, I can’t wait to get started back into some matches again.”