Ashleigh Barty and Naomi Osaka are the top 2 players in the world. Naomi has just conquered her 4th major in Melbourne and she is currently holding 2 slams: The US Open and the Australian Open.
The rankings controversy
There is a controversy going on as it doesn’t seem fair that Barty is still ranked no.1. The Australian champion hasn’t played much last year as she didn’t want to take any risk during the pandemic (respect for that). Therefore, she took full advantage of the freezing of the points to stay at the top of the rankings. After Naomi won the Australian Open, the situation became a bit ridiculous as Ashleigh is still no.1 despite holding just 1 small title, the one she has recently conquered in Melbourne (the Yarra Valley Classic). Barty looked in quite a good form during the Australian Open to suddenly lose the plot against Karolina Muchova and lose in the quarters in 3 sets.
During a recent press conference, the Australian ace dismissed the hypothesis that she is under pressure. She decided to play in Adelaide, where she won the title in 2019 to play 1 more event on home soil.
“There’s no extra pressure. The extra pressure is non-existent for me,” Barty commented. “I can’t control what anyone else does. For the tournaments or with the rankings, that’s out of my control. As for defending points, I think that’s a very negative way to look at it.”
The schedule
After Adelaide, Ashleigh will play in Doha and Dubai before probably heading to Miami. Ashleigh and her team will have to find a proper base in Europe so as to properly move around in the following months without enduring a long quarantine in Australia.
Ashleigh Barty in 2021
Currently the world no.1, the Australian played her last match on the 17th of February when she was defeated by Karolina Muchova 1-6 6-3 6-2 in the quarter of the Australian Open (draw).
This year Barty has a compiled 8-1 win-loss record. Barty clinched 1 title in Melbourne.
Naomi Osaka in 2021
Currently ranked no.2, Naomi played her last match on the 20th of February when she beat Jennifer Brady 6-4 6-3 in the final of the Australian Open to win her 7th career title.
Currently, during this season the Japanese has an overall 10-0 win-loss record. The Japanese has won 1 title at the Australian Open.
Ashleigh Barty and Naomi Osaka clashed against each other 4 times. Their record is 2-2. The last time they locked horns, Naomi Osaka won 3-6 6-3 6-2 in the final in Beijing (China Open) in October 2019.
In the following video you can watch the highlights.
Ashleigh Barty and Naomi Osaka |
| Embed from Getty Images |
