Ashleigh Barty returns to motion after 11 months for Australian Open warmup

World primary Ash Barty will return to aggressive tennis after a prolonged hiatus as a result of COVID-19 pandemic when she headlines two WTA tournaments in Melbourne forward of the Australian Open, organisers stated on Thursday.
The 24-year-old Queenslander has not performed a match since February, opting to not defend her French Open title and in addition skipping the U.S. Open in New York because the novel coronavirus wreaked havoc on world sport.
The pandemic remains to be affecting the tennis calendar, with the 12 months’s first Grand Slam at Melbourne Park to start out on Feb. 8, three weeks later than deliberate.
Barty, who held on to the highest ladies’s singles rating throughout final 12 months’s disrupted season, will play for the primary time in 11 months at one in all two WTA 500 occasions from Jan. 31-Feb. 6 as a part of the Melbourne Summer Series.
The Gippsland Trophy and Yarra Valley Classic, named after areas within the state of Victoria, will embody 49 of the highest 50 ladies gamers.
The prime 32 gamers can be break up throughout the 2 occasions, with every that includes 64-singles and 32-doubles attracts.
American Serena Williams, 39, can even return to aggressive motion after exiting the French Open with an damage and would hope to get some matches beneath her belt earlier than embarking on her bid for a record-equalling twenty fourth main title.
Players will begin arriving Down Under from Jan. 15 and endure a compulsory 14-day quarantine earlier than enjoying the warm-up occasions, which can be held at Melbourne Park.
Top males’s gamers like Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and world quantity two Rafa Nadal will signify their nations within the 12-team ATP Cup from Feb. 1-5 with these unable to make the reduce divided into two ATP 250 tournaments.
The Great Ocean Road Open and Murray River Open will characteristic gamers together with Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka and native hope Nick Kyrgios.
“While we know the circumstances are unique this year, it is a huge coup to secure such strong playing fields,” Cameron Pearson, head of TA main occasions, stated in an announcement.