Ash Barty came crashing back down to earth in stunning fashion, knocked out of the Olympics in a massive first round boilover.
Ash Barty has suffered a shock loss in the first round of the Olympics singles draw, going down in straight sets to world No. 48 Sara Sorribes Tormo.
The Spaniard stunned her Aussie rival 6-4 6-3 as Barty looked all at sea.
Barty rebounded early in the second set as she found her feet after a horror beginning which saw her lose two of her first three service games.
But at 3-3 Sorribes Tormo broke again, then consolidated for 5-3. Serving to stay in the match, Barty faltered badly and bombed out.
The 25-year-old was so disheartened by her performance, she reportedly declined to speak to media after the defeat.
Barty made a whopping 27 unforced errors, compared to five from her opponent.
World reacts to Barty upset
Tennis commentator Jose Morgado said the world No. 1 — who won Wimbledon just two weeks ago — was “all over the place” while American sports reporter Timothy Burke tweeted: “Ash Barty is playing the worst tennis I’ve seen her play in quite a while.”
Journalist John Baldock said: “I’ve never seen more unforced errors from Ash in a single set of tennis as in the 2nd.”
Charles McNulty believes Sorribes Tormo “exploited the backhand weakness” and tennis writer Tumaini Carayol said Sunday’s match was always going to be a tough proposition for the queen of women’s tennis.
“Sorribes Tormo always looked like an extremely difficult opponent for Barty on these slow Tokyo courts, and so she was,” Carayol tweeted.
Australia’s long wait continues
Barty’s wobbles came after she and Storm Sanders dominated their opening round doubles match on Saturday, thumping the Japanese pairing of Nao Hibino and Makoto Ninomiya 6-1 6-2 in 50 minutes.
From winning Wimbledon in front of a packed house and famous faces – including Tom Cruise – then making small talk with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the scene couldn’t have been more different in Tokyo.
Playing doubles on an outside court with the capacity to hold less than 250 spectators, a total of nine people sat in the stands for the first point of Barty and Sanders’ match.
Barty was given a bigger stage on Sunday for her singles opener as she stepped onto Centre Court, but the empty stands still gave the match against Sorribes Tormo an eerie feeling.
The Queenslander was hoping to win two gold medals in Tokyo and entered the women’s singles draw as perhaps Australia’s best chance of an individual gold since tennis was readmitted as an Olympic sport in the 1980s.
Australia hasn’t had an individual medallist since Alicia Molik snared bronze in Athens 2004 and our only gold was won by the Woodies in the doubles in 1996.
