After two years away Australian tennis darling Ash Barty has finally made a return to the place where her career changed forever.
It was 2019 when Ash Barty announced herself to the world by winning the French Open.
A 6-1 6-3 victory over Czech Republic’s Marketa Vondrousova handed the Australian her first ever grand slam title, along with millions of new fans around the world. A cool $AUD3.6m prize packet to boot made that win extra sweet, too.
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Electing not to defend her title in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Barty is seeking to sit atop the Roland Garros throne once again and put further distance between herself and world No. 2 Naomi Osaka when she returns to the red dirt of Paris.
After two years away from the scene of her greatest tennis achievement to date, Barty is back. She uploaded a number of photos to Instagram of a practice session at Roland Garros, with the simple caption of “Hello friend”.
Barty was looking determined as ever, but still had that trademark smile splashed across her face.
Barty has been in fine form leading up to this year’s French Open, Barty has looked as good as ever. A victory at the Stuttgart Open in both singles and doubles was followed by an appearance in the final of the Madrid Open, holding the world No. 1 in good stead for her charge in the French capital.
Retiring in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open due to an arm injury caused a minor scare, but the tennis superstar looks fit and ready ahead of the upcoming grand slam, which begins on May 30.
Barty may be on the other side of the world but she won’t be feeling homesick. Taking to Instagram on Friday night (AEDT), the Queenslander showed off a gift box she’d received to ensure she doesn’t go wanting for any of her favourite home-grown treats.
“When the ultimate care package is waiting for you in Paris,” she captioned the post, complete with a love-heart eyes emoji.
In the care package were: Vegemite and cheese Shapes, Vegemite, Milo, Cadbury Caramilk Marble chocolate and Merlo coffee.
Barty’s dietitian might not be impressed to see her scoffing down too many of those treats before a major but what better way to celebrate a second French Open win than with some of Australia’s favourite snacks.
Barty maintained her world No. 1 status when the updated rankings were released last week as Iga Swiatek’s victory at the Rome Open saw the Pole enter the top 10 for the first time in her career.
