World No.1 Ash Barty may not defend her WTA Finals title due to the tournament being moved to high-altitude conditions in Mexico, according to her coach.
After being bundled out of the US Open and the Tokyo Olympics earlier than expected, Barty’s coach, Craig Tyzzer, says the 25-year-old is “physically and mentally exhausted”.
EXCLUSIVE: Suggestions Djokovic choked in US Open final totally absurd, says Todd Woodbridge
Tyzzer says the WTA Finals being shifted from Shenzhen, China to Guadalajara, Mexico means Barty is less likely to make an appearance to defend the title she won back in 2019, the tournament’s most recent iteration, due to what he deems “ridiculous” playing conditions.
“We only just found out it’s in Mexico at 1500 metres [above sea level] and they’re using pressure-less balls,” he told AAP on Wednesday.
“Pressure-less balls absolutely fly. It’s a ball that, if you use it in normal conditions, it doesn’t bounce. It’s not the greatest advertisement for the best girls in the world to be playing something they’ve never done before.
“In conditions they’ve never played, in a country they don’t play and at altitude, I just feel it’s ridiculous. As a spectacle, it’s just frightening.”
While Barty is yet to officially pull the plug on the tournament, Tyzzer admitted that it was “a decision we’ll have to sit and mull over quite a bit”.
“Indian Wells (next month) is still on the radar but she just needs a rest,” he said. “So I told her to just get away and have a holiday.”
“It certainly isn’t easy for us to get there and to play that event in Mexico and then to come back and have to do two weeks [in quarantine] and then your summer is sort of ruined as well.”