Ashleigh Barty to decide on relocated WTA Finals, says coach Tyzzer

"It's in Mexico at 1,500 metres and they're using pressureless balls," said Craig Tyzzer, coach to the world No. 1.

Published Sep 15, 2021

PRESS CONFERENCE: A. Barty; Cincinnati F Win

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WATCH: Barty addressed the media after winning her fifth title of the 2021 season at the Western & Southern Open.

Ashleigh Barty's coach says it will be difficult for the No. 1 to fly from Australia to play the WTA Finals, which have just been relocated to Guadalajara, Mexico.

The elite eight-player event that concludes the WTA season was initially planned to take place in in Shenzhen, China—where Barty won in her 2019 debut—but was cancelled in 2020 and had to find a new site for this season to avoid being cancelled again.

Barty's coach, Craig Tyzzer, was unsure about the altitude and conditions.

"It's in Mexico at 1,500 metres and they're using pressureless balls," he told AAP. "We were originally told it was Hong Kong and then we were told it was Prague and we hear it's in Mexico.

"I mean, 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."

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Barty fell in the third round of the US Open to American Shelby Rogers, having twice served for the match in the final set.

Barty is currently on vacation in Great Britain following her third-round exit at the US Open.

"She was physically and mentally exhausted," said Tyzzer. "So, I told her to just get away and have a holiday and just refresh everything."

The 25-year-old has not returned to Australia since playing the Australian Open because of the two-week quarantine requirement in the country. She is still considering playing Indian Wells, said Tyzzer, but also playing the WTA Finals could affect Barty's off-season—and potentially her start to next season.

A decision is likely this week, he added, saying, "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 [quarantine] and then your summer is sort of ruined."

Barty has played 12 events this season and won four titles, and is likely to remain atop the WTA rankings regardless of whether she decides to defend her WTA Finals title.

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