Ashleigh Barty has declared herself ready to go as Australia’s first Wimbledon top seed in 16 years.
Barty arrived at the All England Club under a fitness cloud after withdrawing from the Eastbourne International to rest bone stress in her over-used serving arm.
But the world No.1 insists she’s primed for another grand slam assault following her historic run to French Open glory earlier this month.
“Yeah, it’s been good. It’s been a really good couple of days,” Barty said on Saturday.
“It was nice to stay off the court for a few days, started hitting again on Thursday.
“As far as we’re going, everything has kind of worked out well with monitoring our loads, all those kind of things. So feeling good.”
Barty will likely need to negotiate a minefield of grand slam heavyweights to become Australia’s first Wimbledon champion since Lleyton Hewitt in 2002 – and first Aussie woman since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980.
Barty is in a loaded top quarter of the draw alongside four former world No.1s, seven major winners and four Wimbledon champions, but isn’t looking beyond her opener on Tuesday against Zheng Saisai.
“I haven’t looked at the draw,” she said.
“I’ve seen my first-round opponent. Flicking through on social media, you see people that are in certain quarters. I couldn’t tell you where they are in any kind of direct way.”
Should she see off the 43rd-ranked Zheng, Barty could face dual grand slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round.
Barty is projected to strike 2015 All England Club winner Garbine Muguruza in round three and either Swiss ace Belinda Bencic or surging Croat Donna Vekic in the last 16.
The winner of an expected rematch of last year’s blockbuster final between Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber is likely to be lying in wait in the quarter-finals, if Barty gets that far by extending her winning streak to 17 matches.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is Barty’s slated semi-final opponent before a potential championship showdown for the top ranking with world No.2 Naomi Osaka.
AUSSIES’ WIMBLEDON FIRST-ROUND MATCHES (PREFIX DENOTES SEEDING):
Women’s singles:
* 1-Ashleigh Barty v Zheng Saisai (CHN)
* Ajla Tomljanovic v 29-Daria Kasatkina (RUS)
* Daria Gavrilova v 8-Elina Svitolina (UKR)
* Astra Sharma v 27-Sofia Kenin (USA)
* Samantha Stosur v 30-Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP)
Men’s singles:
* 25-Alex de Minaur v Marco Cecchinato (ITA)
* Nick Kyrgios v Jordan Thompson
* John Millman v Hugo Dellian (BOL)
* Matt Ebden v 24-Diego Schwartzman (ARG)
* Alexei Popyrin v Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP)
* Bernard Tomic v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (ESP)