Ashleigh Barty must rediscover her love of tennis before she can contemplate a return to the world tour, in the opinion of two-time grand slam champion Lleyton Hewitt.

Barty walked away from the WTA Tour in September and has given no hint of when, of even if, she’ll return.

Hewitt, a tour veteran only too familiar with the grind of life on the road, said there’s no point pressuring the 2011 junior Wimbledon champion to make her comeback.

The 33-year-old says he hasn’t spoken to Barty herself but he’s in regular contact with her coach Jason Stoltenberg.

“It can be tough when you succeed at such a young age and there’s so much pressure and expectation, especially on the women’s tour as well because so many prodigies have made it and end up winning Wimbledon or the French Open by the age of 17 or 18,” he said.

“In some ways, when she had success at such a young age, winning junior grand slams, when she wasn’t quite able to make the semi-finals and finals of a grand slam on the senior side she was obviously disappointed with her results.

“She’s still a tremendous talent. She probably just needs to freshen up and get away from the game, start enjoying it a bit.”