Ashleigh Barty says there is no chance of her getting caught up in her own hype after her dismantling of two-time grand slam champion Angelique Kerber.
On Thursday Barty had made light work of Kerber, ranked No.1 in the world at the start of the year, in Zhuhai to qualify for the WTA Elite Trophy semi-finals.
If Barty wins the season-ending tournament she will win close to $900,000 and likely enter January’s Australian Open with a top-16 seeding after starting 2017 ranked 271.
It’s a rapid rise that has shocked even Barty, who only returned to the sport in 2016 after a brief fling with cricket.
“This time 12 months ago I was banging my head against a brick wall because my arm wouldn’t heal,” she told AAP.
“It’s been a radical (rankings) change in 12 months and to finish with a cool, different, experience like this is great.”
She visited a local school on Friday, with a polite and engaging Barty asking the students about the architecture, art and culture of the school.
It was further evidence that the Ipswich product, who is still based in the area and organises her own logistics on tour, won’t be distracted by the inevitable exposure ahead of Australia’s summer of tennis.
Barty credits her family for keeping a lid on things during what has been her first full season on the WTA tour, one extended thanks to her late Zhuhai qualification.
“”The sort of rise we have had I didn’t think would be possible, but life hasn’t changed a hell of a lot really,” Barty said
“My family’s really good at keeping me grounded no matter what happens on a tennis court and that’s why I love them.”
Barty arrived as the youngest in the draw, but breezed by 2016 US and Australian Open champion Kerber as well as world No.14 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to progress to the semi final stage.
The round robin event features the 12 next-best players who didn’t make the eight-player WTA Finals in Singapore, with Barty’s semi-final opponent to be randomly drawn later on Friday.