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NEW YORK – Ashleigh Barty was unleashed. How can you say? She shook her head. She was looking at her coach. She was looking at the yard. She mumbled even in a breath.
For the easy-going Aussie, this is considered a form in its own right, and you can hardly blame it for launching it. Barty has not played a lot of bad matches in 2019, but his 6-2, 6-4 loss to Qiang Wang, 18th seed on Saturday at the US Open, is one of them.
She was on shiny ground and early for a seed number 2, at 11 o'clock in the morning. Too soon maybe. It was down 1 to 5 before many people sat at Louis Armstrong Stadium. Barty sprayed his biggest weapon, his forehand, wide and long, by meters. She dropped her most reliable shot, her backhand in goal, the back of the net.
Even worse, she regularly racked up 15-40 to Wang's service games and 40-15 to her own, only to make more mistakes and not capitalize; she would finish 0 for 9 on breaking points. At the end of the second set, this normally stoic competitor rushed from one point to another, as if she had resigned herself to her fate. Maybe it was fate, because the match ended exactly as it had started. Barty saved several match points and trailed long enough to earn two break points at 4-5 in the second, then wasted his brief advantage by more errors. Of Wang's 66 winning points, 39 are due to Barty's non-imposed mistakes.
Ashleigh Barty, Roland-Garros champion this year. (Getty Images)
From the point of view of Barty, this match was exceptional, a very bad day in the middle of a very good year. From the perspective of the WTA as a whole, however, this could indicate a return to a long form.
In the last 15 years, power has reigned in the women's slams. Venus and Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka, Garbiñe Muguruza, Li Na: These are all forwards and all big winners. For a long time, ranging from Steffi Graf in the 1980s to Jelena Ostapenko in 2017, the best answer to a powerful player was a more powerful player.
Recently, exceptions to this rule have been introduced: Angélique Kerber, Sloane Stephens, Caroline Wozniacki and Simona Halep all won the Slams in their first defense games. Then, this year, when Barty met Marketa Vondrousova in the final at Roland Garros and Bianca Andreescu won at Indian Wells and Toronto, it seemed like the variety would suddenly be played with spices and maybe even the 39, future of WTA life.
Barty is a player at all times with a one-handed backhand. Vondrousova never encountered a balloon that she could not delicately drop one inch above the net. Andreescu, with his throwing choices, looks more like a baseball thrower than a modern tennis player. As Petra Martic reached the quarter-finals in Paris, Su-Wei Hsieh was working her magic towards the end of her career and Karolina Muchova and Coco Gauff were doing the same at the beginning of their career, it seemed like a thousand of formerly unsustainable game styles Flowering.
Qiang Wang, quarterfinal of the US Open. (Getty Images)
At the start of the Open, the loss of power seemed to be another step forward when Sharapova, Azarenka, Kvitova and Muguruza all lost in the first or second round. Was it not enough to tear the ball and intimidate opponents at the base? Taylor Townsend has joined Andreescu and Barty in the fourth round with the most radical style change to date: service and volley!
Yet the game of power has been rooted for far too long to be defeated so easily. As the tournament progressed, the big hitters were up to the challenge. Naomi Osaka, Madison Keys and Serena all reached the fourth round. Heavy hitter Karolina Pliskova has also lost today, but her conqueror, Johanna Konta, is a solid baseliner full of pop. The multiple Barty fell to another.
The future of the WTA will not be decided this week and the reign of power will not end tomorrow. But it will be interesting to see if another radical stylist, such as Andreescu or Townsend (who are playing on Monday), can reach the final, or if we will have a rehearsal of the Serena and Osaka battle of last year. . For the moment, it's good to know that there is still more than one way to hit a ball and win a Grand Slam.
Wake up every morning with Tennis Channel Live at the US Open from 8:00 am ET. During the three hours leading up to the start of the game, the Tennis Channel team will screen upcoming games, review tournament scenarios and focus on Flushing Meadows.
Coverage of the Tennis Channel TV reminder will start each evening at 11 pm AND, with the exception of previous departures on Saturday and Sunday of the championship weekend.
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