Tennis – Ashleigh Barty’s (pictured) return to the tennis court is off to a bright start in Perth.
After 17 months away from the tour and a brief sojourn playing cricket, Barty decided the time was right to pick up her tennis racket again and she returned in style, winning her first doubles match alongside Jessica Moore at the Perth Tennis International.
Doubles is the form of the game in which Barty has had most the most success with three Grand Slam titles under her belt, and the pair were too good for Victorian Sally Peters and the Czech Republics Barbora Stefkova, winning in straight sets 6 – 2, 6 – 2.
The notoriously shy Barty isn’t talking to the press just yet but her father Robert says there are already plans to play more doubles tournaments in the next couple of weeks ahead of a possible singles return late in February.