Ashleigh Barty returns to Australia, unsure about rest of 2021

As it was expected, Ashleigh Barty is back home in Australia in order to spend time with her family with the Australian not having made a decision about the rest of 2021.

The BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells announced yesterday that Ashleigh Barty has withdrawn from the event which was a surprising decision as many expected Barty to stay in the US and play at the event. Her coach Craig Tyzzer did earlier say that Barty has not made a decision on the WTA finals which will be played in Mexico.

Tyzzer expressed concern over the conditions in Mexico as a factor that will be taken into account when the decision is made. That prompted many to suspect Barty might not play at all for the rest of 2021 and that seems more likely after she withdrew from Indian Wells. Barty is now back home in Australia in order to spend some time with family which she missed greatly as explained after her Wimbledon victory.

Her manager Nikki Mathias released a statemenet on her behalf explaining her decision:

"Ash has withdrawn from Indian Wells to come home and see her family in Australia. She has been away from home since March and with the two-week hotel quarantine requirement to come into Australia, it has not been possible for her to return home before now. No further decisions have been made on events after Indian Wells yet."

Barty last played at the US Open where she suffered a shocking defeat to Shelby Rogers and it remains to be seen whether that was her final match in 2021.