"I feel like I'm ready to play" - Barty brimming with confidence ahead of Roland Garros

Following an injury scare in Rome a few weeks ago that cast doubts on her participation at Roland Garros, Ashleigh Barty says she has fully recovered and is ready to compete for the title.

The World No.1 suffered an arm injury in her quarterfinal match against Coco Gauff, but revealed in a recent press conference that she's feeling good and has recovered from the injury.

"Yeah, I’m feeling good. I’m feeling ready to play,” Barty said on Friday afternoon. "I think it was an important decision for us to make to make sure that we arrived at this tournament being 100% physically.  I feel great. I feel like we have been able to practice well, control what we have needed to do over the last kind of ten days or so."

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The top seed last participated at the French Open two years ago, where she won her maiden Grand Slam. Although she chose not to compete at last year's edition due to the pandemic, the Australian is looking forward to her return in Paris.

"I think coming back to the site here at Roland Garros is obviously pretty special, pretty cool to be able to walk onto Chatrier and have so many memories kind of come flooding back,” Barty said. “A lot of it I also don’t remember and feels like it was such a long time ago. It’s certainly a clean slate for us this week but exciting to be here, exciting to be back and getting ready to play."

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Barty will face Bernada Pera in her first round match, as the French Open kicks off on May 30.