SYDNEY: World number one Ashleigh Barty will make her first top-level tennis appearance in nearly a year when she joins a star-studded exhibition in Adelaide this month, organisers said on Thursday.
Australia’s Barty, who has remained top of the rankings despite not playing since last February, joins a field which also includes major-winners Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Simona Halep.
Men’s Grand Slam champions Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem, along with Jannik Sinner, the highly rated world number 36 from Italy, will also play the event on January 29.
“I am looking forward to playing my first match for the 2021 season in Adelaide,” Barty said in a Tennis Australia statement.
It will be Barty’s first match since her semifinal loss to Petra Kvitova at the Qatar Open last February.
The one-day exhibition, part of the build-up to the Australian Open Grand Slam from February 8, will feature four singles matches in front of a limited crowd.
Badosa tests Covid positive
Spain’s Paula Badosa has tested positive for the coronavirus while quarantined in a Melbourne hotel ahead of the Australian Open.
She is the first female tennis player on the tournament’s roster to have a confirmed positive test, the latest setback for preparations for the year’s first Grand Slam in Melbourne.
The tournament has already been delayed by three weeks to February 8-21 due to the pandemic.
“I have some bad news. I received a positive Covid-19 test. I’m feeling unwell and have symptoms,” the world number 67 tweeted.
“I’ve been taken to a health hotel to self isolate and be monitored.”
Badosa brings the number of positive cases linked to the tennis tournament to 11. — AFP
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