Ash Barty has dismissed suggestions that she had unfairly held on to the top ranking while opting not to compete on the WTA Tour for most of 2020 due to COVID-19.
With the pandemic preventing many from competing on the tour since March 2020, the WTA tweaked the ranking system last year to ensure that players were not penalised for their inactivity.
The format allowed Barty to retain the No.1 spot even though Naomi Osaka won grand slam titles during Barty’s absence.
“I never have to prove anything to anyone,” Barty told reporters on Saturday after she retained her Miami Open title when Canada’s Bianca Andreescu retired in the second set of the final due to an ankle injury.
“I know there has been a lot of talk about the ranking, but I didn’t play at all last year and I didn’t improve any of my points whatsoever.
“Yes, I didn’t drop but I didn’t improve any. I didn’t play any at all.
“There were girls who had the chance to improve theirs, so I felt like I thoroughly deserve my spot at the top of the rankings.
“The year we had in 2019 was incredible.”
Barty opted not to travel out of Australia for 12 months from March 2020.
She clinched the Miami Open in 2019 before capturing the French Open and WTA Finals.
She started off 2020 by triumphing at the Adelaide International before coronavirus forced the Tour to shut down for five months.
“I can’t control what anyone else thinks or what anyone else says,” Barty, who in Miami was playing in her first tournament abroad since February 2020, said.
“Everyone needs to understand that it’s a pandemic.
“It’s probably a once-in-a-lifetime thing for a lot of us to go through, so it’s a bit of a difficult situation.”
Barty’s reign as the game’s best is guaranteed for at least another five weeks, which would take her to a total of 74 weeks – ninth all-time for most weeks at the top.
On Saturday the 24-year-old Queenslander won the first set 6-3 and was up two breaks of serve when Andreescu took a medical timeout to have her foot and ankle taped.
It failed to make a difference and after Barty extended her second-set lead to 4-0, a dejected Andreescu shook her head and covered her face with her hands before tearfully retiring from the match.
Barty said she plans to compete in Charleston next week before heading to the Stuttgart Open in Germany, as the clay-court swing of the season begins.