Shock exit: Ash Barty’s classy response as her Wimbledon dream is crushed
<p>Ash Barty is choosing to remain positive after a surprising loss against free-swinging American Alison Riske.</p>
<p>The beloved Aussie tennis star’s dream of winning back-to-back grand slams has taken a hit after the world No. 55 brought an end to Barty’s incredible 15-match unbeaten run.</p>
<p>The world number 1 fell 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Monday and has taken her loss graciously, saying she had “absolutely no regrets.”</p>
<p>“We’ve planned our days and prepared as best that we can. Today wasn’t my day,” Barty said.</p>
<p>“I didn’t win a tennis match. It’s not the end of the world. It’s a game. I love playing the game. I do everything in my power to try and win every single tennis match. But that’s not the case.</p>
<p>“It’s disappointing right now. Give me an hour or so, we’ll be all good. The sun’s still going to come up tomorrow.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr">There's the backhand slice working to perfection for Ash Barty already 👌<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Wimbledon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Wimbledon</a> <a href="https://t.co/9Pgb94MhWb">pic.twitter.com/9Pgb94MhWb</a></p>
— 7Sport (@7Sport) <a href="https://twitter.com/7Sport/status/1148176919264804864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 8, 2019</a></blockquote>
<p>Karolina Pliskova will take the title as world No. 1 if she reaches the semi-finals this week.</p>
<p>“It’s out of my control,” the Queensland star said of her ranking.</p>
<p>“We’ve done absolutely everything. I’m so proud of myself and my team over the last six to eight weeks. We’ve had an incredible trip, incredible couple of months.</p>
<p>“If Karolina plays some good tennis, gets to that, then she’ll deserve it. No fighting that.”</p>
<p>Barty paid homage to Riske who had undertaken an extra four hours on court than the Australian in order to get this far.</p>
<p>“You just have to look at her stats on a grass court to show just how dangerous she is. She’s very comfortable on the grass court. It complements her game well,” Barty said.</p>
<p>“In the crunch moments, she came up with her best tennis. When her back is against the wall, she plays really well typically. She did that today. All credit to her.</p>
<p>“She deserves to be in the quarter-finals.”</p>
<p>The Aussie tennis star will return to her home in Brisbane for some well-deserved rest before kicking off in her American hardcourt campaign in Montreal starting from August 5.</p>
<p>“It’s also important to really celebrate what we’ve been able to achieve over the last eight weeks. It’s been an extremely positive time for me and my team,” she said.</p>
<p>“Go and rest and recover with the family back home, then switch focus back to the hard courts.</p>
<p>“In the US, which I love that time of year, I love getting back over to the summertime there.</p>
<p>“I have some really good memories from last year. We go back, we knuckle down, train again, then we go again.”</p>
