Australian Open 2022 - Ash Barty is a world No. 1, but a decidedly local tennis hero

MELBOURNE, Australia — In a world where players barely have enough time to call one place home, Ash Barty is a decidedly Australian champion. She has said it herself, she's a «hermit,» and has been avoiding the recent COVID-19 spike in Australia at home in Queensland.

«A good book and a coffee, and I'm set,» she said following her second-round win at the Australian Open.

She's the favourite to win the lot at her home Slam, yet there's not a massive amount of fanfare about her — neither here nor outside of Australia, at least, not just yet.

To many overseas tennis fans and media outlets, Barty isn't the story of every Grand Slam and hasn't been despite one of the longest stays at the top of the rankings since Serena Williams dominated the scene. The spotlight is often on Naomi Osaka, the 13th seed at the Australian Open and Barty's likely fourth-round matchup (so long as both Barty and Osaka take care of their third-round opponents Camila Giorgi and Amanda Anisimova, respectively).

There's a perception that some still see Barty as a transitional No. 1, someone who takes the mantle while the next dominant force gets ready. After all, her rise into the slot has coincided somewhat with a vacuum of old school, raw star power in the women's game. The Williams sisters — not in Melbourne this time around — are in the twilight of their careers, and will follow some big names of the game into the sunset.

But Barty has been world No. 1 for 88 weeks in this decade thus far. In two and a bit years, that's a longer reign than all but Serena Williams (236 weeks) in the 2010s (Caroline Wozniacki was No. 1 for 71 weeks), and all but Justine Henin (117 weeks) throughout the 2000s. Admittedly, there was a hold on rankings for some time