'She's playing at the top of her game' - John McEnroe feels Ash Barty can end long wait for home Australian Open win

Australians, Melburnians in particular, have not had much to cheer about having had to endure some of the world’s toughest coronavirus restrictions. The pandemic is not over, but restrictions are being eased and Australians could have a party on Saturday night. Ad/> Ash Barty, who has been charged with the task of bringing Australian Open glory to her home country, is one match away from banging down the door and getting her hands on the trophy.

Australian OpenDokic lauds ‘inspirational’ Barty ahead of Australian Open final5 HOURS AGO Federer and Djokovic will be following final closely Rafa the great, Medvedev's meltdown — Aus Open diary Chris O’Neil was the last Australian to lift a singles title, way back in 1978. Since then, only Wendy Turnbull (1980), Kim Warwick (1980), Pat Cash (1987, 1988) and Lleyton Hewitt (2005) have reached the final. Pressure will be on Barty, but John McEnroe believes she could feed off the energy of the crowd.

“I think that she's gonna feel pressure and she's gonna try to use the fans to help her if she needs to,” McEnroe said. “Seems like the mix is working perfectly so far. She has talked about feeling great about playing in front of Australians.