Ashleigh Barty plans to take stock before deciding whether or not to pursue a rare crack at winning both the singles and doubles titles at the WTA season-ending championships.
Barty fell a win short of crowning her triumphant grand slam season with a second straight US Open doubles title after losing Sunday’s final with Victoria Azarenka 7-5 7-5 to third seeds Aryna Sabalenka and Elise Mertens.
After reigning last year with Coco Vandeweghe, Australia’s French Open champion had been bidding to become the first player to claim back-to-back women’s doubles trophies at Flushing Meadows since Nathalie Dechy in 2007.
“It’s satisfying without being completely fulfilled,” Barty said.
“We were so close. We’ve had a hell of a run in doubles and to think we’ve only played a handful of tournaments and we’ve done a really good job this tournament and gone deep.
“Disappointing obviously. We would have loved to have won our first slam together but certainly a fortnight that we’ve enjoyed.”
The 23-year-old can console herself in the knowledge she’ll regain the world No.1 singles ranking on Monday.
And despite the defeat, Barty also remains in strong contention to become the first player to qualify for both the singles and doubles at the year-end championships in China since Karolina Pliskova in 2016.
Barty is already the only player to have secured her entry in singles and is now in ninth spot with Azarenka in the Race to Shenzhen, which features the top eight doubles pairings of the year.
The first-year duo will weigh up whether or not to push for doubles inclusion during the Asian swing.
“I think we just see how both of our bodies are and kind of reassess that,” Barty said.
“Obviously when we both play we want to make sure that we’re 100 per cent healthy and ready to go.”
No woman has pulled off the singles and doubles double at the season-ending championships since Martina Hingis in 2000.
Regardless of which way she goes, Barty will leave New York delighted with her performances at the 2019 majors.
“It has been a great grand slam season,” she said.
“I have made the second week in every grand slam, which is something that I am really proud of.
“It was a goal I set out at the start of the year and I think we have been very consistent across the whole year, which is the most pleasing thing.
“To get back to No.1 is really exciting but it is certainly not something that I am thinking about right now.
“It’s more about digesting what has just happened.”