Ashleigh Barty is not dwelling on her deflating Australian Open semi-final defeat, instead drawing only positives from another breakout summer.
Always a glass-half full kind of girl, Barty preferred to celebrate a career-best run to the last four of her home grand slam with team beers than mope about following her 7-6 (8-6) 7-5 loss to rising American Sofia Kenin.
The 23-year-old also landed her maiden WTA title in Australia in Adelaide, after losing her season opener in Brisbane, to consolidate her position atop the rankings with nine January wins.
“It’s been a hell of a summer,” Barty said before tweeting a photo enjoying some quiet drinks with her family and tight-knit entourage.
“I mean, if you would have told me three weeks ago that we would have won a tournament in Adelaide, made the semi-finals of the Australian Open, I’d take that absolutely every single day of the week.”
The French Open champion carried the hopes of a nation while trying to break Australia’s 42-year title curse.
“I’ve learnt so much over the past month,” Barty said.
“I’ve learnt from all of the experiences that I’ve kind of been thrown into. I’ve loved every minute.
“I won’t wait a year to put those into practice. I’ll put those into practice next week.
“The next time I walk out on court, the next time I kind of wake up in the morning, every experience you need to learn from. I’ve done that.
“I feel like as a team we’ve grown. We’ve enjoyed every single minute.
“I can’t wait to get started for kind of the rest of the year.
“I feel like it’s going to happen pretty quickly and we’re going to be back sitting at this table with an Australian summer next year.”
Barty will take a short break to take stock before returning to the court in Dubai, then head to the US for the American hardcourt swing.
“We kind of debrief it, we enjoy it, we celebrate it,” she said of her Open campaign.
“You don’t get these opportunities every single week. We get to enjoy the experiences that we’ve learned, the experiences that we’ve had over the last month.
“Then gear up for the next few tournaments, kind of the start of the US summer.”