As Ashleigh Barty prepares for the start of Roland Garros on May 24, she insisted Monday that she does not regard herself as the defending champion. The Australian won her only major singles title in Paris in 2019. The tournament was cancelled last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. "It`s a long time since I`ve played at the French Open," she said in a teleconference from Stuttgart on Monday ahead of her first match on European clay in almost two years. 

"It`s a fresh start, a fresh start for everyone at that event." She made clear that her approach was also practical. "If you go into a tournament thinking you`re defending your title, it`s the wrong way to approach it," she said. "It`s a fresh tournament, and it`s a new opportunity." The 24-year-old Barty and American Jennifer Brady crushed American pair Kaitlyn Christian and Sabrina Santamaria 6-3, 6-1 in the Stuttgart doubles round of 16 on Monday.