The Miami Open is currently stealing all of the headlines, but attention will soon turn to the WTA clay court season.
It has been a busy few weeks during the sunshine double, with Mirra Andreeva winning Indian Wells after beating Aryna Sabalenka.
Andreeva was unable to back this up, while Sabalenka looks to win her first Miami Open title after suffering some heartbreaking losses already this year.
One of the other major recent stories has been Alexandra Eala, who stunned Iga Swiatek to become the first ever Filipino to reach the semi-finals of a WTA 1000 tournament.
Following the conclusion of the Miami Open the clay court season will commence, with the Charleston Open one of many upcoming tournaments.
Charleston Open release statement after ‘accidentally’ announcing Ash Barty
With the prestigious Charleston Open gearing up to hold its 53rd edition next week, fans have been looking at the player list for the WTA 500 tournament.
Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys, Qinwen Zheng and defending champion Danielle Collins are some of the top seeds playing in Charleston this year.
Fans also noticed on the Charleston Open website that former world number one Ash Barty, who retired three years ago, was present on the entry list.
Placed with wildcard next to her name, Barty’s appearance on this list started to catch attraction with fans expressing their disbelief on social media.
One fan just wrote, “ASHLEIGH BARTY?!!?” as they seemingly could not believe what they were seeing.
However, this excitement was short lived, as the Charleston Open tournament clarified that this was a mistake on their behalf and Barty would not be returning to the WTA Tour.
“Looks like our new website got a little too excited and accidentally listed Ashleigh Barty as a wildcard recipient,” the statement read on X (formerly known as Twitter). “We promise the only surprises moving forward will be on the court!”
Something that also appeared to be forgotten in amongst all the excitement is that Barty is currently pregnant with her second child.
Could Ash Barty ever come out of retirement?
Barty is a three-time Grand Slam champion, and shocked the world when she retired at just 25-years-old in 2022.
She was world number one at the time, with her last ever professional match coming in the Australian Open final where she beat the aforementioned Collins to make history for her nation.
Although Barty has made some appearances in exhibition doubles matches at major tournaments, she has been very clear that a return to the WTA Tour is not on the cards.
When speaking in a press conference at Wimbledon last year, Barty ruled out a return, “You guys are killing me! I don’t know how much more I can say it. Anyone have a thesaurus for a word that I can use for ‘no’? No, mate… no I’m not [coming back].”
Barty is currently stepping into a new chapter of her life after announcing her second pregnancy in December last year, following giving birth to her son, Hayden, in July 2023.
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