Ash Barty suffers injury scare on eve of Wimbledon

New world No.1 Ashleigh Barty has withdrawn from the Eastbourne International due to an arm injury.

The 23-year-old insists the problem, which has affected her right arm since she was a teenager, will not hurt her Wimbledon hopes and has opted to rest this week following her success at the Birmingham Classic on Sunday.

"It's an injury I've had to manage since I was 16-years-old," Barty said at Devonshire Park on Monday.

"It happens when I have a spike in load, it's just a bone stress injury and I need to look after it.

"We know how to manage it but it is important to get on top of it straight away."

‘Should be fine’

Barty will be top seed at Wimbledon, which starts on July 1, but the Queenslander, who also played doubles at Birmingham before withdrawing at the semi-final stage, believes her plans for the All England won't be hindered too much.

"We pulled out of the doubles to give it the best chance to be ready for (the) singles (final)," she said.

"It has been taken over the edge now and it is time to let my body rest, and manage it as best we can to make sure we are ready for next week.

"At the moment we know how we have to plan it over the next three or four days so we know it can be as good as it can be. If we do that well we should be fine.

"It's about rest, it's time off court and then monitoring how many balls I do hit when I am on court.

"It's an injury I have had since I was 16-years-old and It's just certain times of the year I have to be careful.

"When I have a heavy week I have just make sure I am doing the right things."