'It's brutal': Ash Barty speaks out over ugly Olympics 'joke'
Ash Barty described the conditions as "brutal" after being dumped out of the Olympics in a shock first-round boilover.
The World No.1 described her effort as "loose and erratic" after losing to unheralded Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo on Sunday.
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Barty made a staggering 55 unforced errors to the Spaniard's 13, the Queenslander desperately out of sorts 15 days after clinching her second grand slam title.
Barty appeared to struggle in the scorching, humid conditions - which had Daniil Medvedev and Novak Djokovic calling for changes to the scheduling on Saturday.
Although the schedule remained the same on Sunday, a concession was made with longer breaks at changes of ends as part of the extreme weather policy.
But Barty still found the conditions to be tricky.
"It's brutal, like an Australian summer," she told Channel 7.
"I enjoy the heat and love playing out here in these conditions, but wasn't meant to be.
"It was a tough day. A disappointing day. I can't lie about that.
"I can't hide behind that fact that I wanted to do really well here. Today wasn't my day.
"Just loose. I knew I wanted to try to take the match on (and) it would be a fine line of not pushing too hard and not getting in the patterns I didn't want to get stuck in. (I was) too erratic."
Medevedev and Djokovic call for changes
World No.2 Medvedev lashed out over the conditions on Saturday, describing them as "some of the worst" he's ever faced.
“We’re here and we know the matches will be early and you couldn’t practise at this time," he said.
"I don’t think they’re going to change it in the middle of the tournament, but that’s what can be done and the fact we have only one minute between changeovers is a joke.
“I think if you ask 200 tennis players here, I think 195 will say one minute is a joke and it should be 1:30 like it is in Asian tournaments.”
Medvedev suggested moving all matches to the evening and found support from Djokovic.
"I agree with him 100 per cent," Djokovic said after finishing off his first-round match on the Centre Court.
"I actually asked as well. My team captain Viktor Troicki was speaking to the referee a couple of times.
"To be honest I don't understand why they don't start matches at say 3 pm. I heard for tennis there's some kind of curfew for them to finish by midnight.
"If that's the case I just finished the last match. It's not even 5pm.
"We still have like seven hours to play. They have the lights on all the courts, they're going to make life much easier for all of us players.
"I just don't understand why they don't move it, I sincerely don't understand."
Barty's medal hopes now rest on the doubles after she advanced to the second round with Storm Sanders on Saturday.
Her singles exit opens the door for a fairytale Naomi Osaka gold after she made quick work of her first match in nearly two months on Sunday.
with agencies
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