Watch: Home favourite and world no. 1 Ash Barty gets set for the Australian Open

The Australian home favourite has not played a competitive match since last February due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and chose not to defend her French Open title, and also decided not to take part in the US Open last year.

Melbourne: Ashleigh Barty, the world number one women's singles tennis player said on Saturday that she will be "ready to go, ready to play," when the Australian Open starts on February 8th.

The Australian home favourite has not played a competitive match since last February due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and chose not to defend her French Open title, and also decided not to take part in the US Open last year.

"Obviously it's been a long time for me in between playing matches. It's close to a year. I'm excited to be down here. There's nothing like summertime in Australia to kick off kind of our tour for the year. But certainly excited to be here. I know all the Aussies are ready to go. We can't wait to go out there and do our thing. and try and do Australians proud, all over the country," Barty said.

The Gippsland Trophy and Yarra Valley Classic, two WTA 500 events set to be played simultaneously as part of the Melbourne Summer Series, will see Barty return to competitive play after an 11-month absence.

"Yeah, it's a unique year. Last year was also very unique in itself. I think every single person has had a different preparation. That's the beauty of kind of our sport. Everyone can prepare in different ways. Everyone has their own processes that they go through. So we've adapted, we've adjusted and I feel like come first day we'll be ready to go, ready to play, " Barty added.