World number one Ashleigh Barty is playing her first tournament since the Olympics in Cincinnati this week but has admitted she doesn’t feel comfortable at this event.

The 25-year-old won her second Grand Slam title at Wimbledon earlier this year and has consolidated her ranking as the best player in the world.

Yet, despite enjoying a stellar 2021 to date, the Australian has stressed she doesn’t feel at ease on hard court surfaces –– particularly at this venue.

Speaking ahead of the competition, the two-time major winner stated: “This is a place where I’ve never quite felt 100 percent comfortable. But we’ve got New York right around the corner. This period of the year is always an enjoyable one, I can’t wait to get started back into some matches again.”

During her career so far, Barty has never reached beyond the semi-final of a hard court major but did win the Miami Open back in March. While that suggests the Aussie is more than capable of winning on this surface, she reiterated that conditions in Cincinnati will be far different to Miami.

“Miami was my last hard court tournament, and the conditions there are vastly different from here. It’s going to take some time to adjust, without a doubt. But we’ll just keep chipping away and try and get the best chance in each and every match.”

Barty has received a bye through to the second round and will face Britain’s Heather Watson.

The 29-year-old has been desperately unlucky with injuries in recent years, which have hampered her hopes of consolidating a top 50 ranking.

Nonetheless, the Brit enters this match on a good run of form, having beaten Katie Volynets and Rebecca Peterson in qualifying, before a three sets victory over Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the first round.

Elsewhere, Coco Gauff faces Hseih Su-wei in the last 64, with the winner set to meet Naomi Osaka in round two.

British number one Johanna Konta also makes her return from injury, having withdrawn from her tie against Gauff at the Canadian Open last week. She faces world number 24 Karolína Muchová as she bids to regain her fitness ahead of the US Open later this month.