 Welcome back to tennis talk. My name's Cam Williams and Ash Barty the world number one has officially pulled out of the WTA finals And for the rest of the season she is not going to be playing at all next week All the WTA finals focusing all our energy on the Australian Open in January This is the statement that she had to bring out only a couple of hours ago Let's go check it out. This is what Barty wrote in a statement saying I wanted to let everyone know that I won't be competing in any further tournaments in 2021 including the WTA finals in Mexico. It was a difficult decision But I need to prioritise my body and my recovery from that 2021 season and focus on having the strongest preseason for the Australian summer With ongoing challenges of traveling back to Queensland and quarantine requirements I'm not willing to compromise my preparation for January I wish the WTA team and the players all the best for a successful WTA finals and the rest of the year So there you have it Ash Barty not playing the WTA finals Which means if you become number nine in that WTA finals race you actually get in this time So it's gonna be interesting to see what happens next week with the final week of the season Number nine will get you into it because Barty's not playing the world number one She had a great season of course She won five titles out of six finals this year She also won a bronze medal in the mixed doubles at the Olympics So she's had a great season Wimbledon being the highlight of that and another year-end world number one as well But it's gonna be disappointing not to see Barty at the year-end finals You want to see the best play in the world playing against the best players in the world And unfortunately we're not going to see that but it makes sense because not only were the conditions going to be so much different Playing in Mexico compared to playing in China in Shenzhen Which is where it's supposed to be the altitude is so much different compared to playing in China from Mexico Mexico is very hard on the body and you can understand Barty doesn't want to go over there and get tired and Compromise herself potentially for the Australian Open the Australian Open is her focus also the quarantine period If she does leave Australia and come back She's gonna have to stay in a hotel for two weeks and she does not want to do that at the end of the season So it makes a lot of sense that Barty's not playing it is disappointing though But let me know down in the comments below can Barty win the Australian Open Let me know because this is where she's kind of putting all her eggs in the basket now She's not playing the WTA finals. Everything is focused on Australia Can she win the Australian Open next year so Ash Barty not playing for the rest of the year and pulled out of the WTA finals