Ash Barty got her Wimbledon campaign off to a winning start with a 6-4 6-2 victory over world No. 43 Zheng Saisai but most of Australia missed it due to the Seven Network’s coverage.

As Seven showed the tennis on Seven Two and not their main channel, a decision was made to show the battle between Aussie men Nick Kyrgios and Jordan Thompson for most of the time Barty was on court instead of the newly crowned world No. 1. As a decision it was not popular.

Several critics lashed out at the broadcaster on social media for their decision to show the entertaining and volatile showdown in large chunks and hardly any of the Barty match, while True Stories aired on their main network.

Told about the situation after her match, Barty was asked if broadcasters should make sure everyone gets a fair run, particularly with respect to women’s tennis.

“How do you want me to answer that one? If people can watch my matches, great, if they can’t, they can’t. That’s up to the broadcaster, that’s not up to me,” she said.

Fox Sports and streaming service Kayo showed both matches as part of its Wimbledon coverage. As Fox Sports and Kayo have multiple channels on offer, viewers have the choice of which match to watch.

The outcry about the decision forced Seven to address the broadcasting conflict on Sunrise on Wednesday morning.

Seven sport presenter Mark Beretta said Seven producers made the difficult decision that it couldn’t cut the Kyrgios-Thompson match as it was headed to a fifth set blockbuster.

“Very difficult decisions,” Beretta said.

“So Nick Kyrgios’ match started at 11pm. So 1am is when Ash’s match actually starts, but Nick Kyrgios and Jordan Thompson are slugging it out over five sets. They run long. People have been watching for two hours and at the climax of the match, we’re gonna say, ‘Let’s go to Ash now’. That’s the difficult decision.

“So what we did, we showed a bit of Ash, and the best of Ash that was happening and the best (of the other match) and we flicked between the two matches until Nick was done and then we went with Ash. That’s how it unfolded. And the nature of our arrangement with Wimbledon is that we can only show one match on one channel at any one time. So it was not an option to show it on two channels.

“It’s like watching a movie for two hours and then just before the finish you change it.”

However, Kyrios’ match actually started at 8pm AEST and 11am local time, and Barty was on court just before 11pm AEST.

Host David Koch said the decision by Channel 7 was like leaving “Mother Teresa” out in the cold.

Network star Sam Armytage even issued an apology to Australian viewers.

“We’re sorry, hopefully we can work it out and we’ll bring you the rest of Ash Barty’s matches,” she said.

Barty’s mentor and close friend Casey Dellacqua took to Twitter on Wednesday to declare Seven’s explanation didn’t quite cut it.

Hmm can’t help but wonder if the roles were reversed & u were showing a women’s match with 2 aussies & we had a world number #1 male start playing on another court that u wouldn’t stop the coverage & cross over to the that match 🤷‍♀️ I LOVE Nick & Thommo too FYI. Just a thought 💁‍♀️ — Casey Dellacqua OLY (@caseydellacqua) July 2, 2019

Among the critics of Channel 7’s decision were ABC Executive Editor John Lyons, who tweeted: “Genuine question: Why is Channel 7 (7Two) broadcasting Nick Kyrgios — the world’s Number Whatever male player — when at the very same time Ash Barty — the world Number 1 female player — also an Australian — is playing? Seven, there is something seriously wrong with your judgment.”

Genuine question: Why is Channel 7 (7Two) broadcasting Nick Kyrgios - the world's Number Whatever male player - when at the very same time Ash Barty - the world Number 1 female player - also an Australian - is playing? Seven, there is something seriously wrong with your judgment. — John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) July 2, 2019

He was followed by The Advertiser sports writer Rob Greenwood, who hammered Seven for multiple aspects of their broadcast.

“So not only are we forced to watch #Kyrgios v Thompson in standard definition — a joke in 2019 — we now get only snippets of World No.1 #Barty in action at change of ends in the men’s match. Bizarre #Wimbledon coverage from @7Sport”

So not only are we forced to watch #Kyrgios v Thompson in standard definition - a joke in 2019 - we now get only snippets of World No.1 #Barty in action at change of ends in the men’s match. Bizarre #Wimbledon coverage from @7Sport . #Wimbledon2019 — Rob Greenwood (@robgreenwood1) July 2, 2019

That pair were followed by several others who were unhappy with the coverage of the tennis.

Why are we watching Kyrgios when women’s number one in the world is playing? @ashbar96 @channel7 C’mon! #Wimbledon19 — Sally Sara (@sallyjsara) July 2, 2019

Channel 7 is utterly stumped because there are two matches featuring Australians on at the same time.



Amateur hour — Greg Jericho (@GrogsGamut) July 2, 2019

Hey @Channel7 why the hell were we watching #43 #Kyrgios when #1 #ashbarty is playing and it is now her 5th game?? Can’t help wonder if genders were reversed..... #wimbleton — Fiona Patten MP (@FionaPattenMLC) July 2, 2019

I’m loving the Kyrgios and Thompson match but what’s the go with not running Barty’s game on one of the other #7sport channels? I’d turn over to see our new world number one for sure #wimbledon — Lawrence Champness (@champy) July 2, 2019

How could @7Sport possibly be expected to predict that people would want to watch #Barty? Not like she's #1 or something! — Erin Delahunty (@della79) July 2, 2019

Dear @7sport



I would rather watch world number 1 @ashbar96 live on TV than the petulance of Nick Kyrgios.

And I don’t reckon I am alone.#wimbledon19 #barty — Mark Hawthorne (@HawthorneMark) July 2, 2019

The match itself wasn’t all smooth sailing and the first set had nervous moments as Zheng rallied from a break down to get it back to 4-4 before Barty held serve and then broke to take the opening set.

From there she displayed more of the form that took her to titles at Roland Garros and Eastbourne and claimed her 13th straight victory on tour.

Despite the early nerves Barty was pleased with the round one victory.

“The first round is always very tough and it took a little bit of time to get used to the conditions and get used to that beautiful court,” Barty said of the new number one court before speaking on what it feels like to be top seed at a grand slam.

“It feels incredible,” she added.

“It’s a little bit of a bizarre feeling to be honest but I just try and go about my business the exact same way.”

Barty will now play Alison van Uytvanck, the Belgian world No.54 for a place in the third round on Thursday after she beat former world No.2 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4 4-6 6-2 in her first round match.

NOTABLE WOMEN’S RESULTS

Sam Stosur didn’t enjoy the same success as her compatriot Barty, losing to Carla Suarez Navarro in straight sets, Eugenie Bouchard lost a nailbiter and Maria Sharapova retired when down 0-5 in the third set against Pauline Parmentier.

Top seeds Serena Williams, Petra Kvitova and Sloane Stephens all won, as did British favourite Johanna Konta.