World No. 1 Ash Barty was reportedly denied a home quarantine period after returning Down Under, despite testing negative to Covid-19 on at least 68 occasions this year.

The Australian tennis star has endured a gruelling, albeit successful, 2021 season in which she was on the road for six months straight.

After leaving Australian shores back in March, Barty finally returned home for a two-week quarantine in late September.

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But according to AAP, the 25-year-old’s application for a home quarantine period was denied.

“For travellers coming back, if you’re an Australian overseas, they don’t make it easy,” Barty’s coach Craig Tyzzer told AAP.

“You can’t get flights, it’s ridiculously expensive and you’ve got to do two weeks’ quarantine in a hotel where you can’t open windows.

“You get tested basically the same amounts in the tournaments, both players and their teams.

“So we were up to 68 when Ash left for London and I left to come home to Australia.

“It’s part of what we had to put up with this year. It’s not much fun.

“You know at least everybody around you and in the tournaments are safe and COVID-free so it certainly enables you to operate.

“But to come back and do another couple of weeks (in quarantine) after two tests and finding out you’re negative, it’s a bit ridiculous.”

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Barty had opted out of next month’s Billie Jean King Cup teams event in Prague.

She is also unlikely to venture overseas to defend her season-ending WTA championship in Mexico, which would require a second stint of quarantine on return home and interrupt her build-up to the Australian Open next January.

“Obviously having the right (Australian Open) lead-up is ideal. Being able to get a pre-season in is massive,” Tyzzer told AAP.

“So obviously the more time we get to work on the things we need to work on and progress in this sport will give us the best opportunity coming into the summer, that’s for sure.”

Barty’s decision to skip the 12-team Billie Jean King Cup finals leaves Wimbledon quarter-finalist Ajla Tomljanovic to spearhead an otherwise inexperienced Australian line-up.

Tomljanovic, who has reached a career-high world ranking of 47, will be joined by West Australians Astra Sharma and Storm Sanders alongside debutants Ellen Perez from Wollongong and 19-year-old Queenslander Olivia Gadecki.

Australian captain Alicia Molik sees Barty’s absence as a huge opportunity for Tomljanovic, who has had a career-best year that included losing to Barty in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

“Ajla has had an incredible year and this is a great opportunity for her to lead the team,” Molik said.

“Storm and Astra are both tremendous team players and it’s exciting to welcome Ellen and Olivia to the team for the first time.

“Representing your country is a huge honour and always brings out the best in our team. It was an incredible effort to reach the final of the Fed Cup in 2019, and I’m expecting the team to bring the same grit to do our country proud in Prague.”

– with NCA NewsWire