© Matt Turner/AAP PHOTOSWorld No.1 Ash Barty says she can't be expected to win every match after another upset loss.
Ash Barty knows what you're thinking: she's world No.1, so should win every match.
But Barty says the public expectation will never stack up with reality as she grapples with a second shock loss in a week.
Barty's Adelaide International title defence crashed at the first hurdle with a straight-sets loss to American Danielle Collins.
Collins won 6-3 6-4 at Memorial Drive on Wednesday night as Barty twice conceded five consecutive games to the American world No.37.
Barty's sudden exit came seven days after her upset Australian Open quarter-final defeat to Karolina Muchova.
But rather than signal a downturn, Barty says the defeats are simply part and parcel of playing on the professional circuit.
"You know that there are no easy matches going into any tournament," Barty said.
"From an expectation of a public point of view, I think that (winning all the time) is their views and that's their opinions and they are 100 per cent able to voice those.
"But I think from a playing perspective, it's about what do we expect from us as players and what do we bring to the court each day. We bring the right professionalism and prepare in the right way.
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"And in the end, the result, it just is what it is, it's not always going to go your way.
"You can't win every single tennis match. But you can sure as hell approach it the right way.
"And from my team and from me, we did that this week and we just didn't quite get that result."
Barty will now take stock before deciding if, where and when she will play again outside of Australia.
The Queenslander was absent from the world tour for almost 12 months before returning to competitive play on February 2 - she has since played 11 matches in 22 days.
But amid global coronavirus uncertainty, Barty doesn't know when her next match will be.
"We will sit down like we always do at the end of a match after a tournament and look at what is next," she said.
"I will have that discussion with my team in the next day or so to work out as best we can what we will do moving forward.
"Obviously it's an ever-changing world that we're living in now, things can change quite dramatically quite quickly."
Organisers of April's Porsche Grand Prix are evidently confident Barty will be in Stuttgart for their star-studded opening to the clay court season.
They announced on Wednesday that Barty would be joined by second-ranked Simona Halep and newly-crowned Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka.
Organisers also quoted Barty as saying: "Stuttgart will be a great way to begin my European clay swing ... I am really looking forward to playing the event for the first time."