Barty represents the good in Australian tennis. Something to smile about when you wake up to news about Bernard Tomic dragging his feet through a 58-minute disaster at Wimbledon.

The outrage, however, about Channel 7 chopping and changing between Barty's round-one match and the Nick Kyrgios v Jordan Thompson clash is misplaced.

It was a good decision. Of course, the first preference should have been putting Barty on one channel and Kyrgios on the other.

Channel 7 should hang their heads in shame about failing to do so, although they say contractually they were not allowed to use multiple channels.

So instead of letting the audience choose, Channel 7 chose for us and decided a mix of both was the best option.

Most seem to have billed this as a fight between the world's best female tennis player and Kyrgios. Sunrise presenter Sam Armytage even went as far as apologising for the decision, saying Channel 7 would "work it out" to cover the rest of Barty's matches.

It was a missed opportunity for Channel 7 to capitalise on the wave of support for Barty and the people who want to celebrate her rather than those perceived as "tennis brats".

This is the choice broadcasters must face now: chasing the ratings of a Kyrgios blow up versus investing in new fans to tennis.

If Barty was playing Sam Stosur, for argument's sake and the match was going into a deciding third set, would Channel 7 still have shown more of Kyrgios cruising through against someone Australians have never heard of?

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I'd like to think Barty and Stosur win that argument every day of the week. It's by far the better match. But maybe that's naive. Maybe broadcasters still prefer a Kyrgios blow up. How do you know people don't prefer women's sport if you don't put it on television?

Told about the broadcaster issue, Barty said: "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."

Kyrgios, who has praised Barty for her efforts, said: "I don't have much to do with that. But obviously, I mean, Ash, what she's doing on the tennis court now is pretty special. I actually told a lot of people that I thought she was going to win Wimbledon as well.

"I mean, I thought they probably would show both. I don't really have much to say about that. You know, sorry."

I look forward to seeing more Barty parties on television and around lounge rooms in Australia, particularly if she can win back to back grand slams.

But for people, like Armytage, to say that will happen at the expense of other matches is ludicrous.

The reason why it was a good decision to show both was because many were hanging on every point in the Kyrgios-Thompson match.

Yes - there were racquets being thrown (before you jump to conclusions, it was actually Thompson getting cranky) and plenty of moments to make you shake your head.

This wasn't just a Kyrgios match full of meltdowns. This was a genuine first-round five-set battle between two Australians going hammer and tongs on the court.

The rallies were brilliant, some of the shots were unbelievable and the competition between two players who had known each other since they were nine years old was palpable.

It's understandable some are fed up with Kyrgios after years of failing to meet expectations and being a big-hitting showman rather than the humble player Australian fans crave.

His hot-headed ways have been a television producer's dream for the past five years. You can almost sense them urging him to engage the fans in a blow up or to whack a ball out of the stadium.

It's not a coincidence you could hear every one of Kyrgios' mutterings but almost nothing from Thompson.

The challenge for tennis broadcasters from now on is juggling the new wave of interest Barty is bringing to the sport and finding out why people are watching.

People are watching Barty for very different reasons than the people who watch Kyrgios.

Barty is a cool-headed player with a classic style. She's not the biggest hitter or the trick-shot star. Barty is a hard-worker and a winner.

There's no doubt she deserves the accolades, the attention and the rewards of being the world's best and a grand slam champion.

The new fans she brought to Channel 7 turned off because they showed more of Kyrgios playing Thompson than they did of Barty beating Zheng Saisai in straight sets.

But to be fair to Channel 7, Kyrgios had been playing since 8pm (AEST) and many, like me, had been watching the rollercoaster match from the start.

Barty's match started at 10pm. There were plenty of times I was ready to go to bed before then, convinced either Kyrgios or Thompson would implode.

The voice in my head kept saying "one more game" and I'm glad it did, because if it wasn't for their entertaining match I might not have made it to 10pm to see Barty start her campaign.

Who wins the next battle? We won't have to wait long to find out because Kyrgios' clash against Rafael Nadal could go head to head with Barty taking on Alison Van Uytvanck.