Crash Craddock: Ash Barty’s playing style will transform tennis for decades
Ash Barty’s Australian Open triumph will ensure her long reign as World No.1 continues as puts her within sight of some of tennis’ all-time greats. Crash Craddock gives his thoughts.
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It was a win for the ages – a bygone age when poise beat power and a future age set to be shaped by the majesty of Ash Barty.
Magnificent Barty has taken tennis back to the future by becoming the hoodoo-cracking guru of Australian sport when she beat super-scrapping American Danielle Collins 6-3, 7-6 in a wonderful Australian Open final.
Barty’s victory ended Australia’s 44-year women’s home title drought spanning back to when Chris O’Neil won the women’s title in 1978.
But where O’Neil was unseeded and surprised herself and the world, world No. 1 Barty had to drag the ball and chain of being a hot favourite in every game she played.
When she nailed match point Barty, for the first time in the tournament, let herself go with a primeval roar. Then another.
“I kind of do not realise I did it … it just kind of came out,” Barty said of the exhale of emotion.
“The whole week I have felt quite reserved on court just because the last two weeks because I have been trying to be process-oriented. Unreal. That is not me.”
She turned the Open into the Melbourne Massacre, failing to lose a set and her subtle skill set ended up having the force of one of those tropical Queensland thunder storms which have whipped through her home region of Springfield this summer.
Barty’s victory was well celebrated by legend Rod Laver, present on the night, because it took tennis back to a more charming, nuanced age where the scalpel would beat the sledgehammer.
Barty’s junior coach Jim Joyce, who taught the champion many of her tricks, believes Barty will change the game for the next 10 years as players lessen their search for raw power to try and replicate her deft touch.
Collins, a raw, unchained, ball of aggression, was an unnervingly fearless opponent and Barty did well to beat her.
Nicknamed Danimal because of her combative nature, the American tried to take down Barty in the same way that Madison Keys, Amanda Anisimova and Camilla Giorgi did before her – by blowing the front door off its hinges.
It was clear from the start of the final that Collins, powerful, aggressive and a veritable speed machine around the court, would give Barty a contest superior to anything she has faced this summer.
Barty knew she could not out-slug her so she had to try and outfox her, pick her apart thread by thread and hang on to the rhythms of the match by her fingernails when they were flapping wildly.
Collins, full of fist pumping aggression, was so good she temporarily wobbled Barty’s game out of shape and tested her composure.
But the champion was sensational in the way she held her nerve and recovered from two breaks down in the second set.
Barty’s victory is also a triumph for the very best manners the sport has to offer, from her appreciation of opponents to the gracious, humble acknowledgment of victory.
With Roger Federer, the sport’s Prince Charming, fading and the behaviour of some leading men such Daniil Medvedev appalling, Barty could become the unofficial custodian of the sport’s best traditions.
Tennis needs Barty more than it thinks it does.
Even apart from the fact that it was such an epic drought-breaker, this Grand Slam victory had a different vibe from Barty’s other two.
Her French Open win in 2019 was not a total shock but she was eighth seed so there was still a sense she was defying the odds.
Last year’s Wimbledon win was more expected but when anyone wins their first Wimbledon there is a sense of numb disbelief about it no matter how fancied they are.
But this one had sense of destiny about it from the week before it started when she breezed through the Adelaide warm-up tournament as if her opponents were playing with a table tennis racquet.
Barty has now won the same amount of Grand Slams as former world number ones Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati, is one shy of Kim Clijsters and two away from Maria Sharapova and Martina Hingis. She’s breathing rarefied air and she’s just 25.
In time she should round up those just above her up, especially given, in the short term at least, there is no truly exceptional rival blocking her way.
And even if there was, the Federer-Djokovic-Nadal Grand Slam club – with 60 between them – proves the tennis jungle can feed more than one lion at a time and you can share your way to greatness.
Along with her coach Craig Tyzzer, Barty’s mind coach Ben Crowe has played a key role in her success, detaching her sense of self-worth from wins and losses which is such a significant and underestimated challenge.
Losses don’t destroy her. The ups don’t punch a hole in the ozone layer or see her collapsing on the court with jubilation or relief.
You can want something too much. But that was Barty’s secret. She didn’t snatch at it or glorify it. There was no sense this was the be-all. There was always next year and the year after that.
Top Australian sportspeople playing on global circuits normally reside overseas closer to the action but fame has only deepened her connection with her home region in Springfield, Ipswich.
During her recent break she started coaching her five year old niece and her friends, and luxuriated in life’s simple joys such as watching the Test cricket, having fish and chips in the park and coffee with her sisters.
The sheer, uncluttered normality of her life is her anchor.
For the past two weeks there was a sense we were watching the tennis version of Winx in a black and white dress – flawlessly predictable and somehow unstoppable.
Without any fuss or fanfare she is surging through the list of legends to carry the world number one ranking for the longest period of time and her 114 weeks at the top are bettered only by Steffi Graf (377 weeks), Navratilova (332), Serena Williams (319), Chris Evert (260), Martina Hingis (209), Monica Seles (178) and Justine Henin (117).
She is starting to walk with the greats of her game … and her best years may well be to come.
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