Rise of Ash Barty and how she found the courage to believe
Aussie champion Ash Barty comes into US Open believing she can to push herself out of her comfort zone to claim the title at Flushing Meadows, Jessica Halloran writes.
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Belief has been one of Ashleigh Barty’s greatest weapons this year.
It shows no signs of abating on the eve of the US Open.
Barty, the No.2 seed, this week said she is more driven and hungry than ever heading into the final grand slam of 2019. She has no injuries, is “feeling good”, and her boyfriend Garry Kissick, as well as parents Rob and Josie, have made the trip to New York to support her.
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While Barty is the reigning US Open champion in doubles, her growth over the past 12 months is evident in the fact she returns to Flushing Meadows as a top contender for the grand slam singles title.
“Last year at the US Open I had an incredible run of tennis,” Barty said.
“I had a bit of a breakout in singles, making the second week for the first time and finally getting over that last hurdle in the doubles with CoCo [Vandeweghe] was incredible.
“I think it’s been a genuine progression of my tennis. And a goal for us this year was to try and do well in grand slams, and we have been able to do that. Hopefully we have one more big push here in New York and for the rest of the season we can finish well.”
It’s been a stunning rise for the 23-year-old, who has not only held the world No.1 ranking but also won the French Open and there’s no doubt she’s a favourite for the US Open title.
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Barty has a strong, tight-knit team around her, including coach Craig Tyzzer, but another man that has also helped Barty believe in herself and achieve her goals — such as becoming world No. 1 — over the past year is performance coach Ben Crowe.
Crowe joined “Team Barty” just over 12 months ago.
Barty’s manager Nikki Craig encouraged his addition to the team as she believed it could help the athlete grow.
Crowe is a former Nike director who has worked with seven-time world champion surfer Stephanie Gilmore and Andre Agassi as well as top sporting bodies such as Cricket Australia.
Crowe tells this column he stepped in after Barty’s disappointing Wimbledon performance in 2018, where she lost in straight sets in the third round, and has been impressed by her will to grow since their first meeting.
“She had a setback in Wimbledon last year and she was open to getting some help that she felt she needed to grow in, both personally and professionally,” Crowe said.
“The speed of her progression, has been quite profound. She was definitely ready to lean into the risk and the uncertainty and the emotional exposure that comes with learning about yourself and going through that journey.”
Crowe said that from when they started working together Barty set out to “grow” as a person first and foremost and then as athlete “secondarily”.
“It can be quite emotional and confronting to go and find out who you are and what you want,” Crowe said.
Crowe’s main ambition was to encourage Barty to be “vulnerable”. That is being open to “outside influences”, listening and learning to others and being “open minded”.
It also includes openly, publicly voicing her hopes and dreams — putting it all out there in the “universe”.
You’ll notice that Barty is unafraid in press conference to be positive, to talk big, say she wants to win a grand slam title or be the world No.1. Crowe actively encourages this.
That takes courage.
— Ash Barty (@ashbar96) June 8, 2019
“I think she has this beautiful balance of courage with consideration,” Crowe said.
“Courage to push herself out of her comfort zone and follow her dreams and goals. But she’s also considerate to at the end of day that it is not all about her; but the impact she can have on someone else’s life.
“She has said that publicly, if she can be a role model to another young boy or girl, to be a little bit braver, to have a bit more courage to push themselves, then that’s success for her.”
And while some elite athletes can very easily get caught up in public expectation, social media noise, Barty has also made a firm effort to not get too tied up in all of that.
Crowe has also encouraged her to enjoy the ride, “the fun” of being involved in sport. He reintroduced a ‘lightness’ in the way she approaches life to help her be successful.
“She doesn’t get caught up in the external distractions like media/social media, like the expectations of others, which is sometimes unintentionally placed on athletes and distracts them from their role,” Crowe said.
“That has been a massive tick on her part.”
“She knows that tennis is what she does and it is not who she is. It doesn’t define Ash Barty the person.
“That person has so much depth to her. She always wants to focus on that learning and growing as a person and then in a professional capacity.”
“It’s very inside out.”
Barty has had a low-key lead-up to the US Open. She has been training for a week in Winston Salem, playing in an exhibition tournament, which provided Barty the chance to focus with her team in the quiet US town.
Crowe has been an invaluable addition of “Team Barty”, whose members all share values around “humility, humanity, respect, hard work, humour and perspective”.
“She has the most beautiful sense of gratitude for what she has,” Crowe said.
“She doesn’t have any sense of entitlement or it is ‘all about me’. She has shifted this ‘I’ to ‘we’.
“It’s very, very rare in the tennis world, Andre Agassi had it, and always spoke about the ‘we’ and building a team. Ash has does that as well.
“She has a great appreciation of what she has. She doesn’t take things for granted.”
Originally published as Rise of Ash Barty and how she found the courage to believe
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