Ash Barty’s father Rob celebrates daughter’s Wimbledon triumph

Ash Barty’s parents were celebrating at 2am and reflecting on their inspirational daughter, and the moment they thought she was done with tennis.

It’s 2.15am. Non-drinker Rob Barty has had nothing stronger than a Coke (no sugar) but he’s full of beans and happy to open up about his astonishing daughter Ash.

“I can remember one day walking down to one of her private lessons with Jim Joyce and she was nine years old,’’ Rob said from the family home in Ipswich.

“She said, ‘Dad, do you think Serena (Williams) will still be playing when I am No.1 in the world?’ ’’

She was indeed, but to make the call – then make it happen – was a telling insight into inner fibre of a small girl with big dreams.

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Then, of course, there was the year when Ash, exhausted by the pressures of life on the road, temporarily gave the game away and played cricket with the Brisbane Heat.

WATCH: The moment Ash Barty's family saw her win 😍 https://t.co/gsomS00zjMpic.twitter.com/xd1ccRcjGy

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Some voices said she would inevitably find her way back to tennis. Rob wasn’t one of them.

“I was 100 per cent certain she would never return to tennis. It was done and dusted.

“It was just that day she spent 10 minutes on the court hitting with Casey Dellacqua and she realised she still loved the sport and wanted to play again.’’

Ash Barty poses with the winner’s Venus Rosewater Dish trophy.

Barty rose from 325 in the world to No.1 after her break from the game and the fact that her career was once teetering on the verge of extinction added layers of substance and sweetness to this mornings result.

“We are completely overjoyed. I loved tonight when things were going against her that she smiled and didn’t let things get to her and that comes back to (mental coach) Ben Crowe.

“Winning Wimbledon was something she spoke to her first coach Jim Joyce about on several occasions. When she won junior Wimbledon they thought that was really good but you can win Wimbledon itself. That is what she has been targeting all those years.’’

Ash Barty with her father Rob and mother Josie. Picture: Nic Morley

They say you meet the child and you meet the parents and this seems very much the case with the sensible, sincere and no-fuss Bartys.

Tennis has a sad reputation for being populated with domineering parents but the Bartys have deliberately gone the other ways.

“We have never been involved in her tennis. All we have tried to be is mum and dad. Jim had full run of the mill when she was little. We said, ‘OK, that is what we have to do’.

“We worked hard on making all three girls good, well-respected human beings. We never wanted any of them to misbehave or carry on.’’

Ash Barty playing tennis as an eight-year-old.

Within an hour of her victory Ash was on the phone to her family, who watched the match at the Gold Coast at the home of Ash’s manager Nikki Mathias.

“Ash can’t wait to get home. She knows she is on a long journey and won’t be home until November. She is dying to get back. But she talks to her sisters and her mum every day with Facetime. She is very much a family person.’’

Originally published as Ash Barty’s father Rob celebrates daughter’s Wimbledon triumph