Ash Barty: the girl who walked away from tennis — then back to the world number 1 ranking

Ahead of the inaugural Adelaide International event in January, Ash Barty phones in from Beijing to speak candidly about footy, her idols and her knock at Adelaide Oval in the BBL.

• Barty Party heading to Adelaide in January
• How to get the most of your Advertiser digital subscription

It’s immediately apparent the number one slot in the world rankings has not come without considerable muscle.

Midday Monday, she’ll call you, from Beijing, says Ash’s agent. Midday.

Bang on, she does, no flunkey to dial or set a time limit (common) or narrow down the questioning (also common).

“Hi, it’s Ash Barty,” she says, friendly and factual, airs and graces redundant.

She is crisp and concise and speaks as she plays, speedily but targeted, no frills yet engaging.

We start with last Saturday’s Grand Final, even in China, the AFL plays a part.

“I was travelling during the first half but was able to get in to watch the second half. It was pretty good,” she says.

She’s happy, Richmond is her team, Trent Cotchin a mate; she knows her footy.

But why the Tigers, you’re from Brisbane?

It comes from her dad she says, he supported Wests Tigers in the NRL.

“Then I realised there was a Tigers in the AFL …”

Anything tiger in effect, you can feel the warmth down the line, Ash is someone to hang out with clearly.

At which point the phone goes dead. A sore point maybe?

Stream live coverage of the WTA and ATP Tours with ESPN and beIN SPORTS on KAYO. Get your 14-day free trial and start streaming instantly >

Ash Barty certainly loves her footy, especially the Tigers. Picture: Annette Dew

A couple of minutes later she calls back.

China can be a challenge, she says, but it’s not a complaint, that would not be her.

“I’ll call you back if it goes again.”

It’s a snapshot only, but enough. That the player who temporarily walked out on her sport five years ago is now the consummate professional is blindingly obvious. But how?

This leap forward year of a French Open title, world number one ranking and a Federation Cup final in Perth next month has not come about by chance, she says.

“It’s been progressively built up, it really is down to all we have done over the last three years. I have taken my opportunity.”

More than anything Ash Barty is grounded, having family and friends around her she can trust and relate to is imperative, she says. Success would not have happened without them. It’s a group triumph but there’s more to her game than that.

“I don’t look at results and rankings to justify where I am. As long as I have put the effort in that’s all that really matters. There are days when someone will be better than you and play better tennis or you will be off.

“You always have to pick yourself up time and time again, that’s more important than titles and results.”

Just 23-years-old still, she has been around for some time, turning pro at 14 and bringing home the junior Wimbledon title at 15.

Public recognition has picked up since she first hit the top slot in late June but is not yet an imposition. She loves her life every day, she says.

Ash Barty enjoyed success from a young age, winning the junior Wimbledon title at just 15 years of age. Picture: Ella Pellegrini

“I like to have a team and group and people around that don’t really care about all that. They treat me the same, that’s more important to me, people who love no matter what.”

South Australia will be a new frontier, of sorts.

That the Adelaide International ends about 36 hours before the 2020 Australian Open begins is neither here nor there.

“I want to play the new tournament in Adelaide. I feel it’s going to be fantastic, playing matches are the most important thing.”

You don’t need to be in Melbourne she says, and while the remark has context clearly, it will be pleasing for South Australians to hear.

Oddly, while her tennis has hit a new peak, until recently Barty was perhaps best known for her decision to, temporarily, step away from her sport as an 18-year-old.

Her recent rise though has been nothing less than jaw dropping, the first female Australian world’s best since Evonne Goolagong in the 1970s — like Goolagong, Barty has an indigenous heritage through her father — two Newcombe medals (awarded to the year’s most outstanding tennis pro), the Roland Garros big stage breakthrough in June and, possibly the most thrilling of all, the 2019 Fed Cup.

Our tennis is in a good place she says.

Ash Barty says she wants to play the new tournament in Adelaide. Picture: Peter Wallis

“I am incredibly proud of Australian tennis now. The Federation Cup has been a great, it’s a fantastic team.”

She positively glows when it comes to Fed Cup captain, Adelaide’s Alicia Molik. Look there for the team turnaround, says Barty. Australia overcame the USA (away) in April and then Belarus in the semi-finals — both highly tense, down to the wire occasions — to reach its first final since 1993, and has not won since 1974, the glory days under Goolagong and Margaret Court.

She’s glowing again.

“The two Fed Cup ties, to beat the USA was incredible and to have a home tie against Belarus like we did...

“I think every single tennis player wants to play Fed Cup at the moment. Now that we are in a final we are going to do everything we can to win it, it’s just been the most incredible thing to play.

“Alicia has inspired us over the last year, I wouldn’t want to play under anyone else.”

That she is in the zone is in-your-face evident, the people she looks up to outside tennis are athletes too, though unsurprisingly achievement is secondary to inner strength.

“Surfer Stephanie Gilmore, Trent Cotchin, Daisy Peace at the AFLW, people who conduct themselves well over the years,” she nominates.

Ultimately, this is a player who wants to play, 63 matches this year to-date and a busy calendar already for early 2020.

Barty already has a busy calendar ahead for early 2020. Picture: AAP/Darren England

She will contest Brisbane the week before Adelaide and Melbourne the week after. Match play is key she says, there is though the suspicion that she wants to hit as much as she can at home, to spread the goodwill.

Remarkably, although a damning indictment of tennis facilities in South Australia pre Memorial Drive uplift, she has never played a single tennis match in Adelaide, not one. But she’s looking forward to it, she knows exactly where the top tennis facility are.

“I have not played tennis in Adelaide, but I did play cricket (for Brisbane Heat) at Adelaide Oval next door. My experience in Adelaide is limited to the cricket.”

Welcome to Adelaide, Ashleigh Barty.

Originally published as Ash Barty: the girl who walked away from tennis — then back to the world number 1 ranking