Winning Wimbledon won’t change Ash Barty’s down to earth personality and family values

It’s a decade since Ash Barty won the Wimbledon juniors. And while everything around her has changed, ‘Aunty Ash’ is exactly the same.

Ash Barty has a Wimbledon title to win on Saturday night but first she has another commitment … family Facetime.

Whether it’s Wimbledon final day or a quiet day on the tour Barty likes to check in on a daily basis with her parents Rob and Josie or her sisters Ali and Sarah.

Barty is top of the pops with her two nieces and nephew after “Aunty Ash’’ sent a box of presents from the French Open with some Roland Garros outfits.

The next batch could be even more significant and sentimental …

On Saturday night Barty could be a Wimbledon champion and you know what will change … not much at all.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for Barty to change her address to a tax haven like the Bahamas.

She will still live at Springfield, Ipswich, near her family, once dubbing her home region “the best place in the world.’’

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Ash Barty celebrates after booking her place in the Wimbledon final. Picture: AFP Photo

You’ll still find her hitting balls at the Brookwater Golf Club. She’ll still head to her favourite local coffee shop when she comes home and be seen walking her dogs in the park and occasionally running into old school mates.

She’ll still support Richmond and if she can see them live, with a cold beer in hand in the grandstand away from the more formal corporate world, it’s happy days.

Barty likes English pubs so if she wins she might find a favourite one for a quiet ale or glass of wine but don’t expect the din of a St George Dragons house party. It’s not her style.

Her phone will buzz will messages from fans and friends from all walks of life including her former teammates from the Brisbane Heat cricket team she played for.

When she won the French Open, Heat teammate Grace Harris sent her a text insisting she drink a beer out of the trophy and Barty responded “Harry it’s actually got clay in the bottom of it.’’

It’s five years since Barty played her last game for the Brisbane Heat and she could become the only Wimbledon champion to hit a straight six at Victoria’s Junction Oval.

The text messages between her and her former teammates still flow on a regular basis.

“I know she had got a few messages from the cricket girls during Wimbledon,’’ former Heat teammate Jess Jonassen said.

“She congratulated everyone when the Queensland Fire won the WNCL this season which was great. I’ll look forward to celebrating her performance this weekend if all goes to plan.’’

It’s 10 years since Barty won the Wimbledon juniors title and passed up on a chance to go to the Wimbledon ball in Park Lane, instead donning a Queensland Institute of Sport tracksuit and flying home where she celebrated with a family barbecue.

Ash Barty arriving home with her mother after winning junior Wimbledon 10 years ago.

As she arrived home and moved through the customs door, she looked up at a bank of television cameras and smiled sheepishly as if she was not quite sure of what she had done.

A decade later there is still a sense she can barely believe her dream could come true.

Barty with her junior Wimbledon trophy. Picture: AP Photos

BARTY READY TO FULFIL DREAM SHE DIDN’T THINK WAS POSSIBLE

Jacquelin Magnay

Australia’s superstar tennis player Ashleigh Barty said moments after reaching the Wimbledon final that it was “touch and go” whether she would be able to play in the tournament this year.

The Queenslander said that “to play the kind of tennis I did is the cherry on top” after becoming the first Australian woman in four decades to make the final since her mentor Evonne Goolagong won back in 1980.

Barty said she would not have thought she would be able to contest the rounds of matches to make the Wimbledon final just a month ago, and credited achieving her “incredible childhood dream” to her medical team.

She will play Czech star Karolina Pliskova late Saturday night Australian time, with the winner taking home the Venus Rosewater Plate, and a cheque for A$3.1m.

Ash Barty after a semi-final triumph over Angelique Kerber at Wimbledon. Picture: Glyn KIRK/AFP

Barty had to pull out of last month’s French Open with an acute, and unusual, hip injury, leaving just 23 days to prepare for the fortnight on grass.

But Barty has a specialist trainer and physio, Tennis Australia’s physical performance coach Matt Hayes, as well as coach Craig Tyzzer and boyfriend Garry Kissick, who flew over for the second week of the tournament, in her corner. And Barty says she is now in top condition.

Certainly the tough second set comeback against the 2018 Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber – down 2-5 to win the second set and match in a tiebreaker – showed her mental strength and has given her confidence she can pull back from tight situations.

But Barty admitted her preparation hasn’t been normal – although she has been able to relax ahead of matches in typical fashion, kicking a Sherrin around.

After winning through to the final, Barty reflected on the support she has had to get her to this critical stage of her career.

“I have a very large team,’’ she began.

“I know not everyone is here with me this week. I’ve got obviously my family at home, I mean, trainers, physios back in Australia. I also have my trainer and physio this week as well as Tyz and Garry.

“It’s nice to be able to share some of these awesome moments with those that put so much time and energy into my career and allow me, encourage me, help me kind of work and figure out a plan and a way that they try and achieve our dreams. I think being able to share that with them is really special.

“To walk off the court knowing that I enjoyed it, I had fun, and I kind of gave it a crack and gave it my all. That’s all that I was going to ask of myself today. To be able to bring a level of tennis like I did was kind of the cherry on top.”

A focused Ash Barty during her Wimbledon semi final clash with Angelique Kerber. Picture: Getty Images

But then Barty revealed that her hip injury she suffered when she fell during practice during the French Open had been worse than thought.

“To be honest, it was going to be touch-and-go. Everything had to be spot on to give myself a chance to play pain-free and to play knowing that I could trust my body,” she said.

“I’ve said time and time again, I’m extremely fortunate to have my team around me. They’re the best in the business …. I think to know that my body’s held up over a fortnight off a different preparation, it wasn’t limited, but it was different, and being able to accept that, just know that I could trust everything that we’ve done to the best of our ability is incredible.

“If you told me a month ago we’d be sitting in this position, I really wouldn’t have thought that we would even get close. I think it’s pretty special what we’ve been able to do the last month.”

Barty said the final would be a really special anniversary for her mentor and friend Evonne Goolagong – marking 50 years since her first Wimbledon – and she last spoke to her before the tournament began.

“I couldn’t be more proud to be in a position to wear an outfit inspired by her. Now to kind of give myself a chance to create some history almost in a way that’s a tribute to her is really exciting. I couldn’t be more rapt to have that opportunity on Saturday,” Barty said.

‘Good as I’ll ever play’: Barty’s semi-final triumph

Australia’s golden tennis player Ashleigh Barty has roared into the Wimbledon final after a straight sets semi-final triumph 6-3, 7-6 against Germany’s Angelique Kerber.

Barty challenged the German with a masterclass of backhand slice and forehand power, leaving the more experienced player perplexed at how to counter Barty’s constantly changing strokes and forecourt skill.

While all of Australia can prepare for a Barty Party on late Saturday night, the Queenslander will be trying to stay calm for the prestige and £1.7 million winner’s prize on offer.

Barty is to play either the powerful serving 23 year old Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka or the Czech star Karolina Pliskova in the final.

A pumped Ash Barty ploughed through Angelique Kerber. Picture: AFP

“This is incredible,’’ Barty said immediately after the match.

She said Kerber had brought the best out of her, and the tennis she produced was as good as she’d ever played.

“I am incredibly proud of myself and my team and to have a chance on Saturday to live out my childhood dream,’’ Barty said.

“I’ve had ups and downs, I wouldn’t want to change one road, it has been unique, incredible, it’s been tough.

“So many things have led to this point, I wouldn’t change anything.

“Being able to play on final Saturday will be the best experience ever.”

Barty and Kerber meet at the net after the match. Picture: AFP

All year, Barty’s global travelling and competition has led to this moment: winning in Stuttgart, Miami and the Melbourne 500 Yarra Valley to assert her number one world ranking and provide some reassuring context in how to approach a full house Wimbledon final on centre court.

This is untrodden ground for Barty, whose only other grand slam victory was at the 2019 French Open.

In Thursday’s semi-final, and in front of the royal box, coach Craig Tyzzer and boyfriend Garry Kissick, Barty nervously faltered at the beginning of the match, serving a double fault, but she quickly regathered, fighting back from 15-40 to claim the initial service game. Barty was merciless taking the first set 6-3 but Kerber responded with a concentrated period of power and urgency, quickly going 3-0 up in the second.

Ash Barty during her Wimbledon semi final clash with Angelique Kerber. Picture: Getty Images

But Barty refused to surrender, refusing to allow Kerber to serve out for the set, won ten points in a row to claw back to 5-5 and then forced a tie-breaker. In that pressure cooker Barty was incredible, winning it 7-3.

Competing in a Wimbledon final is untrodden ground for Barty, whose only other grand slam victory was at the 2019 French Open.

In April Barty, 25, was talking about how her game had progressed “to a new level’,’ partly because she had learned to remain measured and unconcerned even if her serve was going awry – as it did in the earlier rounds at Wimbledon last week with a memorable string of five double faults.

Now Barty will be the first Australian in a Wimbledon final since Mark Philippoussis lost in 2003 to Roger Federer.

Making it an extra special occasion for Barty, who has Ngaragu ancestry, Barty has proudly acknowledged her close friend and mentor Evonne Goolagong Cawley, who wore a scalloped hem white dress when the Wiradjuri woman won Wimbledon 50 years ago in 1971.

It will be 41 years since Goolagong was the last Australian ladies Wimbledon winner, beating Chris Evert in the 1980 final, and lauded at the time for being the first mother to win the title.

On Thursday Barty showed resilience and steely play to overcome the more experienced Kerber – who at 33, has already won Wimbledon, challenging Serena Williams for the title in 2018.

Barty went into the match anticipating an exciting challenge of “playing someone who is comfortable on these courts, who knows how to win this tournament”.

What she has learned from Kerber is that reputation counts for nought and that she is in hot form.

Angelique Kerber’s power troubled Barty in the second set. Picture: AFP

As for her opponent on Saturday, Barty has recent matches against both contenders.

She beat the 23 year old powerful serving Sabalenka, the number two seed, on clay in Stuttgart after coming back from a set down. At the same tournament Barty defeated Pliskova in the quarterfinals, again after losing the first set.

Over the past two weeks at Wimbledon the modest Barty has increasingly become more confident and more relaxed in her broad variety of play. If ever there was a moment for Barty to grasp her hands on the Venus Rosewater Dish, Saturday night is it.