Ash Barty posts one-word farewell to Tokyo after up-and-down Olympics

Ash Barty was absolutely chuffed with her bronze medal and she waved goodbye to Tokyo with one word that summed up everything.

Ash Barty was all smiles as she signed off from Tokyo.

The Aussie tennis star and her mixed doubles partner John Peers won the bronze medal after Novak Djokovic pulled out of Serbia’s playoff for third, and weren’t they chuffed about it.

Barty posted a photo of her and Peers with their new bling draped around their necks, writing “proud” in the caption alongside green and gold heart emojis.

It was third time lucky for Barty in her quest to reach the podium in Tokyo. Just a couple of weeks after winning her second grand slam singles title at Wimbledon, the 25-year-old was stunned in the first round of the Olympic singles draw by world No. 48 Sara Sorribes Tormo.

The Spaniard beat Barty in straight sets as the form she showed on the grass courts of the All England Club completely evaporated.

There were brighter hopes for the world No. 1 and Storm Sanders in the doubles, before they lost in the quarterfinals to the top-seeded Czech pairing of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova.

Barty’s last roll of the dice came alongside Peers and they made the most of it – even if they claimed bronze in unexpected fashion because of Djokovic’s withdrawal.

“We obviously wanted to have the challenge of playing one of the best nations in the world and we definitely back ourselves in no matter what,” Barty said on Sunday. “We came really close to being in the gold medal match today but it wasn’t meant to be.

“We definitely deserved to be in the bronze medal match and to be able to come away in the end with a bronze medal for our nation is the result that we wanted. So regardless of whether we got on the court or not I feel we really deserve it.”

Next on Barty’s hit list is the US Open, the final grand slam of the year which starts at the end of August. The Queenslander lost in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open then injury ruined her French Open campaign, before she made a miraculous recovery at Wimbledon.

Barty has never made it past the round of 16 at Flushing Meadows, crashing out at that stage in 2018 and 2019, while she didn’t compete in New York last year because of the pandemic. She was a class above in London last month and will be hoping to continue that hot streak to add a second major title for the year to her cherished bronze medal.