Ash Barty reveals major secret after 'miracle' Wimbledon

Ash Barty survived a huge scare to win a rollercoaster of a Wimbledon final - then revealed what her team did to keep her in the tournament.

Ash Barty broke a 41-year drought as she beat Karolina Pliskova in three sets to win the Wimbledon final.

The Queenslander became the first Australian woman to win the singles title at the All England Club since her idol Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980 - and the second Indigenous woman to ever do so, along with Cawley. The achievement will mean that much more to the 25-year-old knowing it comes on the 50th anniversary of Cawley’s first Wimbledon title.

Barty did it the hard way, winning the first set then stumbling badly in the second after having the chance to serve for the championship. But she controlled the decider – her first serve troubles evened out by Pliskova’s unforced errors – to triumph 6-3 6-7 6-3 and accomplish what has been a dream since childhood.

There were tears of joy as Barty broke down on centre court. She sunk to her knees and held her head in her hands, in shock at the whole situation.

Then she made the run up to her player's box, hugging her physio, boyfriend Garry Kissick and coach Craig Tyzzer as Barty became overwhelmed with emotion upon winning her second major singles title after the 2019 French Open.

Barty's voice cracked as that emotion flowed out when asked about Goolagong Cawley in the post-match presentation. More tears flowed as the Aussie said: "I hope I made Evonne proud."

"I hope I made Evonne proud"

We all know the answer to that question, @ashbarty 🇦🇺#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/mt7BoQ6Kd8

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 10, 2021

While that was all she could manage as the tears flowed on centre court, Barty was able to expand on her feelings in her post-match press conference.

“Evonne is a very special person in my life,” she said. “She has been iconic in paving a way for young indigenous youth to believe in their dreams. She's done exactly that for me as well. She's been an icon for years. Knowing she’s only ever a phone call away is really cool. If I could be half the person that Evonne is, I'd be a very happy person.

“Australians have such a rich history in sport. Being able to be a very small part of that is something I always dreamt of, to try and create a legacy, a path for young girls and boys to believe in their dreams. Learning my lessons along the way has been one of the best parts of my journey.

"To achieve my biggest dream, has been absolutely incredible. The stars aligned for me over the past fortnight – incredible. That it happened to fall on the 50th anniversary of Evonne's first title here, too, is absolutely incredible."

Barty's team also revealed a big secret – the injury that had forced her to withdraw from this year’s French Open a few weeks ago was much worse than they’d told her and should have kept her sidelined for two months.

“Being able to play here at Wimbledon was nothing short of a miracle,” Barty said. “They kept a lot of cards close to their chest. It just proved how much we were against the odds.

“To be playing pain-free through this event was incredible. Certainly now chatting to them it looked a lot less likely than I felt. It’s been an incredible month.”

Speaking about the final itself, Barty added: "She (Pliskova) brought out the very best in me today and it was an exceptional match right from the start. I knew I had to bring my very best level and I was really proud of myself how I was able to reset (at the start of the third set) ... and hold my nerve in the end."

Barty said she couldn't remember match point, much to the amusement of the crowd, and opened up on how special this trophy is to her.

"It took me a long time to verbalise the fact that I wanted to dare to dream and say I wanted to win this incredible tournament," Barty said. "Being able to live out my dream with everyone here has made it better than I ever could have imagined.

“I didn’t sleep a lot last night, I was thinking about all the ‘what ifs’, but when I was coming out on this court I felt at home in a way. I think being able to share that with everyone here, to share that with my team is incredible."

Barty also spoke to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, rejecting Prince William when he said it looked like she had no nerves at all.

Ash Barty is the queen of Wimbledon.

Rattled by nerves, Pliskova wilted in the face of a Barty onslaught in the first set. The top seed had no trouble breezing through her opening service game then broke easily to love to take a quick 2-0 lead.

She held serve to love again as she won the first 14 points of the match. The previous most consecutive points won in a women's Wimbledon final was 12, meaning Barty re-wrote the record books with her stunning start.

A round of applause echoed around Centre Court when Pliskova finally won her first point – the 15th of the match – after Barty uncharacteristically clunked a backhand slice into the net.

Pliskova looked incredibly tight and wasn't putting any fizz on her ground strokes. A double fault gave Barty a double break and it was 4-0 after just 11 minutes.

There was a glimmer of hope when Pliskova broke to get on the board at 1-4 but unforced errors plagued the world No. 13 the following game. Two balls found the net and she went long past the baseline to gift Barty a third break of the set.

Pliskova played her best game of the set to break Barty again, sealing things with a cracking forehand winner for 2-5. That momentum continued with a big-serving effort complimented by some powerful ground strokes, but Barty held firm and showed plenty of composure to serve out the set for a crucial 6-3 advantage.

Pliskova finally started to find her groove in the second set. After losing her ball toss completely to be broken for 1-2, the 29-year-old rediscovered her trademark power. A scorching return winner followed by a Barty unforced error saw the talented ball striker claw her way back into the set with a break of her own.

Pliskova went on a run of 10 straight points as she took the lead for the first time, holding serve easily to go 4-3 up before Barty steadied with an important hold of her own.

Pliskova went from 40-0 up on serve to being broken and Barty had the championship on her racquet at 6-5, but nerves got to her and the Czech forced the set to a tiebreak, which she dominated to ensure the crowd would be treated to a deciding set.

Barty kept her cool when it mattered most.

Pliskova made a crucial error in the second game of the third set, butchering a simple volley after approaching it far too casually – as she did late in the second set – to gift Barty a break and 2-0 lead.

The Aussie consolidated for 3-0 before Pliskova made a statement with some emphatic serves to win her first game of the set. Barty's first serve was faltering badly but unforced errors from Pliskova helped her out as the set progressed to 4-1 in the world No. 1's favour.

Soon it was 5-2 and just like the second set, Barty found herself one game away from the trophy. But Pliskova wasn't going away. She came up with the goods in a couple of see-sawing points and although her dodgy ball toss reared its ugly head a couple of times, an ace made it 5-3 and she put the pressure on Barty to serve for the match.

The first point of the next game, all 166cm of Barty ran back to make an awesome backhand stab volley. But at 30-30 she missed a drive volley into the tape, only for Pliskova to send a cross-court backhand wide.

Barty pulled out an ace when she needed it most at deuce and made no mistake on the next point to win the championship.

The sweetest victory of all.

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