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‘Dignity, humility and grace’: Ash Barty delights readers with Wimbledon win

By Orietta Guerrera

July 15, 2021 — 6.27pm

Ash Barty united the nation with her singles final win at Wimbledon, becoming the first Australian to win the grand slam since Lleyton Hewitt in 2002. She’s also the first Australian woman to win Wimbledon since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980. “I hope I made Evonne proud,” Barty said. Readers were delighted with the victory and applauded Barty for her sportsmanship. Others also celebrated Dylan Alcott’s win in the quad wheelchair singles final.

Ash Barty lifts the Venus Rosewater trophy after winning the ladies’ singles final at Wimbledon.Credit: Getty

Geoff: “She made us ALL proud.”

DavidF: “Ash, not only would Evonne be proud, so are all Australians. A brilliant and deserved win and achieved without histrionics, temper tantrums, screaming matches and other drama. The signs of a true champion that can win with dignity, humility and grace. You make us proud and show what Australians should aspire to. A joy to watch.”

L.Curtis: “That’s got to be the most thrilling crescendo of NAIDOC week ever. Ash Barty’s first win at Wimbledon on the 50th anniversary of Yvonne Goolagong Cawley first victory there! The incredible talent of Australia’s First Nation people shines again. What a star and proud moment for all Australians.”

G: “WELL DONE! In a world full of bad news that’s the best news I’ve had this year. Should I do it ?…….. Aussies, Aussie, Aussie.”

Wilki13947: “Well, there’s our Australian Of The Year - simples.”

Currumjim: “I stayed up and watched Ash take out the championship and am thrilled for her and her team. A shame more isn’t being said of Dylan Alcott’s victory as well. Both were truly inspiring.”

John Antonopoulos: “Ash is a legend, I am so happy for her, she deserves all the celebration in the world. But she isn’t the first Aussie to win Wimbledon since Lleyton Hewitt. Dylan Alcott was! He is on track for the Golden Slam and I’m struggling to find even a mention of his win in the media. Both legends of the game, let’s celebrate both equally!”

RJR: “Just noticed in video of Ash Barty standing next to her name on Women’s Singles honour board at Wimbledon that Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1980) is listed as Mrs R Cawley and Sue Barker (1981) is listed as Mrs J M Lloyd. Surely these should be changed to the initial of the first name of the women themselves and not their spouses.”

Aussie Expat formerly in HK, now in UK: “I was there ……. and what a privilege !!! You beauty, Ash - was there ever a more likeable, down to earth Aussie Champion? Maybe only Goolagong.”

StBob: “I went to bed at the end of the first set and followed on Twitter and when Barty lost the second turned it off and went to sleep. Glad my staying away for the third set decider gave her that extra something to win. We all did our part.”

Mitchell31: “At last, a new name for the Melbourne Tennis Centre that nobody would argue with.”

The ‘lie’ at the heart of Australia’s COVID-19 strategy

Have we gone too far in managing the risks of the pandemic - and now the vaccine rollout? In his opinion piece, ‘The lie at the heart of Australia’s de facto COVID-19 strategy is about to be exposed’, Nine News political editor Chris Uhlmann argued Australia’s politicians needed to take back control from the health experts. “The disease can’t be eliminated. So, maybe now would be a good time to stop talking about a pandemic and get people used to the idea that this is an endemic disease,” he wrote. While some readers praised Uhlmann for questioning the “2020 irrational fear mindset” - others said it was premature to consider allowing the disease to circulate.

A lone person walks across Moore Street, Liverpool as Sydney bunkers down under tightened restrictions. Credit: Sam Mooy

CJ: “Good to see mainstream journalists starting to question the narrative. Gives me hope.”

Dr. Oetker Queen: “Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for voicing what so many have thought and said for so long without being heard! We need more voices like yours to finally turn around this 2020 irrational fear mindset into a way forward.”

SC: “Ask any expert to “guarantee” safety and they will take an extreme position to try and cover every possible outcome but with some common sense and thoughtfulness to the bigger picture (economic and mental health) you can find something much more sustainable and beneficial for the community.”

Tjerk Dusseldorp: “As one of the many thousands of Australians unable to return home to visit family and friends for the indefinite future, I’m pleased to read Chris’ opinion piece which is refreshingly out of step with most of what I read coming out of Australia. Living in Europe with hundreds of millions of people who don’t have the luxury to fantasise about eradicating what is now an endemic virus, there is growing astonishment about the near totalitarian mindset that has gripped Australia’s political leaders. History will not be kind to them.”

katepaul: “Brilliant. Precautionary principle rules not only in COVID issues but in just about every aspect of life. It stunts progress and innovation. Basically, our lives are being tainted by bureaucrats.”

mopsy: “What number of deaths is acceptable? If the virus is rampant, the economy will be stagnant – there will be a lockdown by choice that will be indefinite. Australia took the right approach in locking down. The true catastrophe was and is in aged care, outbreaks from hotel quarantine (although the feds tell us they are 99 per cent perfect), the failed vaccine rollout and the so-called hesitancy caused by deliberate exaggeration by the media and failed communication by the federal government. I would defer to epidemiologists over business people, journalists and politicians anytime.”

pgr: “The whole point of the article is we shouldn’t defer to one group of experts for a multifaceted problem. We elect politicians who should listen to epidemiologists, business people etc and make a decision that balances interests.”

tflip: “Last time I looked the scientists were offering dispassionate ‘advice’ to democratically elected politicians who could take it or leave it. Or in ScoMo’s case distort it. Either way nothing remotely totalitarian about that.”

KateN: “What the author is forgetting here - or does not know, because he is not an expert! - is that the nature of this disease is only gradually revealing itself; in addition there are mutations that change it as well. How lethal it may be, and is becoming, and what the long-term effects may be, is what is being discovered over time. The author writes as if all these things are known. They are not.”

Pebbles: “What lie? That elimination of community transmission is the best interim management strategy until sufficient numbers are vaccinated to provide herd immunity? Because that’s what we’ve been told, that’s what we see around us, and that’s no lie. I doubt anybody thinks that the virus will be eradicated from the planet. We just want to be protected (by vaccines) before it’s let in here.”

Tigman: “The problem with letting it rip is that you have to be prepared to be one of the dead.”

A decade on from plain packaging

Ten years ago, the Rudd and Gillard governments won a hard-fought battle to introduce plain packaging of cigarette packets. A decade on, political reporter Rachel Clun, who reports on health issues from Canberra, looked at the results. While other factors such a hike in tobacco excise were also acknowledged, several health experts interviewed said the plain packaging legislation, introduced by then health minister Nicola Roxon, had an immeasurable impact on the decline in smoking. While some readers debated the effectiveness of the drab olive-brown boxes, others suggested ideas of their own to cut smoking rates.

In 2012, Nicola Roxon, who had then moved from the health portfolio to attorney-general, had to defend the plain packaging legislation in the High Court.Credit: Penny Bradfield

BryanSM: “I’ll always thank Roxon for plain packaging, it was the final straw in getting me to quit. 8 years later I can’t stand the smell of cigarettes.”

simoni: “When I was a teenager in the 70s, almost everyone smoked, and there was absolutely no social stigma attached to it at all. Today, many of my friends’ parents, as well as a number of my schoolmates themselves, have died from smoking-related diseases. I believe that as Australians, we can be very proud to have been trailblazers in introducing such wonderfully effective legislation.”

Concerned resident: “I’d suggest the massive price hikes have had more of an impact than those pictures.”

damista: “Going from my own experience, it had absolutely no impact on my smoking habit, neither did hiding them away in locked cupboards. What did it for me was mainly health concerns but the skyrocketing prices for tobacco also helped 🙂 I don’t know how much cigarettes cost these days but I’m sure it is not enough.”

Saintdicko: “Paying to die. Literally the stupidest ‘habit’ in the human race. Tax them to oblivion. From the son of chainsmoking parents who are still too dumb to realise how much money they waste and how much they stink.”

Bev: “The only thing raising taxes further will achieve is bigger profits for organised crime as more people turn to chop chop. History has shown us that taxing items beyond a certain point just creates a black market.“

beatrice: “In addition to the ‘grey’ market the price hikes have forced most smokers to buy roll your own products which are inherently more dangerous and have a greater correlation with mouth and throat cancer. I’m not denying smoking is harmful. It is. But please let’s stop treating smokers as outcasts, devoid of any ability to rationally decide how to spend their money.”

Ms Patonga: “As an ex (totally addicted chain) smoker, anything that is going to aid in not smoking is welcome. When I started in the mid seventies, it was 67 cents for a 20 pack of Marlboro. And it was advertised as glamorous, with sexy ads, blah blah. When I gave up in 2008, it was hitting about $12 plus for a pack of Dunhill 20s. Now it’s about $2 per ciggie. But I still see some young people smoking and I wonder why? It’s no longer ‘glamorous’ or affordable. The why is because it is so addictive.”

Peter Finlayson: “It’s time to set a date (say, 1 January 2015) and ban everyone born after that date from ever buying a tobacco product.”

JB: “We should make tobacco like methadone - only available from pharmacists to registered addicts with a doctor’s prescription.”

AK: “Alcohol is exactly the same...an addictive product with multiple adverse health risks and outcomes and kills not only the drinker but innocents...including children. Put the warning labels and excessive taxes on alcohol (and sugar for that matter) and then I will accept governments are more concerned about health than they actually are.”

Carla Lynch: “Could we have a follow up article on the vaping user numbers, vaping health risks and issues and what needs to be done. I suspect some of the fall in tobacco has been a shift to vaping (e-cigarettes).”

Miss Tickles: “All the kids in our area know which stores sell vaping products - 12-year-olds are addicted to fairy floss/ candy flavoured vape. Tobacco industry has found a new way around the system and is winning again. Legislation can’t keep up.”

Online readers of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age made 59,225 comments on 517 stories in the past week.

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