Ash Barty wins Wimbledon: a champion to celebrate as a great Australian becomes a legend
As Ash Barty knelt on the grass of Wimbledon, a nation applauded the coronation of a generational champion.
As Ash Barty knelt on the grass courts of Wimbledon, head in her hands in disbelief, a nation united in joy leapt to their feet to applaud the coronation of a generational champion.
The triumph of the Australian, so humble and respectful yet also courageous and smart and brilliant, was celebrated by millions who sat glued to couches in the wee hours of Sunday.
It is Barty’s second major title after her success in Paris two years ago, but this was her Everest moment. Wimbledon is the championship she dreamt of winning from the time she started thumping tennis balls in the garage of her parents’ home in Ipswich at the age of five.
Her victory will be etched in the memories of her fans forever, just as those who followed Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Rod Laver and Margaret Court and other Aussie legends reminisce about their glory.
The success in the famous London postcode of SW 19 created a similar national sentiment to Cathy Freeman’s dash around Sydney’s Olympic Park at the 2000 games.
Aussies love these moments. It is Australia II saluting off Newport, Rhode Island, in 1983. Or Lionel Rose beating Fighting Harada in Tokyo in 1968.
It is 10 years since Cadel Evans stood atop the Tour de France podium in Paris, eight years since Adam Scott drained a putt to win the Masters in Augusta.
Barty’s success is another remarkable moment by an extraordinary Australian celebrated by all. And it was the second leg of a double at Wimbledon, with wheelchair champion Dylan Alcott also successful in his quest.
Barty’s father Rob jumped from the floor – having been relegated from the couch by a pet dog at the Gold Coast home of agent Nikki Craig – in delight and embraced his wife, Josie.
“Just to know that all of her hard work … she is living the dream and she has achieved something she has wanted to achieve all of her life and she is just an incredibly, incredibly clever girl,” he said.
Freeman expressed “massive pride” in a star who considers the Sydney Olympics gold medallist an inspiration. Barty may yet become a gold medallist in Tokyo, but that can wait for a party or two.
Goolagong Cawley wept with joy on the Sunshine Coast, dancing around the living room with her wheelchair-bound husband Roger as though she had won another crown herself.
Filled with optimism given the brilliance of her form, the dual-Wimbledon champion had sent her friend a message on the eve of the final, 50 years after her own maiden triumph. “I did say to her, ‘Dreams do come true and it will come true for you’,” Goolagong Cawley said.
“I just felt so confident and so proud of the way she handles herself on and off the court.”
As Barty reflected on the triumph, she hoped her success would alert younger Australians to the beauty of sport. “I would love to see as many young girls and boys, Indigenous included, playing tennis. It is a sport that you can play for life,” she said.
“If I can create a smile on a young boy or a young girl’s face, that would absolutely make my day. Being able to live out my dreams and share my stories with them is a massive part of that learning as well.”
Rob Barty regularly travels across Queensland to tennis clubs and junior tournaments, talking to parents about his daughter, offering young kids encouragement.
“That sort of stuff makes Josie and I really proud,” he said. “The kids want to follow her, to be like her. She is delivering to them a position that she believes should be displayed on a tennis court, and that is what she wants to do.”
Her mate Pat Rafter, who watched alone from his home near Byron Bay as his family slept, said putting racquets back in the hands of young Australians was a passion of the Queenslander.
“Right now it is about Ash, and it should be, but I know Ash would be pumped about bringing tennis back into Australian lounge rooms,” he said. “She has a driving ambition to give back to the tennis community. Like me, the best memories of tennis were as kids playing tournaments across Queensland on the weekends; I know she wants that for others.”
Roger Federer made Goolagong Cawley fall back in love with watching tennis. She hoped a girl would come along with similar attributes. So it proved with Barty.
In a sport where players are taller and more powerful than ever, the Australian has proven court craft and touch, flare and dare, courage and wisdom can still topple giants.
Goolagong hopes it will prove another turning point for the sport. “It can only help players of the future,” she said.
“They will want to play like her and handle themselves on the court like her and the way she handles herself off the court. She is a great role model, a great friend.” Barty shed tears on court after her 6-3 6-7 (4) 6-3 triumph over a gallant Karolina Pliskova in a final of huge momentum swings.
Her ability to reset at the start of the third set and hold her nerve was critical.
She evoked memories of Pat Cash after his 1987 triumph when making her way to the stands to hug supporters, including coach Craig Tyzzer, from Melbourne.
After meeting the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in the Wimbledon club house, Barty later crumbled into the arms of her partner, Garry Kissick, and wept with relief at a lifelong dream achieved. She has shed an ocean of tears behind closed doors over the past month.
The world No. 1 considered it a “miracle” that she played Wimbledon at all, for medical advice suggested she would need two months to recover from the hip injury that forced her from the French Open.
Her camp had told her a silver lining would come from her withdrawal in Paris. And there is no better silver lining than what has unfolded over the past fortnight at the All England Club.
“Not every day is flowers and roses, is it? Paris was a really challenging two or three weeks for myself and my team,” she said. “After Paris, we said that there would be a silver lining. We weren’t sure what it would be, but it was going to rear its head at some stage. For us, this fortnight of experience, of enjoyment, has been the silver lining.”
A couple of years ago when addressing school kids in Cairns, Goolagong Cawley pointed to a shy Barty and told them to “take a look at Ash and what she has achieved”.
“Dare to dream,” she said.
Barty dreamt big. She overcame difficulties. And she had the brilliance and boldness to turn that dream into reality.
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