Ash Barty’s four-letter word you’ll never hear Nick Kyrgios say
Australia’s tennis world No 1 Ash Barty pulled off her biggest ever payday early on Monday, then uttered a telling four-letter word.
It’s the four-letter word that tells us everything about why Barty is a superstar who is loved and admired by all Australian tennis fans and Nick Kyrgios is the exact opposite.
That four-letter word: team.
READ MORE: Barty wins WTA Finals in Shenzhen … and $6.4 million pay cheque | ‘Evonne Goolagong Cawley paved the way’
Much of the coverage of Barty’s speech after she won the elite season-ending WTA Finals in Shenzhen and the record $6.4 million winner’s purse that goes with it has been about a blooper.
The Aussie had trouble getting her tongue around the name of the host city, saying: “First and foremost, thank you to the shitty … ah, the city of Shenzen.”
But in the part of the speech that really mattered, Barty was all about the team. She paid tribute to her opponent Elina Svitolina — “and your team” — and then switched her focus to her own team.
Incredible ✨ pic.twitter.com/jf4j96owF6
— Ash Barty (@ashbarty) November 3, 2019
“I believe I have the best team in the world,” she said, paying tribute to coach Craig Tyzzer, strengh and conditioning coach Mark Taylor and her boyfriend Garry Kissick.
Barty rarely does a post-match interview without paying tribute to the people she believes make it possible for her. She is proud to say she is just part of a team, which is captained by Tyzzer.
They all work hard, they all play their parts and they are reaping the benefits, with Barty the first Australian woman to finish the season at No 1 and the first top-ranked player to win the WTA Finals since Serena Williams five years ago.
Kyrgios, on the other hand, doesn’t so much have a team as an entourage. He has a couple of managers — I guess they’re looking after the cash — a physiotherapist and a hitting partner. Occasionally, members of his family will pop up in his box, notably his brother Christos. Then there are the sundry mates who he allows to drive his $300,000 muscle car around the northern suburbs of Canberra. One of them recently smashed the Dodge Challenger into power pole.
Most importantly, he doesn’t have a coach — he apparently thinks he doesn’t need one.
But Kyrgios certainly doesn’t consider these people a team that he is a part of. Not only does he rarely pay tribute to them when he wins, he is likely to scream abuse at them from the court when things are going wrong.
Barty always has someone travelling with her who is in charge. Who supervises her training, nutrition and sleep, monitors her technique and her tactics, has the hard conversations when she goes astray. She recognises the importance of Tyzzer and the other members of her team to her success, and takes notice of what they say.
Kyrgios has none of this and no one he takes much notice of. He is a more naturally talented player than Barty, talented enough to be Australia’s greatest ever player. But without a coach to direct him, to keep him fit and on track, to maintain his focus, it will all come to nothing.
Meanwhile, Barty is about to become part of another team. She is heading for Perth this week to lead Australia in the Fed Cup finals against France.
Barty will no doubt consider herself just another member of the team, along with team captain Alicia Molik and Sam Stosur, Ajla Tomljanovic, Astra Sharma and Priscilla Hon.
“For myself, to play in front of my friends and family, representing Australia, wearing the green and gold, there’s absolutely nothing better,” she says.
If Australia win, Barty will come up with a long list of people to thank and pay tribute to. Not sure where Kyrgios will be. Maybe at the panel beaters, getting the Dodge fixed.
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