Ashleigh Barty clinches world no.1 ranking with Birmingham victory
Ashleigh Barty is praised at home after becoming the first Aussie No.1 since Evonne Goolagong Cawley.
Tennis star Ashleigh Barty has been praised at home after she became the first Australian to be the Women’s Tennis World Number One in almost half a century.
Barty follows Australian tennis legend Evonne Goolagong Cawley who won the title in 1976.
The 23-year-old is now the fifth Australian in history to be No.1 on the tennis singles rankings, joining Cawley, John Newcombe, Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt.
Craig Tiley, CEO of Tennis Australia, said Barty’s achievement was a “remarkable historical accomplishment”.
“It’s a really hard thing to do and to achieve that is just fantastic,” he told Today. “I know for her, she’s humble about it. She just wants to get back on the tennis court and have a good hit.”
Mr Tilley said Barty’s brief departure from tennis to pursue cricket made her win even more remarkable. “To step away from the game and then really realise that she had a deep passion for this beautiful game of tennis, and to come back and do what she’s done is a remarkable historical accomplishment,” he said.
World No.1!
— TennisAustralia (@TennisAustralia) June 23, 2019
@ashbarty96 becomes the first Australian woman since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1976 to top the women’s singles rankings.#GoAsh #GoAussies pic.twitter.com/68EX5jhNaw
Tennis legend Samantha Stosur, former top-ranked Australian singles player, was among the many voices of praise for Barty. She said it was no surprise to see her fellow Queenslander climb to the top rankings.
“She has every shot in the book,” Stosur told AAP. “The first serve is incredibly accurate and she’s a good mover. It’s kind of the full package. But it’s knowing when to use what at the right time. That’s what Ash is very good at. She has a very good tactical mind.”
American tennis legend, Billie Jean King, who won 39 Grand Slam titles in her career, took to Twitter to congratulate Barty on her “versatility, perseverance and focus”.
“Ash Barty is an inspiration to the next generation of young players in Australia. Well Done,” King tweeted.
Congratulations to World
— Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) June 23, 2019
No. 1, @ashbar96. With incredible versatility, perseverance, and focus, Ash Barty is an inspiration to the next generation of young players in Australia. Well done! https://t.co/Sa61roCYNF
Barty will almost certainly head into Wimbledon as the top seed after winning her third title this year, overcoming 19th-ranked German Julia Goerges in straight sets at the WTA Birmingham Classic.
A calm Barty pulled out her full repertoire of net play and forehand winners to overwhelm 30-year-old Goerges — her doubles partner here — to become Australia’s first top-ranked female player.
Barty skipped in delight at the 6-3, 7-5 victory, and at her new-found premier status.
But Barty is just coming into her rhythm on grass, after her surprising win at the French Open on her least favourite clay surface, and has a prime window on grass in the coming weeks to stamp herself as the best in the world.
Her win-loss record is now 33-5 for the year, including a clean sweep on grass. Her last defeat was on May 16 against Kristina Mladenovic at the Italian Open in Rome.
Considered by tennis experts as a once in a generation talent, Barty knows she is playing well and wants to capitalise on the chance.
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She well appreciates the opportunities — and privileges — she has; having suffered depression as a teenager, walking away from the sport to take up cricket and then being reinvigorated to return to the tennis circuit by her close friend Casey Dellacqua. From a barbecue with Dellacqua in January 2016, to returning to play in June of that year with no ranking, Barty’s rise to the top has been inexorable.
The “Barty Party” celebrations have reverberated from England to Australia, as once again Barty’s skilful court play matched her wonderful humble and respectful demeanour.
She struggled through the early stages of the first set against Goerges’ big serve, but broke at 4-2 with her varied game and went on to take the first set 6-3. However, a chance to consolidate early in the second set went astray, with Barty losing two break points and then allowing Goerges to skip away with a 3-0 lead. At one point, Goerges asked Barty if a ball was in — and whether she should appeal for a review — but Barty reassured her the linesperson had made the correct call.
Barty contained her errors and clawed back Goerges’ lead to equal at 3-3 and then claimed the second set 7-5. Through the match she served nine aces, but the difference was her unflinching accuracy and low unforced error rate.
Barty’s parents Robert and Josie have spoken of the pride in how their daughter conducts herself in tennis and in life and both were courtside for support.
Barty and Goerges had pulled out of the doubles competition in the semi-finals after Barty suffered a strain in her right arm — and both progressed through in the singles draw.
Barty said her celebrations would be as simple as getting in the car to drive to the next tournament at Eastbourne, where she’s the no.l seed and will benefit from a bye in the first round.
“We will be very boring,” she said, adding: “It’s a big couple of weeks (coming up), we want to make sure we are ready to go, but we’ll have a beer or two.”
She said getting to number one was “the most incredible journey, not only for myself, but my team”, and credited Goerges for her support from when she was “a little tacker, she always allowed me to practice with her”.
“I couldn’t think of anyone better to stand on the court with me right now,” Barty said..
Barty’s parents said afterwards they could never have imagined that when their youngest daughter started hitting tennis balls as a four-year-old that they would be court side when she became world number one.
“When we watched our youngest daughter start hitting tennis balls at age four in Ipswich, Australia, we couldn’t imagine being here in Birmingham, 19 years later, as she became the world number one. It is a moment we will cherish forever. As her parents and her greatest supporters, we are immensely proud,” said Josie and Robert Barty.
Her coach Craig Tyzzer, who has helped mastermind her comeback three years ago said he had loved every minute of the partnership and couldn’t be prouder to be her coach.
“Ash and I have been together from day one of her tennis comeback. I have loved every minute of our partnership - the successful moments, the challenges and everything in between. Over the last three years, Ash has grown as a person and as a player. What has stayed constant is her genuine, humble and respectful nature. She is a truly impressive person and deserves every success that comes her way. I couldn’t be prouder to be her coach.”
At 4-5 down in the second set, Barty pulled out three aces to save set point.
“I had to go for it, anytime I left the ball hanging, Jules was there punching me, I had to give bit extra to get on top of the rallies,” she said.
Barty’s rise has reinvigorated women’s tennis in the country that enjoyed halcyon days in the 1960s with Lesley Bowrey, of Trangi; the late 1960s to 1970s with the dominant Margaret Court, from Perth, and then Goolagong-Cawley’s reign. Interestingly Goolagong-Cawley, now living at Sunrise Beach, Queensland, only discovered she was ranked world number one 31 years after it happened. The Women’s Tennis Association realised a computer error had occurred while transferring some of her rankings and retrospectively changed its records.
The WTA found that Goolagong overtook Chris Evert by 0.8 points when she won the Virginia Slims in Los Angeles in April 1976 — a time when Goolagong was on a roll of victories. Evert then regained the number one ranking in May 10. Australian men to have held the number one ranking since the concept was introduced in 1973 were John Newcombe, Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt.
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