Barty’s message to tennis brats

Ash Barty takes swipe at Bernard Tomic, Nick Kyrgios, saying she values respect above winning.

French Open champion Ash Barty has sent a thinly-veiled message to Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic. Picture: Getty Images

She is universally acknowledged as modest and forthright, so the rest of the country had better ­believe it when Ashleigh Barty declares that earning respect for her conduct matters more than any ­accolades she might receive for her tennis.

Finally, after a half decade of dummy spits, chair throwing, umpire sledging and crowd abuse from the likes of Nick ­Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic, Australia has a star who mirrors the attributes we so desperately want to see.

In Birmingham, where the rain has poured relentlessly for the past week, 23-year-old Barty subtlely slings a backhander to the two men whose questionable antics have been so frustrating for the fans and so damning of the Australian tennis scene. And she does it without even mentioning their names.

When The Australian asked her if she consciously thought of her image and how she presents herself, Barty, typically, was nonplussed. “I don’t have to work on it because this is how Mum and Dad (Josie and Robert) taught me, this is how they said how you have to go about your business and your life,” she said.

“And I am so grateful to have amazing people around me, not just Mum and Dad, but people who have the same values. Ultimately the most important thing is that you are known as a good, respectful person, regardless of the results on the court.”

She hesitates ever so slightly to underscore the next sentence: “If I can be known as one of the most respectful players out there, that’s what we are after.”

Somehow it doesn’t feel that Barty is sprouting rehearsed public relations lines, or telling people what she thinks they want to hear. If she has one off-court skill that is winning her hearts around the world, it is an unflinching honesty. If there is a filter, you can’t tell.

So I press her on that point. Are you saying that respect is your main goal? She immediately responds: “Absolutely, ­absolutely, the respect and the behaviour comes before the ­accolades on the tennis court.”

Even ahead of the results? She is firm in her riposte: “Absolutely.’’

Now world No 2 and with a grand slam victory on clay, her least-favourite surface, Barty has rather rapidly, surpassed any achievements the boorish brats have ever aimed for: which both highlights just how tolerant the tennis community has been of Kyrgios and Tomic and just how wonderful Barty really is.

While we have been willing Kyrgios and Tomic to grow up and appreciate their talent and privilege, Barty has found an inner strength to remove herself from tennis, have a two-year sabbatical playing cricket, and realise that yes, she really did want to rejoin in the crazy life of the international tennis circuit.

She wants to be here. She has trained hard, is playing well and is intent on keeping her same support team intact to see how far she can go. There is coach Craig Tyzzer, performance psychologist Ben Crowe, her increasingly busy marketing agent Nikki Craig, her partner Garry Kissick and regular chats with tennis heroine Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, whom she first met nine years ago and whose advice has been consistently encouraging.

The Queenslander acknowledges that it is “very special to have a legend like Evonne’’ in her corner and is in awe of the work she has done for indigenous youth to play more sport.

“If I could be the smallest blip and a part of that success and journey Evonne has had it would be incredible,” she says.

So while Barty is having a rare few days off playing golf at The Belfry, Tomic is in the south of London playing in Surbiton. Tomic, once ranked as high as world No 17, has stressed his greatness due to the amount of money he has earned. But he’s finding the sponsorship love, and prizemoney, is now drying up as his ranking falls below 100.

Meanwhile a bullish Kyrgios, ranked 36, got knocked out in the first round of the Stuttgart Open. Nonetheless he boasted to journalists in Germany of being “one of the best grass-courters in the world on my day”.

Contrast that to Barty, who said before her first match at the Birmingham Classic last Tuesday: “I’m not going to play my best tennis every day, I’m not going to win every single match, but I can certainly go out there with the right attitude to give myself the best chance.”

When asked if she felt exhausted or empowered after her French Open success, she bats back: “neither”. She added: “For me everything stays the same. Obviously what we’ve been doing is working.”

Long may it continue.