French Open 2019: Ash Barty triumph ends 46-year Australian drought, hails cricket stint
Ash Barty has completed an epic journey from child star to tennis dropout and back again.
Ashleigh Barty has crowned her incredible comeback to tennis with a stunning French Open final triumph.
Five years after quitting the sport in despair, Barty joined Australian legends Margaret Court (1962, ‘64, ‘69, ‘70, ‘73), Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1971) and Lesley Bowrey (1963, ‘65) on the Roland Garros honour roll with a ruthless 6-1 6-3 victory over unseeded Czech Marketa Vondrousova.
The win caps off a phenomenal turnaround since returning to tennis in 2016, with a ranking of 623, following an 18-month sabbatical where she played cricket in the WBBL with Brisbane Heat.
“I played the perfect match today. I am so proud of myself and my team. It has been a crazy two weeks,” Barty said after going one better than Fed Cup teammate Samantha Stosur, who lost to the 2010 final in Paris to Francesca Schiavone.
“It is a special place for Australian players ... Sam has been so close before and I am incredibly proud of what I have been able to achieve in this amazing two weeks.”
The new queen of clay will also pocket a cool $3.74 million after taking out her maiden grand slam at a tournament where she’d never passed the second round in her five previous visits.
Barty’s maiden grand slam victory rockets the 23-year-old to No.2 in the world and franks her name as one of the early favourites to land tennis’s greatest prize at Wimbledon next month.
— Ash Barty (@ashbar96) June 8, 2019
And still the same person.
— Adam Peacock (@adampeacock3) June 8, 2019
🙌🼠pic.twitter.com/DkBEJ8Vav3
Barty’s victory came after Australian Dylan Alcott triumphed in the French Open quad wheelchair singles final, beating archrival David Wagner of the US, and putting Alcott on target to emulate Rod Laver.
The Victorian logged his fifth Australian crown in January and with Wimbledon set to hold its first quad tournament next month, Alcott has history in sight.
Laver is the only player in history to secure all four majors in a season twice, in 1962 and ‘69.
Alcott, 28, has outlined ambitions to become the next man to post a grand slam sweep and moved closer to matching Laver’s feat with a 6-2 4-6 6-2 triumph on Roland Garros’ red clay.
For Barty, it’s a long way from the image of the little girl holding up a trophy way back in 2002, at the West Brisbane Tennis Centre.
Her new ranking will be the highest by an Australian woman since Goolagong Cawley reached top spot in 1976, and she follows her idol’s footsteps by becoming the second Indigenous Australian to lift the Suzanne Lenglen Cup.
The Queenslander is also the first Australian singles champion in Paris since Court clinched the last of her five titles 46 years ago.
Barty’s win puts her in exalted company as she became only the 17th Australian woman to win a major — and first since Samantha Stosur at the US Open triumph in 2011.
Barty, Stosur and Lleyton Hewitt (2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon) are the only Aussies to win a major since the turn of the century.
The Ipswich-born talent powered through the first set in just under half an hour, breaking the sweet-swinging southpaw three times.
It was the first time Vondrousova — who was looking to become the first teenage winner since Iva Majoli 22 years ago — had dropped a set in the tournament.
Barty stormed in to a 2-0 lead early in the second set and then closed out the one-sided final in an hour and 10 minutes.
Vondrousova paid tribute to Barty, admitting the Australian taught her a tennis lesson in the final.
“She was just too good today,” Vondrousova said. “I think she plays amazing match. I didn’t have too many chances today. She just gave me a lesson today.”
Barty’s greater experience and ability to deal with the gusty conditions in Paris were also a factor, but Vondrousova had no excuses and vowed to learn from the newly-crowned queen of clay.
“It was also windy, so it was a bit different today,” she said. “But she didn’t let me play my game today. I think she was just better at everything.
“I didn’t really play nervous, but I think she was just too good for me.”
Barty credited her stint in cricket for rescuing her career.
After winning junior Wimbledon in 2011, Barty struggled to deal with the expectation and pressure placed upon her young shoulders and sensationally walked away from the sport disillusioned and desperate for a break.
Barty did continue to hit tennis balls during her sabbatical with junior coach Jim Joyce at West Brisbane Tennis Club and admitted she always knew she’d return.
However, she said the time spent with cricketers like as Australia internationals Beth Mooney and Jess Jonassen had a huge effect on her. “It truly was an amazing period of my life,” Barty said.
“I met an amazing group of people who couldn’t care less whether I could hit a tennis ball or not. They accepted me, and they got to know Ash Barty. They got to know me. I still have those relationships to this very day.
“I got an amazing amount of messages over the last couple of days from those cricket girls who were some of my best friends.
“The way they are accepting of someone new coming into their locker room, into their dressing room and into their sport was amazing.
“They are truly an incredible group of girls that I know I’ll have a relationship with for the rest of my life and a friendship with for the rest of my life.”
Rain in Paris delayed the start of Barty’s final with the men’s semi-final between Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem running to a fifth set. Barty and her team whiled away the time with an impromptu game of cricket in the gym area underneath Court Philippe Chatrier but the 23-year-old insists despite her enjoyment of the game, tennis will always remain her first love.
“I never closed any doors or said: ‘I’m never playing tennis again’ she said. “For me, I needed time to step away, to live a normal life, because this tennis life certainly isn’t normal.”
“I think I needed time to grow as a person, to mature and I left all of my options open.
“I think it was just a natural progression for me coming back to tennis.
“Tennis will always be a big part of my life. I missed the competition.”
Barty’s coach Craig Tyzzer believes Barty would not have been able to have compete again at the highest level had she not walked away when she did.
“It was the best thing she ever did: stepping away from the sport,” Tyzzer said. “She wanted to reassess her life. For someone to be able to step back in and play at the level she has after three years out is pretty amazing.”
AAP
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