Australian Open 2022: Stay up to date with the latest news ahead of the women’s final

Seven years ago a burnt out Ash Barty quit the tennis circuit fearing she could be done for good but then she got this text message from Serena Williams.

Ash Barty and Serena Williams at the French Open in 2018. Picture: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Back in 2015, Ash Barty and Serena Williams were living in different worlds.

One had left the professional circuit and was dabbling in cricket and helping schoolchildren learn tennis. The other was helping herself to three Grand Slams as part of a rampaging 53-3 win-loss year.

One was No.1 in the world – with daylight second — and the other had slid, through inactivity, to the mid-300s.

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Different world? Try different solar system.

Then something interesting happened. They connected.

Serena Williams has been a big admirer of Ash Barty and urged her to return to tennis. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

“Ash was in a restaurant I think and Serena sent her a message saying ‘you are too good a player to retire ... you have to come back’,” Barty’s first coach Jim Joyce said.

Trust Serena to say what everyone else was thinking.

Joyce admits he agreed with every word of Serena’s message – but it was not his job to say it after Barty temporarily quit the circuit due to burnout.

Barty had quietly rejoined Joyce, the coach who she first joined as a four-year-old, to help him teach youngsters, but the most provocative “c’’ word of all – comeback – had an invisible fence around it.

“My whole mission when she started coaching with me was to get her playing again but I couldn’t be too direct,” he said. “I remember when the 2015 Wimbledon was on and I asked her if she had been watching it and she said, ‘not much’, I thought ‘we’re in trouble here’.

“I loved having her around. She was a bloody good coach. But I said to people at the time if she didn’t return it would be the greatest waste Australian tennis has ever seen.

“That comment was proved right. I mean, have a look …’’

Jim Joyce always believed Ash Barty could reach great heights in tennis. Picture: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Have a look indeed. On Saturday night Barty will attempt to become the first Australian woman in 44 years to win the Australian Open against a dangerous foe in American Danielle Collins.

Nicknamed Danimal (her Twitter handle), Collins was raised in a house with no silver spoons in Florida. She came to Australia with no travelling coach or clothing contract but it all forms part of her street-fighter narrative and mindset.

Bookmakers refuse to contemplate an upset (Barty is $1.20 favourite) but Collins has beaten Barty once and taken her to three sets twice in four contests.

History buffs are spinning their wheels with all the historical, drought-breaking Barty stats looming but the hidden charm of this story lies at the other end of the scale.

All around Brisbane there are hundreds of children taught by Barty during her hiatus from the circuit who have “me and Ash’’ photos that are now souvenir items. Without even trying she has taken them on her ride.

Ash Barty helped coach kids to play tennis during her time away from the professional circuit in 2014. Picture: Patria Jannides

Joyce smiled this week at being sent an old form from the Graceville State School promoting tennis lessons for their students with “Ash Barty and Jim Joyce’’ in April, 2015 with free racquets given to new students in grade one and two.

Eight lessons for a sum of $132 with a future multiple Grand Slam winner and her coach … talk about bargain shopping.

The Barty story is one of many threads, including …

THE HIDDEN HELLOS

Barty’s Australian Open has reshaped the definition of outstanding Grand Slam form.

The new description is being able to finish your night matches so quickly you can send a message to your niece and nephew before their bedtime.

When signing the glass plate in front of the camera at the end of matches over the past week Barty has scribbled little messages to her niece Lucy and nephew Oscar.

Because her games and presentations have taken place at record pace she’s been done and dusted before 7.30pm Brisbane time.

Talk about perfect timing. Sweet dreams kids.

Ash Barty hasn’t dropped a set in her run to the final at the Australian Open. Picture: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

THE TRAILBLAZER

Make no mistake. Barty’s career is a victory for a player and group of coaches brave enough to go against the flow.

Joyce pointed out that when Barty was rising through the ranks, tennis was all about the sizzling power games of Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova but conjure has diffused crunch.

“Ash was taught old school,” Joyce said. “I thought the tennis game was getting very stereotyped. I said Ash would become a bit of a trendsetter and she has. A lot of the girls who did not used to have a sliced backhand are getting one now.

“(Former Barty coach) Jason Stoltenberg said what Ash has done takes you back to the days when Martina Hingis was around and Steffi Graf with her slice. Martina Navratilova would come to the net and volley.

“That’s why Rod Laver loves watching her play because it brings back memories of people he used to watch or play against.’’

Ash Barty has the best backhand slice in women’s tennis. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

THE FUTURE

If Barty wins the final the celebration might just be at the other end of the scale from the Special K’s in the doubles … although she is owed a big night after Wimbledon.

“Most of the people I had spoken to had a really good night (after she won Wimbledon last year),’’ Barty told News Corp last month.

“I was completely depleted. I was so tired. I had one glass of champagne and one glass of red and I was cooked. As an Aussie would say, we did not give it a nudge at all.’’

Barty’s fame would surge to fresh heights with a home victory but it will not change her life and that is the secret to her story – stability.

She will head off overseas with her Queensland coffee beans, local chocolate and jar of vegemite to tackle the world then return to her new home in Springfield, Ipswich, continuing to Facetime her nieces and nephews each day, even when she is home.

She might even hear again from Serena with another message …

“I told you so.’’

Ash Barty’s fame will surge to fresh heights if she can win the Australian Open. Picture: Michael Klein

RESURRECTED AMERICAN WHO STANDS BETWEEN ASH AND HISTORY

By Scott Gullan

A resurrected American making her grand slam final debut stands between Ash Barty and a historic Australian Open title.

Danielle Collins has overcome major health issues over the past 12 months but is back at the peak of her powers as evidenced by her semi-final demolition of No. 7 seed Iga Swiatek.

It was all one-way traffic from the opening game with Collins, the 27th seed, crushing the 2020 French Open champion 6-4. 6-1. While Barty leads the head-to-head 3-1, Collins was successful in their most recent meeting in Adelaide last year.

The world No. 1 described her finals opponent as a “fierce competitor”.

“She is an exceptional ball striker who can stand on the baseline and hit to all areas of the court,” Barty said. “The challenge is going to be to try and get her off balance.”

Danielle Collins shakes hands with Iga Swiatek after her victory. Picture: AFP Images

Collins’ previous best grand slam performance was at Melbourne Park where she made the semi-finals in 2019, losing to Petra Kvitova.

She learnt a lot from that missed opportunity and was in no mood to blow another chance, sending 27 winners past the helpless Swiatek.

“It feels amazing,” Collins, 28, said. “It has been such a journey, it doesn’t happen overnight but it is incredible to be on this stage.

“With all the health challenges, I’m just so grateful and I couldn’t be happier.”

On facing Barty on her home court on Saturday night, Collins said: “We’ve had some incredible battles over the years. To play against the No. 1 player in the world in her home country, it’s going to be fantastic.”

Collins, who has a career-high ranking of 23, had major surgery in April last year to remove a cyst the size of a tennis ball from her ovary. For years she’d been experiencing pain which was finally diagnosed as severe endometriosis.

The surgery proved life-changing and the results since have been stunning. Since July last year when she returned from surgery she has a 31-7 win-loss record.

In the lead-up to Thursday night’s semi-final, Collins gave an insight into the extraordinary hurdles she had faced.

“After the health challenges I have had to be able to get back to this level and to be able to compete against these women and be as physical as I have,” Collins said.

“When so much of the advice you’ve gotten over the years, certainly the advice that I had gotten over the years, is that painful periods are normal, taking anti-inflammatories on a regular basis is normal. I felt like it was something that I just had to deal with.

“It finally got to the point where I couldn’t deal any longer with it physically or mentally. Once I was able to kind of get the proper diagnosis and the surgery, I feel like it’s helped me so much not just from a physical standpoint but from a mental standpoint.”

Originally published as Australian Open 2022: Stay up to date with the latest news ahead of the women’s final