GRAND DOWN UNDER
Barty ends Australia’s decades-long wait for a homegrown champion
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA The 44-year drought was over in Ashleigh Barty’s sunburned country. Barty, often inscrutable on a tennis court, had just finished letting her guard down with a full-flex howl of delight that could almost be heard above the roars in Rod Laver Arena.
Now, Barty, Australia’s first Australian Open singles champion since 1978, was motioning to someone on the other side of the deep blue expanse, beckoning with both hands and a relaxed smile.
Casey Dellacqua emerged from the sidelines. They have been close for a decade — since Barty summoned the moxie at age 15 to ask her to play doubles — and it seemed appropriate on this fulfilling Saturday night that Dellacqua, now retired, be the first to embrace her.
“She brought me into the sport again,” Barty said.
Dellacqua supported Barty’s decision in September 2014 to leave the tennis tour. Barty, then 18, was depressed, lonely and desperate to live a more normal life than that provided by hotels and practice courts. And when Barty had spent more than a year away from the game, playing professional cricket and leaving the jet lag behind, it was Dellacqua who invited her out for a hit and helped her realize that she did indeed want to fully explore her prodigious tennis talent.
Barty returned to the tour in 2016 with no ranking but full commitment, and Saturday’s 6-3, 7-6 (2) victory over Danielle Collins of the United States was the latest proof that she made the right decision, for herself above all, but also for her sports-mad country.
“She knows how proud I am of her,” Dellacqua said as she sat next to Barty on the set of Australia’s Channel Nine on Saturday. “Everybody thinks I have done a lot, but I cannot explain what Ash has done for me.”
For a tennis nation like Australia, home to Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall and to grass courts in country towns and fancy clubs, it beggars belief that it would take 44 years to win any tournament, much less its own. But the drought was real in Australia, as homegrown champions such as Patrick Rafter, Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur won major singles titles abroad but came up short in Melbourne.
Barty, now 25, has solved the riddle — aced it actually — by not dropping a set in any of her seven matches at this year’s Australian Open.
Born and raised in the steamy Australian state of Queensland, Barty has been ranked No. 1 for more than 100 weeks and has become a hugely popular figure in her home nation. Her matches during the Open this year have attracted large television audiences.
But until now, her most significant triumphs also have come far from Australia. She won her first Grand Slam singles title in 2019 at the French Open and won Wimbledon last year when most Australians were unable to travel because of coronavirus restrictions.
But she was able to organize a Barty Party at home this year, defeating the 27th-seeded Collins in prime time.
After erasing two breaks of serve to rally from a 1-5 deficit in the second set, she dominated the tiebreaker and finished off her victory with a forehand passing shot winner.
After hugging Dellacqua, Barty was presented the winner’s trophy by another of her touchstones, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, a fourtime Australian Open singles champion who, like Barty, is of Indigenous Australian heritage. The two women from different eras — Goolagong Cawley is 70 — have developed a deep connection, and Goolagong Cawley’s appearance Saturday night was kept a surprise from Barty, who had not seen her in a year.
“As an Aussie, the most important part of this tournament is being able to share it with so many people,” Barty said in her victory speech.
“You guys today in the crowd have been nothing shy of exceptional.”
In truth, it was not Barty’s best tennis: There were too many nervy shots, a first-serve percentage of 57 per cent and even a missed backhand volley into an open court. But in light of the occasion and all that Aussie-Aussie-Aussie expectation, it was a stirring finish and it capped a dominant performance throughout the tournament.
“It can’t be easy playing with the weight of your country on your shoulders,” Todd Woodbridge, a former Australian Open star, said at the awards ceremony.
But Barty’s shoulders were sturdy enough, and the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup was soon glittering in her deft hands.