BarcelonaAshleigh Barty sometimes doesn’t seem very good at being the center of attention. Today, half the country followed her on television. Outside Melbourne’s Rod Laver Track, thousands of young people gathered in front of a giant screen to cheer her on, amid screams and inflatable kangaroos. Australia was preparing a party, aware that Barty, the world number one, would not fail in the final against the American Australian Open: Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas enter the competition this Tuesday”>Danielle Collins. And she did not fail, although for a moment it seemed that the pressure of being the first local player in 44 years who was about to be champion made her pulse tremble. It is not easy to carry on your shoulders the hope of a country that was the great Mecca of tennis and that now had four decades without much joy.
No, Barty has not failed. In two sets, she overcame the brave play of American Danielle Collins (6-3 and 7-6) and became the first Australian champion to win in Melbourne since 1978, when Chris O’Neill beat the American Betsy Nagelsen in the final. The last Australian woman to reach a final was Wendy Turnbull in 1980, but she lost to Czechoslovakian Hana Mandlikova. And the last Australian man to win the tournament is Mark Edmondson, champion in 1976. Many years. Too much for the second country with more Grand Slam champions. Names like Pat Cash or Lleyton Hewitt failed to win in Melbourne, which made the wound bleed even more. Until today, when Barty arrived.
The final lasted just 1 hour and 27 minutes. Ashleigh Barty, who had not lost a single set on the way to the final, prevailed in the first set 6-3. His first service, demolition, did not admit of a response from Collins. But in the second the nerves have arrived. And Collins took advantage to go 1-5, one step away from forcing the third set. What no one expected was that Barty would find the character to react and take the set to the tie break, where it has not failed. This last set has been the only one in the whole tournament where the Australian has needed one tie break.
For the world number one, who is already 113 weeks at the top of the rankings, this is his third big title, after winning in 2019 at Roland Garros and in 2021 at Wimbledon. In fact, of the players who are still active, only she and veteran Serena Williams can say right now that they have won big tournaments on hard court, dirt and grass. Serena is already retiring, but Barty is 25 years old and has a long career ahead of her. Now all she needs is the U.S. Open to have the four Grand Slams to finish proving that she has become the big dominator of the circuit with an aggressive style on the court, but resting outside.
Ashleigh Barty is a shy, reserved player who is clear that sport is important in life, but there are even more important things. During the first year of the pandemic for example, instead of forcing him to travel to play tournaments, he stayed home with his family for a whole year. After being the world number 2 in the youth category and winning Wimbledon in that category, Barty came to doubt whether he wanted to remain a tennis player, a hard sport where you spend your life alone traveling around the world, without rest. At the age of 16, shortly after appearing in the first final of the Australian Open in the doubles tournament, he decided to take a sabbatical year during which he ended up playing cricket professionally with the Brisbane team. .
With aboriginal blood from her father, Barty is involved in anti-racism campaigns as an ambassador for a foundation that uses sport to help young people in Aboriginal communities. In fact, the organizers of the tournament have reserved a surprise that has moved him, as the cup was given to him by Evonne Goolagong Cawley, an aboriginal who won 7 Grand Slam titles in the 70s, in the age of racism against their community, when the state kidnapped children and handed them over to white families without asking permission from their parents. Hundreds of abuses took place, and Goolagong Cawley herself admitted to being afraid of being abducted. Today, she has given the cup to a Barty who in 2021, when she won at Wimbledon, paid tribute to her by wearing a dress similar to the one Goolagong Cawley had worn in 1971. Today they have embraced Melbourne, under the gaze of a whole excited country.
“I admire you as a player and I admire you for the way you are,” Danielle Collins told Barty after the defeat. The Australian, reserved, never causes scandals on the track. He never lacks respect for rivals. In a tournament where in the men’s category this year there has been a lot of controversy with players insulting referees, spectators whistling and the case of Djokovic, deported for trying to circumvent the law, Barty symbolizes a different way of living the sport that it has allowed him to earn the respect of his rivals. And the love of his people. “It is a very special day. I am very proud of it aussie“said the champion.
