Ash Barty: How Australia celebrated its new sporting idol after historic Wimbledon win

Tennis legend and Wiradjuri woman Evonne Goolagong Cawley paid a heartfelt tribute to “little sister” Ash Barty yesterday, saying she just sensed it was “her time” to win Wimbledon during NAIDOC week. Barty’s nerve-racking 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 final victory over Czech Karolina Pliskova overnight came 10 years after she won the Wimbledon girls’ singles title at age 15 and exactly 50 years after Goolagong Cawley hoisted the Venus Rosewater Dish for the first time. In a poignant gesture to her Indigenous idol and mentor, Barty wore a FILA dress inspired by Goolagong Cawley’s 1971 Wimbledon outfit. “I hope I made Evonne proud,” Barty said during an emotional victory speech. Goolagong Cawley left her in no doubt. “Oh she certainly did,” the former world No.1 said from her home on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast yesterday. “She made me proud from the first time I saw Ash. She must have been about 13. “She was playing at the Australian Open and (my husband) Roger and I stayed and watched for a bit and we saw one whole point where she showed all the skills. “She did the slice, the volley, the smash. Everything in one game and we both just looked at each other and thought ’oh, she’s got it, she’s going to be our next champion’. “So look at her now.” No Australian woman had won Wimbledon since Goolagong Cawley snared the title for a second time, then as a mother, in 1980. Little wonder the 69-year-old said she choked up watching Barty’s win, then the heartwarming victory speech, as the stars aligned so beautifully. “Because everyone reacts differently when they win Wimbledon for the first time. It didn’t hit me till later on because you actually turn numb. You’re in shock, just as Ash was at the end there,” Goolagong Cawley said. “We were just so excited. Dreams do come true. “I was just so chuffed when she wore that dress. “I’m just so much very, very proud with Ash and the way she handles herself. “Not just on the court but off the court, too. “She’s a great Australian. Everybody loves her,” Goolagong Cawley said. “Every time I go out shopping everybody asks me about Ash. How’s Ash going? Isn’t she wonderful? Yes she is. “Ash to me is like a little sister and part of my family. So I think we treat each other that way. “It’s amazing that she won her first grand slam at the French. That was my first grand slam and that same year I won Wimbledon in 1971. “It’s just magical when you achieve that dream and I’m sure it’s magical for her, too.” Goolagong Cawley admitted she rode a rollercoaster of emotions watching the final as momentum ebbed and flowed. “But all the way through I just sort of had this feeling that Ash’s going to win. This is her time,” she said. “You know, somebody up there’s looking down on us, I think, and during NAIDOC week. “We’re both very proud. I’m a Wiradjuri woman from NSW and she’s a very proud Aboriginal also, and so what a way to celebrate, not just my 50 years since I won there but it was NAIDOC week and it was very important. “I’m sure there are lots of elders past and present who have a big smile on their face today.” Barty had spoken with Goolagong Cawley before to Wimbledon and said having her at the other end of the phone if she ever had doubts was a great consolation. “I think being able to have a relationship with her and talk with her through my experience, knowing she’s only ever a phone call away is really, really cool,” Barty said. In front of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and celebrities including actor Tom Cruise, Barty overcame a few wobbles — including being broken when serving for the match in the second set — to eventually beat Pliskova, saying after the win she had never experienced a feeling like it on a tennis court before. “The stars aligned for me over the past fortnight,” Barty said. “That it happened to fall on the 50th anniversary of Evonne’s first title here is absolutely incredible.” Her parents Rob and Josie Barty yelled “YES!” and raised their hands in the air as their daughter secured the victory, before embracing on the couch at their Gold Coast home. Much like Barty’s understated humility, her parents said they celebrated “very quietly” with her manager. “We had dinner, watched the game, and then had a glass of champagne to finish,” Rob said. “Or two,” Josie chimed in. Barty’s dad beamed with pride as he explained what he loved most about the sport’s world No.1. “She’s such a lovely girl,” he said. “She’s a wonderful human being, she cares deeply for her sisters and her mother —she wants to speak to them every day. “That makes me so, so proud of her.” Josie said the significance of the win, coming 50 years after fellow Australian and tennis trailblazer Goolagong Cawley’s maiden Wimbledon triumph, made it all the more sweet. “I’m so happy that she’s done it this year — it’s a really lovely year to do it, with Evonne’s anniversary and everything they’re going through. It’s fantastic,” she said. Barty said she wanted to emulate her idol and inspire Indigenous youth. “Evonne did so many things for our people, for young Indigenous youth to dream and chase their dreams,” she said. Coach Craig Tyzzer, who sat in the player’s box alongside Barty’s boyfriend Garry Kissick, said the year long lay-off because of the coronavirus pandemic had rekindled Barty’s hunger for game. “Because we missed all of last year, in the end Ash really missed playing tennis, the competition, that side of it, she really put her head down and said, OK, if this is what we have to do, this is what we have to do,” he said. “She’s accepted it a lot better. It’s still never easy leaving home.”

Ash Barty: How Australia celebrated its new sporting idol after historic Wimbledon win

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