Ashleigh Barty the first Australian woman in 46 years to win French Open

[Tennease]

Ashleigh Barty the first Australian woman in 46 years to win French Open
By Chris Barrett
June 9, 2019 — 1.52am

Paris: After all the years of toil, the burnout, the career change and the comeback, the ultimate triumph came remarkably swiftly for Ashleigh Barty.

In only an hour and 10 minutes on Saturday in Paris (early Sunday morning AEST) the 23-year-old Queenslander clinched her first grand slam title with a 6-1, 6-3 defeat of Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova in the final of the French Open women's singles.

Jubilant: Australia's Ashleigh Barty holds the trophy. CREDIT:AP


"This is incredible," she said, turning to her support team including coach Craig Tyzzer after being presented with the Coupe Suzanne-Lenglen by Chris Evert.

"It's been the most amazing journey that we've been on for the past three years and I feel like this is just the start for us. Let's go and celebrate."


Let the Barty Party begin. There is a lot to raise a glass to. Not since Margaret Court in 1973 had an Australian lifted a singles trophy at Roland Garros and this century only Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur had won major titles.

Australia's Ashleigh Barty reacts to winning her maiden grand slam at the French Open.CREDIT:CHRISTOPHE ENA


Barty also rises to No.2 in the world, heights not reached for an Australian on the women's charts in the more than four decades since her idol and fellow Indigenous player Evonne Goolagong Cawley was in the top two. The winner's cheque, obviously the fattest of her career, was €2.3 million ($A3.73m).

It is all deserved reward for an immensely likable player who in her second coming as a tennis professional now has the world at her feet, beginning at Wimbledon in a few weeks' time.

Composed from the outset in the final, there was no theatrical collapse on the red clay or vaulting of the net when she sealed victory, with a simple smash of a ball that had bounced just over the net.

Australia's Ashleigh Barty hugs Marketa Vondrousova.CREDIT:AP


Barty simply stood there and soaked it all in, her moment of glory having been reached faster than perhaps she could have imagined. Circumstances in Paris had left the occasion with the makings of an all-nighter for those watching on Australian television screens, thanks to rain in Paris and a five-set men's semi-final that preceded the women's decider.


But Barty, the eighth seed, was on the offensive immediately and never looked back. Like Vondrousova, the Australian was a newcomer to such a stage but four years her senior and having established herself in the top 10 this year, she was by some margin the more seasoned campaigner.
It showed. Vondrousova was edgy and unsure of herself in the beginning, and didn't really settle until midway through the second set. Barty, meanwhile, dictated terms, and when there was the odd window of opportunity for the Czech to fight back, it was closed promptly by the Australian.

Barty raced to a big lead in the first set but unlike in her semi-final against Amanda Anisimova, when she led 5-0 in the first and went on to lose in a tiebreak, there would be no capitulation.


The second set was more competitive, lasting longer than the 28 minutes that Barty took to wrap up the first, but an improved Vondrousova couldn't wrestle her way back after being broken in the first game. Previously, the Czech had not lost a set in the entire tournament.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis...years-to-win-french-open-20190609-p51vw8.html

 

[2nd Serve Ace]

Good since the Men have no class in Oz anymore.

Sent from my LG-LS993 using Tapatalk

 

[aussie]

Great to see and Ash is the most humble of champions. Honed her game under the tutelage of Jim Joyce at the Richlands Tennis Centre in Brisbane's western suburbs where I've spent many a time playing club matches. Jim also coached my son and deserves whatever praise comes his way for his early nurturing of Ash.

The sky is the limit for Ash and we all look forward to what is to come in her career.

 

[Forehand_Slice]

I know she's got a great slice, but winning the French with a shaky backhand like that is itself pretty impressive.

 

[Rocket54]

I know she's got a great slice, but winning the French with a shaky backhand like that is itself pretty impressive.

Shaky backhand is funny. Ash has a very solid backhand and uses it very effectively. If her backhand was shaky she wouldn't have won more matches than any other woman on the tour this year.

 

[Forehand_Slice]

Shaky backhand is funny. Ash has a very solid backhand and uses it very effectively. If her backhand was shaky she wouldn't have won more matches than any other woman on the tour this year.

She can defend it well with slice and footwork , but her topspin backhand is weak under pressure when forced to hit it.

 

[tata]

She can defend it well with slice and footwork , but her topspin backhand is weak under pressure when forced to hit it.

Yea her backhand hasnt really been the one winning her matches. Her slice is so much more effective in setting up forehand. People go after that side but it's often neutralised by the slice.

 

[Shank Volley]

She's a solid player but it's a real indictment on the womens game that someone just won a grand slam and the only seeded player they had to play was no. 14.

 

[Bartelby]

It's a real indictment on the men's game that the same four people dominated it for so long. I kind of like the diversity in women's tennis.

She's a solid player but it's a real indictment on the womens game that someone just won a grand slam and the only seeded player they had to play was no. 14.

 

[Subway Tennis]

She's got so much variety in her game, she can just bamboozle opponents. It's a pretty dazzling array of shots she has to choose from when she is zoning.

The interesting thing to me is that she has a huge clay forehand but grass may in fact be her best surface.

Barty should be held up as an example of a player who was always been immensely talented but also managed the very tricky process of "putting it all together" and turning that talent into something more. She has achieved something that none of the other 90s born Australian players, male or female, have been able to do so far.

The immense improvements she has made to her fitness in the last 3-4 years since rejoining the tour are huge. She has put in a herculean effort to completely transform her fitness level, and it really shows.

 

[Xavier G]

Barty played really well in the final and in the tournament as a whole. Well deserved win, great variety, went for her shots with fine all court play. She's been on the up for a while on the tour.

 

[Rabe87]

The most impressive performance by an Aussie woman this decade was Stosur winning the U.S beating Serena in the final with the loss of 5 games.

Stosur and Barty play remarkably similar, but we do produce WTA talents that can win the big ones every now and then

 

[Badabing888]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/48573957

Lol. The French really do hate us.. Sue Barker is Australian according to them and was the last Australian winner in 1977. And they also spelt Mima Jausovec’s name wrong.

 

[michaelyoni]

Things I admired about her were.
When she won she wasn't hysterical or went rolling on the ground, rather very humble with the win.

The crowd was terrible. For a women's final and not being filled to the rafters was a joke. To make it worse, the crowd did not even acknowledge great shots/plays be either player.

They could have had a presenter that spoke both languages, the poor girls looked lost at times.

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[ollinger]

46 years since the last Australian woman won there? Isn't it 50 years for Australian men -- I think Laver was the last one. I read somewhere that here's something like 10.000 grass courts in Australia, so I suppose the dirt just isn't second nature for them.

 

[diggler]

46 years since the last Australian woman won there? Isn't it 50 years for Australian men -- I think Laver was the last one. I read somewhere that here's something like 10.000 grass courts in Australia, so I suppose the dirt just isn't second nature for them.

There are actually very few grass courts in Australia. Grass is expensive and hard to maintain. Artificial grass is popular. Competition tennis is not very popular in Australia anymore.

 

[Rabe87]

46 years since the last Australian woman won there? Isn't it 50 years for Australian men -- I think Laver was the last one. I read somewhere that here's something like 10.000 grass courts in Australia, so I suppose the dirt just isn't second nature for them.

Tennis Australia invested in en tous cas courts about 8-9 years ago to encourage juniors playing on clay. Melb Park also has 8 Italian clay courts. The natural grass courts are only in rural cities now, mostly plexicushion and clay.

 

[diggler]

What? A champion can’t live in Ipswich? If you aren’t talking about sheer coincidence then pull your head in and reflect in silence on your values.

I have no problem with Ipswich. The other option is do a Pat Rafter. Move to Bermuda and save a heap of tax.

 

[Cashman]

She can defend it well with slice and footwork , but her topspin backhand is weak under pressure when forced to hit it.

That is like saying that Steffi Graf had a weak backhand because she didn't hit topspin very often.

There are actually very few grass courts in Australia.

The natural grass courts are only in rural cities now

Grass is still the main surface for summer tennis in Perth, and there are plenty of grass courts in Sydney.

Even in Victoria, which has traditionally had a lot more en tout cas, 20% of all tennis courts are still natural grass.

European clay is still the rarest surface in Australia, unless you live near one of Tennis Australia's specialist facilities. 'Australian clay' is almost always ETC or ant-bed, which play very differently to the red stuff (and Har-Tru, for that matter).

 

[aussie]

There are actually very few grass courts in Australia. Grass is expensive and hard to maintain. Artificial grass is popular. Competition tennis is not very popular in Australia anymore.

Here in Queensland the most popular court surface is the various types of hardcourt. Easy to maintain and handle all weather. Synthetic grass is also very popular as it is easy to maintain, plays a little like genuine grass and is easy on the joints. Very popular with players such as me with damaged knee joints.

The old ant bed courts which most Queenslanders grew up with have mostly all gone because they were labour intensive (bagging, watering, line marking etc) and were susceptible to weather (rain). But they were great to play on - easy on the joints with sliding into the ball but the lines were forever being erased by foot traffic.

 

[Mainad]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/48573957

Lol. The French really do hate us.. Sue Barker is Australian according to them and was the last Australian winner in 1977. And they also spelt Mima Jausovec’s name wrong.

Not sure what the French have got against Sue. After all, Shirley Bloomer, Angela Mortimer and Ann Jones all won RG too. Were they described as Aussies?