Ashleigh Barty battles past Karolina Pliskova to clinch first Wimbledon title – The Guardian

• Barty wins 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 to seal second grand slam title
• Australian was ‘touch and go’ before the tournament

There was nothing in the world that was going to stop Ashleigh Barty from taking the Wimbledon title she had arrived on these shores to claim. Not the weight of the moment that tested her to her mental limits, nor the force of history amidst a run inspired by her mentor and idol, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, whose influence even spread to the scallop-patterned dress she wore, and not even the formidable, resilient opponent across the net.

The 25-year-old Barty won her second grand slam title by riding her nerves in a desperately tense contest between two world number ones, recovering after failing to serve out the match in the second set to beat Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3 and become the first Australian woman, also a proud Indigenous woman, to win Wimbledon since Goolagong Cawley in 1980. Fifty years on from Goolagong Cawley’s maiden Wimbledon title, here she stands as the most fitting successor imaginable.

If it wasn’t already clear from the titles she has steadily compiled – now 12 – and her unrelenting consistency since early 2019, in the process Barty has established herself as the ascendent player across all surfaces in her sport. Barty has also become the 20th woman in history to earn more than $20,000,000 prize money. In 1971, Goolagong Cawley won just £1,800.

In addition to the anniversary, it also coincided with Barty’s own newfound outward confidence. “It took me a long time to verbalise the fact that I wanted to dare to dream it and say I wanted to win this incredible tournament,” said Barty. “Being able to live out my dream right now with everyone here has made it better than I ever could have imagined.”

With unrelenting will and intent from the very beginning, Barty exploded into the match, winning the first 14 points and striking seven winners. As Barty quickly established a 4-0 lead then took the first set 6-3, she was on track for a dominant win particularly after a series of Pliskova errors at 1-1 in set two and gave Barty an early break.

But the 29-year-old Pliskova never stopped toiling and she quickly broke back. Deep in the second set, Barty broke again after some magnificent defence. She stood up to serve for her first Wimbledon title at 6-5, only to find that she did not yet have the nerve. She struck a double fault and two forehand errors, handing over the game. The first true glimpse of weakness emboldened Pliskova, who played a supreme tiebreak, chasing down drop shots and roaring herself into a third set.

How do you recover after failing to serve out a Wimbledon final? So many would have crumbled, but Barty shrugged it off. “I think being able to reset at the start of the third was really important, just for me to continue to turn up each and every point,” she said.

“That’s all I was really focusing on, just trying to do the best I could on every given point regardless of what the scoreline was.”

Barty recovered immediately, establishing a decisive break lead early in set three. Forty-five minutes after the first attempt, she served for the match again and faced break point again after a wild forehand error. She responded with an exquisite defensive backhand slice off a devastating Pliskova return, eliciting a backhand error from the Czech. Then she fired an ace at deuce, marching with her momentum to take the match shortly afterwards.

Barty is so often a picture of calm and composure, even after her first grand slam victory at the French Open in 2019, which made her response to the triumph even more touching. She sank to her knees and cried, then climbed up into the stands, over the broadcast booth and wept into the arms of her loved ones.

Throughout her time at the top of the sport, Barty has triumphed through a supreme mastery of her vast skill set, bringing rare stability to the No 1 ranking. But even as she dominated top opponents at regular WTA events, her first grand slam victory was a triumph over her nerves against inferior players and she was yet to produce a true spectacular, signature moment on the biggest stages.

Here it is. Twenty-five days before Wimbledon began, Barty was forced to retire from the second round of the French Open with a hip injury. Barty revealed on Saturday that her team did not tell her the full severity of the information they received from the specialists and that it should have taken two months to recover from, which she called a miracle.

“I think them not telling me that just proved how much we were against the odds,” she said. “I think now to be playing pain-free through this event was incredible. It’s funny, sometimes the stars align, you can think positively, you can plan, and sometimes the stars do align, you can chase after your dreams.”

Once she recovered, Barty was charged with establishing a rhythm in her first grass court event in two years. Once she did, in-form former number ones Angelique Kerber and Pliskova awaited in the final rounds. She used all of these challenges as a platform to produce at times the best big match tennis of her life and at others the most mentally resilient. Barty now has the title she has craved for so long. There are more to come.

– The Guardian (International Edition)