Ash Barty reckons that rediscovering the fun of her childhood tennis days is now helping inspire her to new heights in the game that she currently rules.
Australia’s superstar was typically no-nonsense when asked even before her Porsche Tennis Grand Prix final triumph on Sunday about whether the Ash Barty era was now upon us.
“Not by any means, mate,” the world No.1 responded. “I’m just trying to be the best version of myself. I certainly don’t feel by any means it’s an era of … er, me.”
Yet her brilliant three-set victory over Aryna Sabalenka was the sign of a champion who, as Barty conceded herself, is now taking her game “to a kind of a new level.”
After picking up a third title of the year in Stuttgart, the 25-year-old birthday girl explained that it was because she felt she was now playing “tennis without consequence”.
That is, mastering the trick of going out on to the court and somehow managing “to be calm, play with freedom and without concerns.”
“For me, it’s a level of freedom,” said Barty.
“If I miss or make a mistake, it’s okay. It’s not going to be the end of the world if I make a few errors. It’s just playing without consequence and not focusing on the result as such.”
The world No.1 reckoned her new approach stemmed from work she had done with mindset coach Ben Crowe.
“There are many things we’ve worked on. It’s something I’ve always tried to do and always remind myself of what it felt like to play when I was a little kid.
“It didn’t matter what happened, it was just about the playing.
“That’s a massive part of who I am now. I want to go out there and have fun because ultimately it’s what I love to do and results weren’t my love for the sport or how I feel about the sports.
“It’s just trying to find the right way in the right spirit.”
The results were there in Stuttgart for all to see, as Barty always seemed eerily calm, relaxed and in control even when defeat from world top-10 players appeared to threaten in three matches.
She felt she’d played “great tennis” in both Miami and Stuttgart – and she’d had fun too, being able to also win the doubles on Sunday with her American pal, Jennifer Brady, the Australian Open finalist.
But after watching Barty collect two trophies, a huge cheque, a luxury watch and a new Porsche, surely the last word had to go to one of her doubles final opponents, Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
“But Ash, damn, you’re gonna get your car and all the prize money, I mean, ‘Really?’…” joked the American.
“I guess we all just gotta go and work harder!”
JesusLover33
Roar Rookie
I just edited my document so that it would be broken up into paragraphs for ease of reading. I edited it 3 times because after I sent the edited document it was still in my original large block of writing. I am JesusLover33.
JesusLover33
Roar Rookie
I have followed Ash’s career since she won the Junior Wimbledon title. I think she was 15 at the time and would have competed against U19 players. After that she teamed up with her close friend Casey Delacqua from Western Australia and reached 3 Grand Slam doubles finals including Wimbledon. After that she decided to have a break from tennis spending some considerable time playing first class cricket and showed success. She is also a class golfer and has a round when she has the time. I remember when she was seeded 16 in the Women’s Tennis Association and gradually moved up to No.1. Her greatest successes have been winning the French open & pocketing about AU$6 million when she won the road to Shenzhen title in 2019. She has been No.1 for well over 70 weeks and recently followed up her 2019 Miami victory with another a few months ago against class players. Only a handful of players have won this title consecutively. By winning the singles event in Stuttgart she matched other legends of the game such as Justine Henin who was the then No.1 player to win in 2007. By winning the doubles as well she matched Lindsay Davenport of America who won both events in 2001. I took notice of the Porsche model that she won by reading what the car model was and its price is AU$201,000. When I was watching the semi final at Stuttgart against Elina Svitolina, from memory she was down a set and a break at 5-4. Svitolina was serving for the match. I was praying that God would help her out of the pit she was in. He answered my prayers as she broke back. She won that set in a close tie-breaker 7-6 (7-5). She was down 4-2 in the tie-break, so Ash added 5 more points to her tally and Elina only 1. Ash finally won the third set against a great fighter who never gives in. I also stayed up late to watch the other semi final between Simona Halep from Roumania & Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus. I expected Halep to win because she runs for everything. She had been saying that she desperately wanted to win at Stuttgart because she had reached the semis twice in the past. Sabalenka slaughtered Halep 6-3, 6-2. Halep was seeded 2 and Sabalenka 7. When I was thinking about Halep as a probable opponent for Ash, I felt that she had the ability to beat her. The last time they met in an exhibition match in Australia Simona won. After watching Sabalenka smash serves down at 188 kmh my fears turned towards this dynamo who could serve about 30 kmh faster than Ash. She proved my fears when she easily won the first set 6-3. Amazingly, Ash reeled off the next 9 games to win the second set 6-0 and led 3-0 in the deciding set. But Sabalenka drew back to 2-3. Then the score became 4-2 Ash’s way. Soon it was 5-3 and Ash was serving for the Championship. But in her last few service games she couldn’t get her first serve in. Earlier on in the match her first serve percentage was 92%. I was nervous, very nervous. She had a serve on 40-15 and it went in on the first serve. Sabalenka went down meekly when she netted it. Then all her frustrations broke loose and she hurled her racquet at the bottom of the net. After quickly retrieving it she smiled at Barty as their racquets met at the net. Sabalenka played nowhere near the way she vanquished Halep. But Ash played a great game after losing the first set. Ash mixed up the shots she was playing, moving Sabalenka all over the court. Ash seemed for the most part able to cope with the hard hitting Belarusian. By winning Ash moved to the top of the table of 8 players to contest the Shenzhen tournament rich in prize money.