As Ashleigh Barty is on the cusp of winning a second singles grand slam title, we hark back to her journey, especially her brief spell in cricket, her net worth and her ranking
A Wimbledon finalist, An Australian Open semi-finalist, and a French Open winner – Ashleigh Barty has taken giant strides since returning to Tennis. Interestingly, Ashleigh Barty started her career with Tennis before switching to cricket and came back to Tennis in 2016. And the Australian has done everything right since making her way back to Tennis.
Ashleigh Barty Family, Life And Career
Ashleigh Barty hails from Ipswich, Queensland and her father worked for the University of Queensland. On the other hand, the 25-year old’s mother is a radiographer and a daughter of English immigrants. Though Barty played netball as a child, she chose Tennis as a profession since she was not good at the former. She did not play cricket growing up.
By age nine, the Australian started practising against boys six years older than her and three years later against male adults. At the under-12 national championships in Melbourne, Barty met her first mentor, Alicia Molik. Former Tennis professional player Scott Draper later came into her coaching team, working with her at the National Academy.
Ashleigh Barty Net Worth
Jason Stoltenberg succeeded him as her primary coach, while her present coach is Craig Tyzzer. Ashleigh Barty, whose net worth is $17,594,569, seems to be fond of dogs as per her Instagram handle. Having played cricket professionally, she is a massive fan of the men’s national team too. The 25-year old has been dating golfer Garry Kissick since 2017 and has two younger sisters in Sara and Ali.
Ashleigh Barty’s initial years in Tennis before switching to cricket
Ashleigh Barty made her Australian Open debut at the age of 15 in 2012 and a few years after thriving at the juniors division, including winning the Junior Wimbledon title. As the youngest player in the competition then, Barty won all five games without dropping a set.
She made her singles and doubles debut on the WTA tour at the start of 2012. Similar to the Australian Open, Barty entered the French Open and Wimbledon as a wild card draw only. Unfortunately, she lost in the first round to Petra Kvitova and Roberta Vinci, respectively.
Nevertheless, the following year, the Australian won all of her first-round matches at the both US Open and French Open. It turned out to be her first grand slam wins. The Queenslander’s first WTA victories came in the 2013 Malaysian Open against Chanel Simonds and Zarina Diyas. But Barty crashed out in the quarter-finals.
That same year Ashleigh Barty began conquering the doubles division too, reaching every grand slam final except for the French Open with Casey Dellacqua. The pair clinched the crown at the Birmingham Classic in 2013. Furthermore, Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua made it to the quarter-finals at the 2014 Wimbledon and French Open. But they were unsuccessful in defending the Birmingham Classic title.
Hiatus from Tennis as Ashleigh Barty takes interest in cricket and Australia’s Big Bash League
After the 2014 US Open, where she did not go beyond the first round, Ashleigh Barty took a hiatus from cricket. She revealed that she is taking time off from the sport, citing a reason as, “it was too much too quickly for me as I’ve been travelling from quite a young age.” The 25-year old wished to involve with the national team.
Having no competitive cricket experience, Barty spoke to Queensland fire coach Andy Richards. Richards also remained in line to become the Brisbane Heat’s coach. The 25-year old’s skill immediately impressed Richards, citing her as a quick learner.
She started training with the Queensland Fire in July eventually competed in Brisbane’s Women’s Premier Cricket T20 league. Barty performed exquisitely in the second game of the tournament, making 63 off 60 deliveries and bagging figures of 4-0-13-2. Barty made one ton in 13 games, averaging 42.4 and took eight scalps.
The Australian’s efforts in the final, hitting 39 off 37 balls in the final, led Western Suburbs to title victory. Eventually, Brisbane Heat signed the 25-year old and hit 39 off 27 balls on debut against the Melbourne Stars. But Ashleigh only reached a double-figure score only on one more occasion and averaged 11.33 in nine fixtures.
The road back to Tennis as she reaches Wimbledon 2021 final
Fast forward to the present, Ashleigh Barty has reached the top of the WTA rankings but also on the cusp of a second grand slam title. The world number one returned to Tennis in 2016 and began working with Craig Tyzzer, who is her coach to date.
Though the 25-year old could not do anything significant in the grand slams in 2017, she made good progress. Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua reunited and reached the French Open finals, becoming the first Australian pair to reach all four grand slam finals.
The Queenslander won the first WTA Trophy in 2018, reaching a career-high ranking of 15. Barty won her first grand slam event in the 2019 French Open. The same year Ashleigh clinched her first Miami Open title in straight sets and defended it successfully in 2021.
Barty, who reached the summit of the rankings in 2019, has dropped only one set in Wimbledon 2021 thus far. The Australian has won all the matches in straight sets, including the quarters and semis. By doing so, Ashleigh Barty became the first Australian woman to do so since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980.
Ash Barty has the opportunity to emulate her predecessor on Saturday against Karolina Pliskova. The 25-year old, who leads Pliskova by 5-2, remains the overwhelming favourite to win the decider.
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