Australian tennis player Ash Barty
© Oleksandr Osipov, Shutterstock

Australia is famous for its unique culture, metropolitan cities, and unusual wildlife, among other things. Each week, this seasonal feature will spotlight one of Australia’s many wonders.

Many tennis players spend their careers in pursuit of the legendary Wimbledon. Considered tennis’s most prestigious championship, the tournament has inspired athletes, children, and even a romantic comedy. The latest player to earn the coveted title of Wimbledon champion is Ash Barty, a woman of indigenous Australian descent.

In 2021, Barty won the Wimbledon singles title. Barty is a talented Australian professional tennis player. Barty is a versatile right-handed player with an excellent serve. She has won a number of singles and doubles titles.

Barty’s first grand slam event win came in doubles at the 2018 US Open (with partner CoCo Vandeweghe of the United States). The grand slam consists of the Australian, French, and US Open tournaments, and the All-England (Wimbledon) Championships. Barty won her first grand slam singles title at the 2019 French Open, after which the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranked her as the top singles player in the world. Barty became only the third Australian woman to achieve a number one ranking. Evonne Goolagong Cawley briefly held the WTA top slot in 1976, and Margaret Court was named number one several times in the 1960′s and 1970′s, before the WTA began releasing its rankings.

Ashleigh Barty was born on April 24, 1996, in Ipswich, Queensland. She began playing tennis at age five, reaching professional status in 2010 at age 14. In 2011, Barty won the girls’ singles title (for players aged 14 through 17) at Wimbledon, in England. She joined the WTA Tour in 2012 but quit tennis in 2014 to play semi-professional women’s cricket. Barty returned to tennis in 2016. She won her first WTA title at the Malaysian Open in 2017.

Barty’s family has roots among the Ngarigo Indigenous people. In 2018, she was named National Indigenous Tennis Ambassador by Tennis Australia, the country’s governing body for the sport. In 2020, Barty was named Young Australian of the Year for her achievements.