Not since 1976 has an Australian woman been ranked as high as Ash Barty is now. On Monday, following her remarkable run to the French Open title, Barty was confirmed as the new No. 2 in the WTA rankings. Barty ended several droughts for Australian tennis in Paris. The 23-year-old became the first Australian to win the singles title at Roland-Garros since Margaret Court in 1973, and also became the first Australian to win a Grand Slam singles title since Sam Stosur in 2011.
Now, Barty is the first Australian woman to be ranked as high as No. 2 since Evonne Goolagong Cawley, who achieved the feat 43 years ago.
On Sunday, Barty emerged in front of the world's media, grasping the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen with a white-knuckled grip. For so long, Australian tennis fans yearned for a player to honour Stosur's great work this decade, a player so near to so much, yet so far.
With a cheeky smile and dry wit, Barty is just what the doctor ordered, and despite all the attention that will follow her maiden Slam singles triumph, she kept her head. "It's disbelief more than anything. I turned around to my team and couldn't believe what had just happened," she said on Sunday.
"It has been a crazy two weeks, a magical two weeks and I loved every minute. "But it's just been an incredible journey over the last three years. All the work we've put in has amounted to this." "I promised myself that in my matches I'd walk out onto the court with a smile, and that I'd enjoy it and embrace it.
"[Sunday] was not different. I kept saying to myself that I may never get this opportunity ever again in my life. "Try and grab it with both hands, enjoy it, love it, smile, and try and play your best."
