Barty’s inspiring message of hope

WORLD No.1 Ash Barty has delivered an inspirational message to young Indigenous girls in Far North Queensland, imploring them to never give up.

During her recent visit to Cairns, the 24-year-old tennis star was asked what it takes to be the best female tennis player in the world by a group of young fans from AFL Cape York House.

Barty, as always, was humble in her response, but delivered an important message about perseverance and resilience. “For me, it’s about making a plan and sticking to it,” she said. “I believe I work hard every single day to try and get to my goals and if I do that — whether I reach my goals or not — it’s about the journey of getting there.

“That’s something that I’ve learned a lot over the last few years, that you can’t just go through life expecting all these things to happen.

“It’s about actually enjoying it and smelling the roses along the way, celebrating the good things that happen, working your way through the tricky times, and I think it’s about really just respecting that aspect, sharing it with your friends, sharing it with your family, sharing it with those you love the most.

“That’s been a massive improvement of mine personally in the last couple of years and I think it’s a goal that everyone can look forward to.”

Barty was in Cairns to help announce Australian Tennis Foundation’s commitment of $115,000 to fund Indigenous tennis programs in Queensland over the next three years, which the ATF officially announced yesterday.

As a proud Ngarigo woman and Tennis Australia’s Indigenous Tennis Ambassador, Barty joined six young Indigenous tennis players for a walk at Mossman Gorge. She also visited Cairns West State School, where she met 20 Indigenous students for a hit and question-and-answer session.

The ATF’s first round of funding will go towards Indigenous programs delivered by the Cairns Regional Council.