‘Single-minded’ Dart will relish Barty test
Briton who faces world No1 today is no stranger to pulling off upsets, writes Charlie Eccleshare
Why has the young and inexperienced Harriet Dart appeared so oddly at ease with her surroundings this week? Her journey to this point offers a few clues. The daughter of an All England Club member, Dart was a junior member until she turned 22 last July, and is in the process of applying for full membership.
Though should she win five more matches over the next week, she would save herself the hassle, as Wimbledon champions automatically become members. The odds of her doing so remain astronomical, but after two highly impressive wins, Dart will test herself on Centre Court today against world No1 Ashleigh Barty.
Dart, the world No182, has a huge gulf in pedigree to bridge, but ever since childhood she has relished giant-killings. “She’s always been very single-minded,” her mother Susie, a former Middlesex tennis captain, told The Daily Telegraph yesterday. “When she was a tiny, skinny eight-yearold, Harriet would go on tennis camps and not just beat 15 and 16-year-olds, but fully expect to beat them. They were so much bigger than her, but she wouldn’t take any nonsense from anyone.”
Growing up in north London, Dart was a member of the Cumberland tennis club in West Hampstead – as is British Fed Cup captain Anne Keothavong – and was clearly gifted. Given her genes, this was no surprise. As well as her mother Susie, who plays regular tennis alongside her role as a head teacher, Harriet’s father Nick, a chartered surveyor, is a talented squash player, and her grandfather played junior Wimbledon.
Initially, Dart was turned down by her county as a nine-year-old. It took linking up with coach Peter Neathey for her to start realising her potential. Another turning point came at the end of 2017, when Dart moved to a tennis academy in Istanbul for nine months.
“She has always been someone who has known her own mind, and in going to Turkey she just wanted to do her own thing,” Susie Dart explains. “It was a different culture
and radical change. A lot of people thought it wasn’t the right thing.”
The progress Dart showed on her return to the UK suggested it was time well spent. Back for last summer’s grass-court season, Dart recorded her first WTA Tour-level win at the Nature Valley International. She then won a set against former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova at Wimbledon, before reaching the mixed doubles semi-finals with Jay Clarke.
A year on, Dart has showcased her steady improvement, with Wimbledon victories over former top-25 American Christina Mchale and Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Slight of build and lacking major weapons, Dart relies on her tactical intelligence and has the intensity required for a player who lacks the muscle of her rivals. This ferocity is in contrast to her poise off court.
Even when Clarke dumped her for the mixed doubles by text on Monday to team up with 15-yearold sensation Cori Gauff, Dart kept her counsel and explained the situation calmly. This emotional intelligence is well known to those close to her, and is helped by the forensic psychology degree she is studying for online.
Dart has numerous interests, including nutrition and the far less healthy passion of supporting Arsenal. Come 1pm today, however, her focus will be entirely on causing surely the biggest upset of the tournament so far against the French Open champion.
Playing doubles with Venus Williams last month and reaching the Wimbledon mixed doubles semi-finals last year should help, but the key for Dart will be channelling that eight-year-old upstart who was no respecter of reputations.