San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
No. 1 Barty wins 2nd major title in threeset thriller
WIMBLEDON, England — Everything came so easily for Ash Barty at the start of the Wimbledon final. Hard to believe one player would grab the first 14 points of a major championship match.
Surely, it couldn’t stay that onesided, right? Of course not.
Still, Barty used that perfect start and a strongenough finish to get the job done, holding off Karolina Pliskova’s comeback bid to win 63, 67 (4), 63 at the All England Club on Saturday for her second Grand Slam title.
“It took me a long time to verbalize the fact that I wanted to dare to dream it and say I wanted to win this incredible tournament. … I didn’t sleep a lot last night. I was thinking of all the ‘whatifs,’ ” the No. 1ranked Barty said. “But I think when I was coming out on this court, I felt at home in a way.”
She adds this trophy to the one she won at the French Open in 2019.
Barty is the first Australian woman to win Wimbledon since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980. Barty, 25, was a teenager when they first met, and she considers Goolagong Cawley an inspiration and a mentor.
“Evonne is a very special person in my life,” said Barty, whose outfit was a tribute to the dress Goolagong Cawley wore when she won the tournament for the first time, 50 years ago. “I think she has been iconic in paving a way for young indigenous youth to believe in their dreams and to chase their dreams. She’s done exactly that for me as well.” Barty was the Wimbledon junior champion a decade ago, then left the tennis tour for nearly two years in 2014 because of burnout. She played professional cricket back home, then eventually returned to her other sport. Good call.
She was at her best at the beginning of each set against the eighthseeded Pliskova, a 29yearold from the Czech Republic with a big serve.
Pliskova dropped to 02 in major finals; she also was runnerup at the 2016 U.S. Open.
“Horrible start,” said Pliskova, a former No. 1. “That’s why I’m more, like, proud about the way (I found) a way back in that match.”
In the first Wimbledon women’s final to go three sets since 2012, Barty went up 30 in the decider and never relented. It also was the first final since 1977 between two participants who never had been that far at the All England Club.
With an audience that included Prince William and his wife, Kate, and actor Tom Cruise, the match was played under a cloudfilled sky at Centre Court. Because of the threat of showers, the 5foot5 Barty and 61 Pliskova shared a warmup session under the closed roof at No. 1 Court earlier in the day.
They smiled and chatted during the coin toss before the final, but once things got serious, Barty didn’t mess around.
The key stat probably was this: Barty won 22 of 31 points that lasted nine strokes or more.
With her typical grit, Barty managed to get back to the steadier version of herself down the stretch. When she got a second chance to serve it out, Barty didn’t flinch, even when she had to stare down a break point.
When one last backhand miss from Pliskova ended it, Barty crouched at the baseline and covered her face with her arm.
Barty’s team told her after Saturday’s win that her hip injury, which knocked her out of the French Open last month and prevented her from her usual preparation for Wimbledon, was much worse than she knew and should have required two months for a full recovery.