Tennis prodigy Ash Barty, 23, kicks off her bid to become the first Australian to win a French Open final since 1973 - and quickly wins the first set 6-1
- Ashleigh Barty is vying for her chance to make history in the French Open final
- The last Australian to win the Grand Slam title was Margaret Court in 1973
- The 23-year-old is competing against Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova
Tennis prodigy Ashleigh Barty has kicked off her bid to become the first Australian to win a French Open final since 1973.
The 23-year-old is playing unseeded Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova in the final of the Roland-Garros on Saturday.
The last Australian to win a French Open singles title was Margaret Court in 1973.
Barty, who is ranked eighth in the world, will rise to second if she beats no.38 Vondrousova.
Tennis prodigy Ashleigh Barty has kicked off her bid to become the first Australian to win a French Open final since 1973
Ashleigh Barty (right) is playing Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova (left) in the final of the Roland-Garros on Saturday
Barty came out firing in the first set, winning 6-1 in under 30 minutes.
The Queenslander took an early lead, winning four games to zero before Vondrousova managed to win one game.
Barty then continued her leading streak by winning the fifth and sixth game.
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Vondrousova had not lost a set during this year's French Open until she faced Barty.
The women's final started about one-and-a-half hours after its scheduled 11pm AEST start time, due to rain and a lengthy semi-final battle between Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem.
Barty found herself vying for the Grand Slam title after beating American rising star Amanda Anisimova 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 in a whirlwind semi-final on Friday.
Barty, who is ranked eighth in the world, will rise to second if she beats Vondrousova
'I played some really good tennis. I played some pretty awful tennis,' said Barty after Friday's victory.
'I'm just proud of myself the way I was able to fight and scrap and hang in there and find a way,' she said.
'When I kind of threw away that first set.'
She lost the first set to her 17-year-old opponent 7-6, after a powerful lead fell to pieces. In less than 15 minutes, the Australian held a 5-0 lead over Anisimova.
Vondrousova, 19, reached her first major final after defeating Britain's Johanna Konta 7-5, 7-6 (2).
The last Australian in a Grand Slam singles final was Samantha Stosur, who won the US Open in 2011.
Barty previously experienced the taste of a Grand Slam title, when she won the US Open doubles title with CoCo Vandeweghe in 2018.
A young Ash Barty clings onto a trophy in 2002. The 23-year-old Australian is vying for her first Grand Slam singles title
Ash Barty (left) pictured with one of her older sisters Sara (right)
Barty picked up a racket aged four because 'didn't want to play what she thought was a girls' game'
Barty is the youngest child of Robert, a Ngarigo Indigenous Australian, and Josie, the daughter of English immigrants, and was born and raised in Ipswich, Queensland.
Her two sisters, Sara and Ali, played netball but Barty picked up a racket aged four.
This was because 'didn't want to play what she thought was a girls' game', her father told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Junior tennis coach Jim Joyce took Barty under his wing after noticing she had a natural talent for the sport.
Barty was five when she arrived at Joyce's court at the West Brisbane Tennis Centre and was soon hitting with players twice her age.
'The thing that stood out was - her hand and eye coordination was amazing - but it was her focus and concentration for that age,' Joyce said.
'She was equal to any of the nine and 10-year-olds, actually, as far as that goes.
'She was outstanding.'
Joyce said Barty's talents as a sportsperson were far-reaching and coming from a family of golfers she was also decent with a club.
'She just picked up things so quickly,' Joyce said.
'Ash would have made a fantastic golfer ... you should have seen her on a golf course.
Barty (right) and two-time Wimbledon winner Evonne Goolagong-Cawley talk to media at Brisbane International Tennis Centre, July 6, 2011. Barty had won the Wimbledon girls singles
The teenager was then sent abroad, where she competed in international tours without her parents at the age of 14 (Barty is pictured second from right)
Junior tennis coach Jim Joyce took Barty under his wing after noticing she had a natural talent for the sport. Barty was five when she arrived at Joyce's court at the West Brisbane Tennis Centre and was soon hitting with players twice her age
'And she just wanted to play tennis, she didn't want to play team games.
'Her sisters were playing netball, she just wanted to play tennis.'
By the age of nine, Barty was training with boys six years older than her, and at 12 she was playing against adult men.
The teenager was then sent abroad, where she competed in international tours without her parents at the age of 14.
Barty recalled her first international tour in Europe where she was riddled with homesickness.
She would phone her parents crying almost every evening, but despite the struggle she managed to power through the competitions.
Barty shakes hands with Serena Williams during last years French Open
Barty has been with her boyfriend, PGA Trainee professional Garry Kissick, since 2017
Pictured in December 2010: Barty is awarded Female Junior Athlete of the Year at the Newcombe Medal Awards. She is seen posing with Bernard Tomic
The 14-year-old was also invited to Las Vegas as a member of the Adidas player development team where she was given the privileged opportunity to hang out with Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi.
'This trip has given me a lot of confidence and self-belief and has made me realise how I need to work and what sacrifices I must make in order to be a great tennis player,' Barty said at the time.
At the age of 15, she hit a range of milestones, having competed at the Australian Open, won high-level Grade 1 events in Malaysia and Belgium, and secured her only Grand Slam junior title at Wimbledon.
She became the second Australian to win the girls' singles event after Debbie Freeman in 1980, and the first Australian girl to win a junior Grand Slam title since Jelena Dokic at the 1998 US Open.
Speaking to her Wimbledon victory, Barty said: 'It was just too much – it was too much beyond tennis, beyond playing the game'.
She found herself approaching a crossroads, unsure of her future prospects on the court amid the mounting media exposure and pressure to succeed.
At the age of 15, Barty (pictured in January 2019) hit a range of milestones, having competed at the Australian Open, won high-level Grade 1 events in Malaysia and Belgium, and secured her only Grand Slam junior title at Wimbledon
Barty is pictured in 2014 - the year she decided to take an indefinite break from cricket
During the season where she turned 17, Barty had only spent 27 days at home during the calendar year, and in 2014 following the US Open, she made the critical decision to take a break from tennis
When she was 16, Barty lived alone in an apartment in Melbourne's South Yarra.
During the season where she turned 17, Barty had only spent 27 days at home during the calendar year, and in 2014 following the US Open, she made the critical decision to take a break from tennis.
Her father Robert said he suffers from bipolar, manic depression and obsessive compulsive disorder, believing he passed depression to Barty.
'It was too much too quickly for me as I've been travelling from quite a young age,' she said in a later interview about quitting the sport.
'I wanted to experience life as a normal teenage girl and have some normal experiences.'
But with sport clearly running in her blood, Barty instead took up cricket and enjoyed great success.
Barty and Serena Williams are all smiles during the French Open in 2018
With sport clearly running in her blood, Barty took up cricket after quitting tennis in 2014
Barty is the youngest child of Robert, a Ngarigo Indigenous Australian, and Josie (right), the daughter of English immigrants, and was born and raised in Ipswich, Queensland
Barty joined the Queensland Fire squad in the women's national league, with coach Andy Richards recalling he was instantly impressed with her skills.
'Her skill from the first time she picked up a bat was outstanding from a coach's perspective – she never missed a ball in her first session,' he said.
But after a successful two years of professional cricket – which saw her play for a range of teams at high profile events including in the Women's Big Bash League – Barty made the bold return to tennis in February 2016.
The reunion with tennis came after Barty went to watch her doubles teammate, Casey Dellacqua compete in the Sydney International.
Dellacqua forced her on to an empty court in the late afternoon and Barty realised it was time for her to return to her first love.
'I used one of her racquets and I just said, ''This is me. This is what I should be doing'',' she said.
Barty is the National Indigenous Tennis Ambassador for Tennis Australia, and calls herself a 'very proud Indigenous woman'
Barty bats for Brisbane Heat in the Women's Big Bash League in December 2015
Barty celebrates after her French Open semi-final victory against Amanda Anisimova on Friday
At the 2017 Malaysian Open she won her first career WTA singles title and entered the top 100 for the first time, finishing within the top 20.
She is the National Indigenous Tennis Ambassador for Tennis Australia, and calls herself a 'very proud Indigenous woman'.
'Giving back to my community is very important to me and I hope to inspire many more Indigenous kids to get active and enjoy their tennis,' she said.
Barty has been with her boyfriend, PGA Trainee professional Garry Kissick, since 2017.
If Barty wins on Saturday night, she will become Australia's first French Open singles champion since Margaret Court in 1973
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