Goolagong Cawley is a Wiradjuri woman who was named the Australian Sportsman of the Year in 1972 and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1988. She had a remarkable career, in which she won 92 pro tournaments, was a finalist in 18 grand slam singles events and was the first Indigenous Australian to win at the French Open.

Before Barty, Margaret Court was the most recent Australian to win a singles title at Roland Garros, in 1973.

Barty took a little more than an hour to claim her first grand slam win at Roland Garros, beating 19-year-old Czech Marketa Vondrousova 6-1, 6-3. In her victory speech, she praised Goolagong Cawley for leading the way.

"It's amazing how she's created this path for Indigenous tennis in Australia and I think now it's becoming more nationwide," the 23-year-old Queenslander said.

"There's more opportunities for kids to play tennis, both male and female, and I hope we can continue to create those opportunities and let kids know that this is an option for a career. And even if it's not, it's a sport that they can play for life."

Barty and her sisters learnt their great-grandmother was a member of the Ngaragu people from southern NSW and north-eastern Victoria when she was around 12 years old. The three girls registered with their clan to begin learning about their ancestry.

"My heritage is really important to me,” she told Good Weekend in 2017. "I’ve always had that olive complexion and the squished nose, and I just think it’s important to do the best I can to be a good role model."

Barty became a Tennis Australia Indigenous ambassador in 2018, a role which aimed to reach more than 1000 Indigenous youths in the Northern Territory each year, a role she describes as "very important".