There was really only one choice.
Ash Barty, happily in retirement for nine months, accepted Tennis Australia’s Newcombe Medal for a record fifth time on Monday night, to go with her wins in 2017-19 and 2021.
Australian tennis legend John Newcombe presented Barty with her medal in front of a who’s who of the sport at Palladium at Crown.
Ash Barty roars with delight after winning this year’s Australian Open women’s singles final.Credit:AP
No one else has been crowned Australia’s most outstanding tennis player more than three times – Sam Stosur was victorious 2010-12 – but Barty was the obvious recipient after her drought-busting Australian Open triumph in January.
That was the second and final tournament the 26-year-old Queenslander played this year – she won the other, too – before she announced her shock retirement, after also having a 21-month sabbatical from late 2014.
Barty claimed both the singles and doubles titles, with Storm Hunter (formerly Sanders), in Adelaide before reigning supreme at Melbourne Park.
She beat a strong field that included Australian Open doubles winner and Wimbledon singles finalist Nick Kyrgios, Alex de Minaur, Ajla Tomljanovic, Wimbledon doubles champions Matt Ebden and Max Purcell, and Hunter.
Kyrgios was the only possible other option after a career-best season that saw him finish as the top-ranked Australian in singles (No.22) and doubles (13).
But Barty’s titanic feat to become the first local to win an Australian Open singles title since Chris O’Neil in 1978 stood above any other achievement her compatriots managed.
Evonne Goolagong Cawley presents Ash Barty with the 2022 Australian Open trophy.Credit:Eddie Jim
It was the final goal the dominant former world No.1 wanted to tick off after winning the Wimbledon title in July last year, following her grand slam breakthrough at Roland Garros in 2019.
“There’s no right way, there’s no wrong way – it’s just my way,” Barty said in her retirement video with close friend and former doubles partner Casey Dellacqua.
“It’s the first time I’ve actually said it out loud and, yeah, it’s hard to say, but I’m so happy, and I’m so ready. I don’t have the physical drive, the emotional want, and everything it takes to challenge yourself at the very top of the level anymore. I am spent.”
Barty’s coach, Craig Tyzzer, was a deserving winner of the coaching performance (excellence) category, while she also presented her idol, fellow Indigenous champion Evonne Goolagong Cawley, with the Spirit of Tennis award.
Her retirement announcement triggered a tidal wave of tributes for a player who was never obsessed with racking up records and hated being away from home, and family, for long periods.
Barty has repeatedly made clear this second retirement is different to her first, emphatically refuting any comeback suggestions as recently as November while launching her autobiography, My Dream Time.
She still finishes with a formidable on-court resume, including being the year-end No.1 for three straight years (2019-21), and holding top spot for the fourth-longest streak (114 consecutive weeks) and seventh-most overall (121).
Barty also reached three grand slam doubles finals alongside Dellacqua, winning 15 singles titles, another 12 in doubles and almost $24 million in career prizemoney.
OTHER AWARDS
Spirit of Tennis: Evonne Goolagong Cawley
Coaching Excellence (club): David Grainger, Henley South Tennis Club
Coaching Excellence (development): Luke Bourgeois, Voyager Tennis Academy
Coaching Excellence (performance): Craig Tyzzer
Excellence in Officiating: Robyn Tucker
Female Junior Athlete of the Year: Talia Gibson and Taylah Preston
Male Junior Athlete of the Year: Edward Winter
Most Outstanding Athlete with a Disability: Heath Davidson
Most Outstanding Tennis Club: Collaroy Tennis Club
Most Outstanding Professional Tournament: Euroa Lawn Tennis Club Labour Day
Most Outstanding School: Aitken Creek Primary School
Most Outstanding 35+ Tennis Senior: Jarrod Broadbent
Volunteer Achievement Award: Julie Polkinghorne
