It was a dazed Ashleigh Barty who faced the world’s press just 90 minutes after her Roland-Garros triumph, reflecting on how the “stars aligned” to bring about her title win. Time and again she instinctively used the pronoun “we”. Tennis is nominally an individual sport, but for Barty her success is all about being part of a team.
“At the moment it's too much and a bit out there, really,” smiled 23-year-old Barty, who arrived here as the world No.8 and will rocket to No.2 when the new rankings come out on Monday – the highest-ranked Australian since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1976.