Ash Barty joined a long list of Australian names etched on Wimbledon silverware as she beat Karolina Pliskova in a nerve-shredding final to become the first woman from Down Under to win the singles title for 41 years on Saturday.
The 25-year-old world number one looked on course for an embarrassingly easy triumph as Pliskova suffered one of the worst starts ever seen in a Wimbledon final but eventually needed her best to claim a 6-3 6-7(4) 6-3 victory.
After Pliskova struck a backhand into the net following one hour and 55 minutes of see-sawing action, Barty sank to her knees in realisation of fulfilling her childhood dream.
With tears in her eyes, she then climbed into the stands towards her team, a tradition started by compatriot Pat Cash when he won the men’s singles in 1987.
When she returned to the lush grass, she spoke of her joy of emulating her idol Evonne Goolagong who won the first of her two Wimbledon titles 50 years ago, before adding her second in 1980, since when no Australian woman had won the singles.
“I said just keep fighting,” Barty, who throughout the fortnight has worn a retro outfit similar to the one Goolagong wore 50 years ago, said on court after receiving the gleaming Venus Rosewater Dish from the Duchess of Cambridge.
“Kaja (Karolina) brought out the very best of me today. It took me a long time to verbalise that I wanted to win this incredible tournament… and being able to live out my dream right now is better then I ever could have imagined. I hope I made Evonne proud.
“I didn’t sleep a lot last night and as I was thinking of all the what-ifs but I felt at home out on the court.”
Not since 1977 had two first-time Wimbledon finalists gone head to head in the women’s championship match.
But for the first set, only one showed up.
Eighth seed Pliskova, whose only previous Grand Slam final ended in defeat at the US Open in 2016, suffered every player’s worst nightmare as she froze solid.
Her feet seemed stuck in clay, her arms in a straight jacket and her mind in a fog as Barty helped herself to the first 14 points of the match. It felt like a slow-motion train crash and the 15 000 Centre Court crowd did not know whether to watch or turn their faces away out of respect for the suffering Czech.
When she got on the scoreboard thanks to a Barty error, a huge cheer broke the tension and Pliskova smiled awkwardly.
After a double fault left her 0-4 down, it was hard to see how she would win a game, let alone the title and reporters were busy checking the list of shortest women’s finals.
That was when Suzanne Lenglen defeated Molla Mallory in 23 minutes in 1922. But Pliskova is made of tougher stuff.
The 29-year-old gradually de-frosted and broke the Barty serve to love to win her first game, only to surrender serve for the third time in the match. En route to the final, she had been broken only four times.
Barty’s level was being dragged down too by the mediocre resistance and she lost consecutive games before taking a bizarre opening set in 28 minutes.
Pliskova’s gremlins returned with two double faults as she dropped serve early in the second set but as the title loomed for Barty, the Queenslander began to tighten up.
Incredibly, after what had gone before Barty found herself serving to stay in the second set at 4-5.
Serving at 5-5 Pliskova’s game disintegrated from 40-0 as Barty reeled off five successive points to give herself the opportunity to serve for the title.
But the enormity of the occasion locked her arm and a succession of forehand errors gave Pliskova a lifeline, with the contest heading into a tiebreak.
A re-energised Pliskova had Lady Luck with her at 4-2 in the tiebreak as she got a cruel net cord which dragged Barty out of position before the Czech belted away a smash.
Barty hauled back a couple of points form 2-6 but then double-faulted to send the final into a deciding set for the first time since 2012.
After surviving a nervy opening, Barty was gifted a break when Pliskova netted the simplest of volleys.
Pliskova hung on gamely at 2-5 to make Barty serve for the title, which on an afternoon of shredded nerves was never going to be a foregone conclusion.
At 30-30 and an open court begging, Barty slammed a forehand volley into the net. She then saved the break point and brought up match point with an ace.
One was all she needed as her dream became a reality.
