Ashleigh Barty opens up on the “RACIST” behavior she was subjected to growing up as an Indigenous Australian
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Ashleigh Barty
Ashleigh Barty is undoubtedly one of the most prominent faces of the women’s tennis community and has won three Grand Slams throughout her career. She played her last match against the American Danielle Collins in the final of the Australian Open, which she won in straight sets and clinched the title. Following the match, she retired from professional tennis.
In a recent interview, she touched on several topics that have engaged her mind over the past few years. In her new autobiography, ‘My Dream Time’, she particularly wrote about her mixed heritage and how it helped her to become a better person. As per the tennis sensation herself, the ‘racist’ behavior she was subjected to while growing up has only made her a stronger individual and has helped her gain prominence in the realm of tennis.
In a reminiscence, the Australian talked about how she battled against racism during her initial career days.
“I’ve seen glimpses and tasted the faintest bitter edge of racism. ‘I’d win a Deadly Award but get vilified on line. I’d become a Tennis Australia First Nations Ambassador and then find some muppet calling my heritage into question,” she remembered.
“There was no need for us to talk about that in the moment, but it was certainly something that confused me a little bit as to why someone would criticize something that is so personal to me,” Ashleigh Barty further added.
The 2022 Australian Open champion believes that more has to be done to improve the condition of the indigenous people of Australia. She admitted that education is the major tool that can help to improve the situation.
“Looking back now, it’s all about the education and giving people the tools to understand others and appreciate what came before us,” the Australian legend told the Australian media house.
Ashleigh Barty also described visiting Central Australia as her most ‘important journey’.
“Going to Central Australia and connecting with who I am and where I came from was really powerful. I didn’t know I would feel that was until I got there,” she said candidly.
“If anything, it has just reassured to me that the path I want to go down in the future is to try and help First Nations youth around the country,” Barty promised.
Barty gave all the credit for knowledge of her ancestral roots to her father. It was her father Rob who traced his family heritage and found out that the Barty family are descendants of the indigenous Australian community and have links to the Maoris of New Zealand. Her father recited this story to Ashleigh and her siblings when they were young. Ashleigh Barty is proud of her being an Australian and belonging to the indigenous Australian community.
New Innings for Ashleigh Barty
Ashleigh Barty is one of those tennis players who played in the era when Serena Williams was at the pinnacle of her career and dominated women’s tennis like no other has ever done before. Despite being under the shadow of such a prominent player, the Australian managed to prove herself. She won the US Open Women’s doubles title in 2018 with American Coco Vandeweghe. She also won the mixed double bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 with Jennifer Brady.
Ashleigh was known for her all-court gameplay and groundstrokes and became World No.1 in 2019 and remained in that position till the end of 2022. The Australian then equaled the record of Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, and Serena Williams in staying at the WTA No.1 ranking for three years in a row. That’s not all. More interestingly, Ashleigh Barty played domestic cricket in Australia and also for the Women Big Bash League team Brisbane Heat in the 2015-16 season.
Now that she has finally started her new innings post-retirement, the Grand Slam champion is looking forward to pursuing her other dreams and things she is passionate about.
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