Winning home grand slam ‘surreal’ and ‘special’ for Australian Ashleigh Barty

Ashleigh Barty roared into the Melbourne night after exorcising 44 years of Australian pain.

By beating American Danielle Collins 6-3 7-6 (2), Barty finally ended the long reign of Chris O’Neil as the last home Australian Open singles champion way back in 1978.

The great and the good had gathered in Rod Laver Arena, with the man after whom the stadium is named joined by Hollywood superstar Russell Crowe, and Sydney Olympic heroes Ian Thorpe and Cathy Freeman.

If this could not quite compare to the moment in 2000 when Freeman won 400 metres gold with the eyes of the world upon her, it had a similar feel.

Barty is usually understated on and off the court but, when her final forehand flew past Collins to cap a comeback from 5-1 down in the second set, she let all her emotions out.

“It was a little bit surreal,” she said afterwards.

“I think I didn’t quite know what to do or what to feel, and I think just being able to let out a little bit of emotion, which is a little bit unusual for me, and I think being able to celebrate with everyone who was there in the crowd, the energy was incredible tonight.

“I think being able to understand how much work my team and I have done behind the scenes and over the last few years to get to this point, to be able to have this opportunity was really special. I think it just kind of all came out at once.”

Barty took her grand slam tally to three having won the French Open in 2019 and Wimbledon last summer and becomes the only active female player other than Serena Williams to have won major titles on three different surfaces.

She has been world number one since September 2019 and, having begun last season with major question marks over the legitimacy of that position after the Covid-19