Barty rose to international prominence early this year when she impressed time and time again on the tennis world stage. She then won over Australia’s heart with her refreshing, down-to-earth attitude.
She’s currently ranked world number one by the Women’s Tennis Association – only the second Australian WTA singles number one, after tennis great Evonne Goolagong Cawley.
She’s won six singles titles on the WTA Tour, including a memorable maiden Grand Slam Title at the 2019 French Open.
A First Nations woman, Ash serves as the National Indigenous Ambassador for Tennis Australia.
The 2020 #QLD Young #AusoftheYear is professional tennis player Ashleigh Barty. @woolworths @ashbarty pic.twitter.com/kz6c8BHMVZ
— AusoftheYearAwards (@ausoftheyear) November 11, 2019
Barty’s father accepted the award on behalf of Ash in Brisbane on Monday night.
“If someone would have said to me at the start of the year that your daughter’s going to be number one in the world, then I would have said, ‘Wake up to yourself she’s not that good’. But she’s just done some incredible stuff,” he said.
“I had to go to Cairns with her recently to help some young Indigenous kids get into sport, and she said to me up there when we jumped on the plane to come home, “Dad I could do this every day, this is what really matters. This is great stuff, this is so much better than playing tennis,” he said.
“Giving back to my community is very important to me and I hope to inspire many more Indigenous kids to get active and enjoy their tennis.”
In the spirit of #NAIDOC Week, we salute @ashbar96’s ongoing efforts as our National Indigenous Tennis Ambassador. #BecauseOfHerWeCan pic.twitter.com/wnr4hBT5WM
— TennisAustralia (@TennisAustralia) July 9, 2018
Congratulations Ash!