Former tennis champ Casey Dellacqua has become a household name, but as a kid, tennis wasn’t where she first saw herself.
“I was very fortunate to have exposure, a career that propelled me to heights that I always dreamt of as a kid. But in saying that when I was a kid, did I think that that would be the case? Probably not,” says Dellacqua.
“I had more dreams of playing AFL footy, which I ended up not being allowed to play after a certain age, because that’s when girls stopped playing the sport.”
Whereas, tennis, Dellacqua says, was a “very inclusive sport” in that it allowed girls to play, so that’s where she built the foundation for her lifelong career in elite sport.
At around the age of 14 and 15, Dellacqua was offered an opportunity to go to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.
Having grown up in Perth, she says the opportunity was also “a big risk for myself, as a young teenage girl, but also my parents to say, let their daughter go to the east coast of Australia and really try to live out a dream”.
Sharing her tennis origin story, Dellacqua speaks to Dinushi Dias on today’s episode of The New Rules, a Women’s Agenda podcast taking you behind the scenes of the rise of women’s sport.
Dellacqua is a two-time Olympian and says this is something she’s “really proud to be”.
“I always dreamed of being an Olympian. I didn’t know what sport, but I think the Sydney 2000 Games was, you know, something that is entrenched in every young person’s memory.”
“Hence why Brisbane 32 is just going to be massive for young boys and girls in this country to really be able to spark that dream of being an Olympian,” she says.
Being a professional athlete on the world stage has given Dellacque much to be grateful for, but she says her greatest joy has come from being able to share the journey with family and close friends like fellow tennis star Ash Barty.
The duo have one of the most famous friendships in tennis, having played their first doubles tournament together back in 2012. Barty was just 15 at the time– a rising star– while Dellacqua was already in the world top 40 in singles with a major doubles title to her name.
Both have gone on to reach the finals of the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, as well as the WTA title in Birmingham. They also became the first Australian team in the Open era to reach the final of all four grand slam events.
“We’re really lucky,” says Dellacqua. “As I’ve talked a lot about, tennis, for me, has been a very big family community. That’s why I love the game. And so I’m fortunate that, for Ash and I, tennis has been kind of the glue that brought [us] together as friends.”
“Whether it’s elite sport or you’re in business or you’re an entrepreneur or teacher or whatever it is, [it’s] important to have those close friends in the industry who are working towards something special just like you are,” she says.
“We talk a lot about tennis being an individual sport, but it doesn’t matter which tennis player you speak to, they will always talk about the people around them.”
“Everyone puts their hand up and says, ‘hey, we’re going to help this athlete do their best’”.
To hear more of the conversation with Casey Dellacqua, check out the eighth episode of Women’s Agenda’s The New Rules podcast. You can find it below, or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.