From tennis prodigy to cricket and back again, Ashleigh Barty is now a Grand Slam champion

Ashleigh Barty went from being a tennis prodigy who briefly traded her racquet for a cricket bat to becoming a skilled tennis professional with a solid all-court game. Only 23 years-old, the native of Ipswich, Queensland, is now the queen of the red clay and the pride of Australia.

On Saturday, the affable and talented Barty triumphed over Marketa Vondrousova, 19, from the Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-3, to win her first Grand Slam title at the French Open while playing in her first Grand Slam final. She became the first Australian woman to win the French Open since Margaret Court in 1973.

“For the last fortnight, the stars have aligned for me. I have been able to play really good tennis when I’ve needed it,” said the No. 8 seed Barty during her post-match press conference.

“This is just incredible. I never dreamt that I’d be sitting here with this trophy here at the French Open. I mean, obviously, we have dreams and goals as children, but this is incredible.

“I just kept saying to myself, I may never get this opportunity ever again, so try and grab it with both hands.”

At just 5-feet-5-inches (1.66 m), Barty possesses an abundance of natural skills, lower body strength and tremendous hand-eye coordination. Her overall game is technically sound – and she trusts it. With Barty, her game includes a dynamic kick serve, plenty of topspin forehands, lots of slice, and for an element of surprise, a few timely and well-placed drop shots.

“It’s been a natural progression of becoming stronger, not growing any taller, but getting stronger and being able to trust myself and hit my spots on my serve,” explained Barty.

“My serve is a massive part of my game, and I try and think my way around the court. I know where opponents like to return, and if they shift their position, where they return. And I try and expose those spots as best that I can.”

Ashleigh Barty reacts to winning
her first Grand Slam title.

Throughout the Paris fortnight, it became apparent how Barty developed her talent into a game that’s full of artistry as well as movement and power.

Against the left-handed Vondrousova, whom she had already beaten twice, the beguiling Barty took control of the match early by winning points with her forehand, using her sliced backhand to force her opponent into committing errors (22 unforced errors), and hitting winners (27). Her adroit volley skills enabled her to win 15 of 20 points at the net. It seemed the was little Barty could do wrong.

“I felt like for me it was the perfect tennis match, considering the situation, the conditions. It was amazing,” said Barty.

It’s a testament to what Barty’s done in just three years after taking a gap year to step away from the sport after she struggled with the expectations she had set after being a tennis prodigy and winning the Wimbledon junior girls’ title at age 15. She was ranked in the WTA Top 50 in doubles when she left the sport.

“For me, I needed time to step away, to live a normal life, because this tennis life certainly isn’t normal. I think I needed time to grow as a person, to mature,” recalled Barty.

So, Barty took up professional cricket in Australia in 2015. Then, after missing the “one-on-one battle, the ebbs and flows, the emotions you get from winning and losing matches,” she came back to tennis.

“You can only get them when you are playing and when you put yourself out on the line and you become vulnerable and try and do things that no one thinks of,” said Barty.

“I think it was just a natural progression for me coming back to tennis. Certainly, it’s alway been a big part of my life. Tennis will always be a big part of my life.”

Starting from the bottom, ranked 623rd, she had to qualify just to get into main draws. Now, with her first Grand Slam title secured, she is now ranked No. 2 in the world, behind No. 1 Naomi Osaka. This year, she’s won tournaments on both a hard court (Miami) and clay (Roland Garros), and compiled a 33-6 win-loss record in all competitions (27-5 in WTA tour events).

“It’s about creating your own path, creating your own journey, and embracing it,” expressed Barty. “There’s no formula how to, you know, become a professional tennis player. It’s your own, it’s unique, your own journey, your own path, your own experiences.

“I think the best thing to do is learn from your mistakes, learn from every single experience that you have, whether it’s good or bad. That’s the only way to go about it, only way to grow as a person and as a player.”

Ashleigh Barty shares a hug with
Marketa Vondrousova after their French Open final.

Throughout Australia and the rest of the tennis world, fellow pros offered hardy congratulations via social media for the engaging Barty soon after she won her first Grand Slam championship. She heard from Hall of Fame great Evonne Goolagong Cawley, one of her idols, who like her is an indigenous Australian and won Roland Garros in 1971. Barty was touched when she lifted the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen and saw Cawley’s name inscribed on the trophy.

“What a wonderful result for Australia and how exciting that another Aboriginal has won at the French. I’m almost scared to say it but it’s now 48 years ago since I won my first Slam there too,” Cawley expressed via Tennis Australia.

“Tennis Australia and all lovers of tennis here and around the world will be delighted by the natural skills and flair Ash possesses.”

In sharing her personal narrative during her post-match press conference, Barty admitted that there’s no way she would have won the French Open title if she hadn’t taken a sabbatical from tennis. Now that she’s back, she credits her team – coach Craig Tyzzer and mentor and performance coach Ben Crowe – for helping her thrive.

“I’m not the only person out there. I have an extraordinary group of people around me,” said Barty. “I love working with them every single day. “They’re with me at the hardest times of my life, and there with me in some of the most amazing times. I think, for us, it’s a celebration of the journey we have been on for the last three years.”

Cover photo: courtesy of rolandgarros.com. Screenshot photos: courtesy of NBC Sports images.
An original version of this story appeared in Tennis TourTalk (www.Tennis-TourTalk.com).

Andy Murray: “I tried my best.”

By all indications, tennis player Andy Murray put up a better fight against Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut than anyone – the thousands of fans who crowded inside Melbourne Arena or the global TV audience that watched during all hours of the day and night – would have thought he could on this warm Australian summer Monday evening. It was opening night at the 2019 Australian Open.

Win or lose, it would be an emotional exit for the Scotsman. That’s because last Friday, Murray came into the interview room at Melbourne Park, teary-eyed and choked up with emotion, and revealed that he could no longer play with the pain in his hip he’s been experiencing while trying to play tennis. The former No. 1 had fallen to No. 230 in the world rankings because of his inactivity due to injury.

“Not feeling good. Been struggling for a long time,” said Murray, his shoulders slumped and the brim of his cap pulled down low. “I’m not sure I can play through the pain for another four or five months.”

Even still, as New York Times tennis correspondent Ben Rothenberg tweeted moments after Murray went down to a 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (4), 6-2 first-round defeat, “his clock struck midnight before we thought it should be over.”

The No. 22 seed Bautista Agut won and will advance on in the Australian Open. But, as Rothenberg noted, Murray will be remembered for his “incredible effort; Andy has everything to be proud of.”

Following the fourth set tie-break, which Murray won 7-4, BBC5 Live’s David Law tweeted, “Whatever happens from here, over the last 10 minutes Andy Murray has turned this into an Andy Murray match.

“Fighting tooth and nail, making people care, making them live their lives through him, the ups and downs, the agony and ecstasy. Forget the titles, that’s Murray’s legacy.”

While Murray’s effort, which produced what “The Tennis Podcast” called “a rousing comeback in a match of unrivaled poignancy and significance” wasn’t quite enough for him to win, it provided everyone with hours of compelling drama. Although it was after 11 p.m. when the match ended, because of the 16-hour time difference between Melbourne and the U.S. east coast, for me I saw the exciting conclusion while digesting my morning breakfast.

Interviewed on the Melbourne Arena court shortly after his glorious defeat by his former coach-turned-broadcaster Mark Petchey, Murray searched long and deep for the right words to say that expressed his emotions. Although he was exhausted from his effort, he wasn’t sad or bitter. Instead, he composed his thoughts very carefully. Finally, he spoke, saying, “It was incredible. Thank you so, so much to everyone who’s come out tonight. ... I’ve loved playing here over the years. If this was my last match, amazing way to end. I gave literally everything I had.”

For now, Murray appears to be keeping his options open and hopes to play the final tournament of his career this summer at Wimbledon. However, that could all change in a matter of days if not hours.

During Murray’s post-match press conference that followed his four-hour nine-minute loss, he was asked by French tennis journalist Carole Bouchard what his tennis legacy should be. Murray’s answer, so brief but eloquent, was summed up in just four simple words: “I tried my best.”

Berkeley's talking: Speaking out with Steve Kerr

When Berkeley talks / Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr
in conversation with UC Berkeley chancellor Nicholas Dirks.

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr is a vocal supporter for social activism as long as it comes from the heart. 

“In my mind, as long as the message is clear, I’m all for people speaking out against injustice no matter what form that takes,” said Kerr, during a recent Berkeley Talks lecture that my wife and I attended on the UC Berkeley campus. “If it’s nonviolent and leads to conversation, then I think that’s beautiful.” 

Golden Warriors head coach Steve Kerr comes from a
family of academics.

The 50-year-old Kerr, who comes from a family of academics, was the featured guest in a hour-long conversation with UC Berkeley chancellor Nicholas Dirks at Zellerbach Hall last Wednesday. The Cal Performances event, which was very well attended and received by students and community, provided a lively forum for a far-reaching discussion that touched upon Kerr's leadership as coach of a world championship-caliber team, the role of sports in building community and identity, and Kerr’s own personal history and ties to the world of academia. The dialogue was engaging and the issues discussed were timely.

Kerr, who has a son and daughter attending UC Berkeley, addressed the subject of social activism and his openness for promoting conversation about it. I was particularly interested in hearing and learning about his thoughts on this matter:

"We talk about current events. We start practice (next) Tuesday. We will absolutely have this discussion (about Colin Kaepernick). We will defintely talk (next week) about the national anthem,” said Kerr.

(Kaepernick, a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers football team, has been kneeling during the national anthem at his team’s games to protest racial injustice in America. Kaepernick, who is biracial and was adopted by white parents, he said he would not honor a song "nor show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.")

Steve Kerr / "People need to be more engaged and
active with what is happening around them."

Kerr added: "I'm not going to tell anyone what to do. Everybody gets to do whatever they want to do. But we need to know for each other if anyone is going to kneel or make a demonstration of any point or of any kind because, if so, it somewhat affects the guy next to you. Maybe good or maybe not, we don't know. It's something we have to talk about. I think it's great, I think the conversation is great. 

"People need to be more engaged and active with what is happening around them. I'm very proud, I think the NBA has been very progressive in terms of having these kinds of discussions and being at the forefront of the sports world when it comes to social activism."

I applaud Kerr for engaging his team to talk, whether it’s about basketball or social activism, and that he plans to support his team’s players in their views as long as their message on injustice is “clear.” Looking back, one of the best things that’s come out of the Colin Kaepernick issue is that it’s prompted people to talk about what our flag and national anthem means to us. That is a good thing.

"Let's protest in a non violent way, but it has to be powerful," said Kerr. "I've heard a lot of people say 'I agree with Kaepernick, but I would have done it a different way.' That's fair, but what is a different way? I don't know. What I do know is the only thing that really matters is that it's generating conversation in our country. ... Things do need to change.

“Nobody has to be right. Nobody has to be wrong,” said Kerr. “I would hope everyone would respect each other’s point of view. There are valid points of view on both sides.”

All photos: By Michael Dickens © 2016.

"My name is Sadiq Khan and I'm the mayor of London!"

Sadiq Khan / I'm a Londoner, I'm European, I'm British, I'm English,
I'm of Islamic faith, of Asian origin, of Pakistani heritage, a dad, a husband."

London began the week with a new mayor. Meet Sadiq Khan. Not only is he the first Muslim to lead Britain's capital city, he's the first Muslim head of a major European capital.

"I'm a Londoner, I'm European, I'm British, I'm English, I'm of Islamic faith, of Asian origin, of Pakistani heritage, a dad, a husband," said the newly elected, 45-year-old Khan in a recent interview with The New York Times.

Khan, a Labour Party leader, succeeds two-term Conservative Boris Johnson, who was London's mayor since 2008. He was officially sworn in as London's new mayor last Saturday during a ceremony at Southwark Cathedral, and was immediately greeted with cheers and applause.

Sadiq Khan / The first Muslim leader of an important
western city.

Born in Tooting, South London, Khan is the fifth of eight children whose parents immigrated from Pakistan. He grew up in the 1970s in a public-housing project – known as a council estate – where his father drove a London city bus and his mother was a seamstress.

"My parents came here because they saw London as a beacon," Khan told The Guardian. "A place where they could create a better life."

Following a bitter Conservative campaign of personal attacks that was dominated by anxieties over his religion and ethnicity, Khan won a striking and historic victory over Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith, gaining a broad acceptance from the London electorate who supported him with 44 percent of first preference votes (56.8 percent of the vote overall) in a crowded field. His election brushed aside attempts by Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron's government to link Khan to the threat of Islamist extremism and, perhaps, it signaled "a broad acceptance by voters of London's racial and religious diversity just months after jihadi terrorist attacks in Brussels and Paris," wrote the Financial Times of London.

"Sadiq Khan's election as mayor of the British capital – making him the first Muslim leader of an important western city – is a historic moment that will be scrutinized around the world, particularly in other European cities struggling to integrate Muslim communities," wrote the Financial Times. "The victory of the Labour party candidate reaffirms London's multicultural image at a time of rising populist fervor in Europe and the U.S."

Khan has said he hoped that Donald J. Trump – the presumptive Republican Party presidential candidate who has called for barring Muslims from entering the U.S. – "loses badly."

As mayor of London, Khan will have power over transport, housing, air quality and policing. He's promised to make 50 percent of new homes affordable. He takes charge of one of the world's great cities, "a vibrant metropolis where every tongue is heard," wrote The New York Times. "In his victory, a triumph over the slurs that tried to tie him to Islamist extremism, Khan stood up for openness against isolationism, integration against confrontation, opportunity for all against racism and misogyny. He was the anti-Trump."

Khan, married and the father of two daughters, comes to his new leadership post following a career as a human rights lawyer. He was a Labour councillor in Tory-held Wandsworth for 12 years. He entered Parliament in 2005 and in 2010 his orchestrated Ed Miliband's winning Labour leadership campaign. He ran Labour's London campaign in the 2015 general election.

Sadiq Khan / "Proud that London has today chosen
hope over fear and unity over division."

As an observant Muslim, Khan seems well placed to tackle extremism in a city known for its tolerance and respect of each other. Although Britain has not sustained a major terrorist attack since 2005, it's worth noting that unlike France, Britain's Muslim population is well integrated, and one in eight Londoners identify as Muslim. During the campaign, Khan openly proclaimed his Muslim faith and declared that he was "the British Muslim who will take the fight to the extremists."

Still, Khan's election as mayor comes at a time when Europe is struggling with an increase in Islamaphobia, "riven by debates about the flood of Syrian migrants and on edge over religious, ethnic and cultural disputes," wrote The New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/video/world/europe/100000004391820/londons-new-mayor-gives-victory-speech.html

During Khan's acceptance speech, he noted that London's mayoral election "was not without controversy," but said he was "proud that London has today chosen hope over fear and unity over division."

He added: "I hope that we will never be offered such a stark choice again. Fear does not make us safer, it only makes us weaker and the politics of fear is simply not welcome in our city."

Photos: Cover photo: Courtesy of Sadiq Khan Facebook page. Others: Courtesy of Google Images. 

Tunisia: Always a sense of hope for a better future

My Facebook friends in Tunisia awoke on Sunday to vote in national legislative elections that will lead to a permanent Parliament being seated. In the almost four years of transition since initialing Arab Spring in this proud North Africa republic -- the smallest country in the Maghreb region -- "despite political assassinations, an emerging insurgency and economic discontent," in the words of The New York Times, there has always been a sense of hope for a better future for Tunisia. 

In my many conversations with my dear Tunisian friends, I have tried to express how democracy can be a beautiful thing, but that it can be a slow process, too. I am proud that several of my friends became involved in the democratic process. Some canvassed for various political parties vying for power such as the well-organized, moderate Islamist Ennahda Party and the secular liberal party Nida Tunis (Tunisia Calls), while others volunteered their time on Election Day working at polling places in cities such as Beja and Ben Arous. Also, a long-time friend of mine has been politically active with the watchdog group I Watch Tunisia, which strives to preserve the gains of the Arab Spring revolution through monitoring political activities for transparency while also educating the electorate. She summed up her feelings on her Facebook page in a single word -- "excited".

As my university-educated friends exercised their democratic right to vote -- and I know many of them expressed to me how proud they were to get out and vote on Sunday -- it gave each a chance to reflect on the state of their beloved country and, importantly, vote their conscience. Together, I know each wants to help make Tunisia a model for moderation, tolerance and democracy in their region of the world. Considering the plight of neighboring Libya and what has befell war-torn Arabic countries like Egypt and Syria, there is much pride in and hope for Tunisia today.

Just last week, Lonely Planet, the largest travel book publisher in the world, named Tunisia as its best value travel destination for 2015, noting that "as the tourism industry begins to recover since some travel warnings have been dropped, the North African destination offers beautiful beaches, as well as cheap and reliable transport. It's modern capital Tunis also reflects its long Ottoman history, and there are Roman remains dotted around the North to be explored."

From my side of the world, I feel the pride and share the hope of my dear Tunisian friends. Sunday was a first step in a journey that continues next month when presidential elections are held. By all accounts, Tunisia's parliamentary election day was free, fair and peaceful -- from Tunis to Mahdia, from La Marsa to Sfax, from Kasserine to Gabes. The returns point to an electorate that wants security and stability -- not to mention a strong economy and a focus on education that will lead to meaningful jobs for university graduates. Based on early election returns and exit polling, it appears that Nida Tunis has won 35 percent of the seats of the 217-member parliament, giving it the right to form a governing coalition. 

God bless my dear Tunisian friends on their historic Election Day. It's just a reminder there's always a sense of hope for a better future.