The most comforting stat in the women's game is Ashleigh Barty's consistency. It echoes a thrilling dependability.
The Aussie, who clinched her maiden Venus Rosewater Dish on Saturday, has now won two of the last seven majors she started. This is Barty's 77th consecutive week as No. 1 (84th overall). The uniformity of the weave which first stirred a promise in the autumn of 2018, when she won two singles titles, the beginning of her ascent to the dozen crowns she now has stands out for its range. The Aussie is the 20th woman in history to earn over $20,000,000 in prize money.
When the pandemic struck last year, Barty stepped off the pedal. She let the US Open go and didn't defend her Roland Garros crown, she played some golf instead and enjoyed her time with family and friends. Those 11 months away was the high-octane fuel for her 2021 charge.
Not surprisingly then, the 25-year-old tops the win-loss leaderboard at 35-6 for the season. She triumphed in Yarra Valley, Miami, Stuttgart and Wimbledon. Barty, who has the most top 10 wins for the season at six, is 1,843 points ahead of the second-placed French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova in the Race to Shenzhen.
The Aussie, who pulled out of the French Open last month with a hip injury, came into Wimbledon cold. She was heading into a major with zero match play in 25 days.
"Chatting to my team now," she said, following her win on Saturday, "they had kept a lot of cards close to their chest, didn't tell me a lot of the odds, didn't tell me a lot of the 'I suppose' information that they got from other specialists. There weren't too many radiologists in Australia who had seen my injury. In a sense, it was a two-month injury. Being able to play at Wimbledon was nothing short of a miracle."
"It's funny, sometimes when the stars align, you can think positively, you can plan," she said, "and sometimes the stars align and you can chase your dreams."
Barty called the last couple of weeks 'a learning experience' for her team.
"Opening Centre Court was something I never, never thought would be possible," she said. "To be able to do that in such an unusual circumstance (playing Carla Suarez Navarro) was a massive learning curve. Whether it was the experiences or the tennis itself. I think being open to that growth is a massive part of my life, both personally and professionally."
Barty, who was sporting the FILA Trailblazer collection this fortnight, which paid homage to her mentor Evonne Goolagong Cawley on the 50th anniversary of her first title here, shares indigenous heritage with the legend.
"Her legacy off the court is incredible," Barty said after applauding her journey. "If I could be half the person that Evonne is, I'd be a very, very happy person."
The evenness to Barty's charge then is inevitable, it's in keeping with her character.
