a lesson from ash - playing doubles does matter
Honestly, if you weren’t in shock on the morning of 23 March 2022(SGT), I don’t believe you. A minority of us thought that a forehand passing shot winner in an Australian Open final would be the way World No 1 Ash Barty would end her career on. However, the way her career has gone does reminds me of how current singles champions in the sport had to find their footings in the doubles game first, before propelling to singles success. Barty partnered Casey Dellacqua in the first part of her career and made three of four Grand Slam finals in 2013, only missing out on the Roland Garros final. After her famous tennis break for cricket, she came back in 2016 and within a year, made the 2017 Roland Garros Women’s Doubles Final with Dellacqua. The breakthrough, though, came in 2018 when Barty partnered Coco Vandeweghe to win the US Open title. The following year would see her famous 2019 campaign, with titles in Miami and then Roland Garros to ascend to World No 1, and then capping the year off...