Ashleigh Barty won her third Grand Slam title at the 2022 Australian Open and re-established, for the time being, the WTA balance of power which was thoroughly upset at the previous major tournament, the 2021 US Open where two longshot unknowns Leylah Fernandez and Emma Raducanu surprisingly reached the final.
Barty has now won Grand Slams on clay, grass and hard court, proving her versatile, all-court game can dominate on all surfaces. Going into the Australian Open Barty was a +300 bet to win the title and her final adversary Danielle Collins was a +1800 wager.
The other betting favorites at betting sites – defending champion Naomi Osaka, Iga Swiatek, Simona Halep, Barbora Krejcikova, Emma Raducanu, Paula Badosa, Aryna Sabalenka, Anett Kontaveit, Garbine Muguruza – were unable to produce sufficient tennis for the full two weeks.
Collins was tabbed to have a 22% chance of beating Barty in the final and put herself in position to score the major upset with a 3-love lead in the second set.but she ended up losing 62 76.
Barty at age 25 knows and has proven that she is the supreme female tennis player in the world now and she is only entering her prime years as an athlete. She possesses all the natural qualities to be the “face of the sport” on and off the court. She wins titles on hard court, clay court, grass court and she’s very comfortable and natural in the spotlight with the grace and politeness to maintain excellent relations with the media, fans and other players.
Betting against Barty will be folly in the coming months and years. But as her AO final adversary Collins pointed out in Melbourne, all the other WTA players were inspired by the stunning runs of teenagers Raducanu and Fernandez to the US Open final last year and now every player should believe they too are capable of suddenly catching fire and winning a Grand Slam. Barty is still human and beatable – she won 2021 Wimbledon but then lost in the third round at 2021 US Open to American Shelby Rogers, she also lost first round at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics to Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo.
There are some interesting new WTA faces who will threaten for major titles in the coming years. 24-year old Paula Badosa is now ranked 6 in the world. 22-year-old Elena Rybakina is ranked no. 12. 19-year old Clara Tauson is ranked 34. 20-year old Amanda Anisimova is ranked 41. 17-year-old Coco Gauff is ranked no. 16.
And then there are an abundance of veteran players still active and very capable of summoning the best tennis of their careers – Sloane Stephens, Belinda Bencic, Yulia Putintseva, Elina Svitolina, Marketa Vondrousova, Sara Sorribes Tormo, Liudmila Samsonova, Sorana Cirstea, Camila Giorgi, Veronika Kudermetova, Elise Mertens, Daria Kasatkina, Jessica Pegula and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Ons Jabeur, Karolina, Pliskova, and Maria Sakkari.
And don’t forget about Bianca Andreescu, Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys, Angelique Kerber, and Vika Azarenka who all have won Grand Slam titles and are ranked in the top 50. And even though 2020 Austalian Open champ Sofia Kenin is ranked now at 95, she too can certainly win a second Grand Slam in the future.
And one must not write off the Williams sisters just yet. Serena Williams is now age 40 and ranked 244 and 41-year-old Venus Williams is ranked 484, they still are officially competing and could easily turn a wildcard into a deep run at any Grand Slam.
Barty is in position to dominate the WTA like Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, and the Williams sisters.
But the talented, athletic, happy-go-lucky Barty’s status atop the WTA rankings will be under constant threat and seige because there are so many dangerous, hungry players who are avidly hunting and plotting to dethrone the Australian woman and snatch away her supreme status.
AO · Ash Barty · Australian Open · Fila · Head tennis · Wimbledon · WTA
