Former World No.1 Ashleigh Barty’s memoir “My Dream Time” is a celebration of the community that sets her on her path toward tennis history. Even the most ardent Barty observers will find new insights and worthy anecdotes in the 350-page recounting of her career. It offers candid and emotionally resonant insight into what drove one of the sport’s most quietly competitive champions.
Here are five things we learned:
A match against Daria Kasatkina was her ‘rock bottom’
The catalyst for Barty’s ascendance to World No.1 and Grand Slam champion was a match that few paid much attention to, let alone remember: her loss to Daria Kasatkina in the third round of 2018 Wimbledon.
In fact, the match was so pivotal it serves as the opening chapter of the memoir. “The issue is that my good is great, but my bad is horrible,” Barty writes. “When I’m winning, I look like a million bucks — like I’m toying with people — but when my tactics aren’t working, I lack the maturity to solve my own problems.”
Barty blew a 4-1 lead to lose 7-5, 6-3, but it’s her attitude that during the match that was the issue.
Barty’s coach, Craig Tyzzer, did not speak to her after that match. He flew home the next day and did not engage with her apologetic texts. When they eventually had their tearful heart-to-heart, Tyzzer effectively issued an ultimatum.
“You can beat these girls,” he said. “But there is something going on in that head of yours that I have no idea how to fix. We need help.”
Now at rock bottom in her second go at a career, Barty accepted a meeting with Ben Crowe, the man who would serve as her trusted mental coach and advisor until the end of her career.
Twelve months later, Barty returned to Wimbledon as a Grand Slam champion and the WTA’s new World No.1.
She heard the doubters
Barty was notorious for keeping her cards close to the vest, seemingly operating above the noise and chatter. But in her memoir, she finally cops to how much the questioning of her accomplishments initially got under her skin, but ultimately motivated her.
After scrapping through a three-set win over Amanda Anisimova in the semifinals of the 2019 French…