Wimbledon 2021 champion Ashleigh Barty played for WBBL side Brisbane Heat during hiatus from tennis
With the win at the Centre Court in London, Barty became the first Australian woman to win the singles trophy at the All England Club since Evonne Goolagong in 1980. Barty – who has been inspired by Goolagong – even wore an outfit at Wimbledon that was a tribute to the dress Goolagong played in when she won the tournament for the first time in 1971. She’s only the third Aussie woman to have won a Wimbledon title after Goolagong and Margaret Court in the Open era.
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Barty (25) was also the junior champion at Wimbledon a decade ago. However, she then left the sport for nearly two years in 2014 because of burnout. During that period, Barty played professional cricket and even represented Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) side Brisbane Heat in 2015 in the inaugural season.
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Barty, who had no formal training in the sport, was a right-handed batter and played a total of 10 matches. Her highest score was 39 for the Heats. She had impressed with her batting efforts in the domestic circuit with her performance for Queensland Fire, in Queensland.
She even played for the Western Suburbs District Cricket Club, a local team that competes in Brisbane’s Women’s Premier Cricket Twenty20 league. In her second game for the side, Barty scored 63 from 60 balls and even picked up 2 for 13 from four overs.
