Ashleigh Barty - The Magician
TENNIS - WTA - AUSTRALIA
ARCHETYPE: THE MAGICIAN
Day 58/135
Athletic Accomplishments
With 11 singles titles and 11 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, Ashleigh Barty is the No. 1 tennis player in the world right now. She scored her first majors wins at the 2018 U.S. Open (doubles) and 2019 French Open (singles). She’s also the reigning WTA Finals champ.
Barty is an multisport athlete. In 2015, while taking a break from her stressful junior tennis career, she played professional cricket in Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL). In 2020, Barty won local club championships in golf. Clearly, she has a knack for hitting with precision.
In 2016, Barty returned to tennis, where she has progressively gotten better and better until reaching her No. 1 ranking, where she has stayed for over 70 weeks. She has won singles and doubles titles on all three major surfaces (hard, grass, clay), and is known for employing a wide variety of shots and for her excellent serve.
In 2019, Barty was named WTA Player of the Year.
She is also a three-time winner of the Newcombe Medal, Australia’s most prestigious tennis award. She has massive name recognition and is one of Australia’s most famous and prized athletes, leading her her being named Young Australian of the Year, a top award for Australians under 30 years old.
Character Archetype: The Magician
For 70 weeks, Australian Ashleigh Barty has been ranked the No. 1 tennis player in the world. Comparing her to other players, she doesn’t appear physically imposing. She’s not built of pure muscle, and at 5’5”, she doesn’t have the same reach, nor the range of swing to serve with a vengeance. And yet, she ranks among the best servers on the tour.
So what makes Barty so good?
She’s crafty. Did someone just cue the Beastie Boys?
Barty has a magical sleight of hand. She knows how to slice and uses a variety of shots in her game. She loves coming to the net and plays the angles, volleying like a psychic who can predict her opponents’ move and exactly where to play the ball to make it impossible for them to return it.
This summer, she’ll make her Olympic debut in Tokyo, where we’ll watch in awe of her command of the game, her body, and tennis magic.