London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 01, 2025

Wimbledon Women’s Final: Barty channels Goolagong becoming the second Aussie to win

Wimbledon Women’s Final: Barty channels Goolagong becoming the second Aussie to win

Ashleigh Barty broke down in tears as she clutched the Venus Rosewater Dish and told a rapturous Centre Court crowd that she hoped she had “done Yvonne proud”.

Fifty years ago, the graceful Yvonne Goolagong had been the first Australian woman to win Wimbledon and now the 25-year-old, deeply proud of her fellow Aboriginal heritage, had emulated her indigenous hero and mentor. And in no less elegant style.

What a sumptuous see-sawing match Barty and Karolina Pliskova served up, the diminutive five-foot-five Aussie standing tall against the six-foot-one Czech power-hitter to eventually prevail 6-3, 6-7, 6-3, but the score barely tells how hard-fought this match turned out to be.

With the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in the Royal Box, both players were competing in their first Wimbledon final and nerves would play a part.


Barty said later that she barely got any sleep the night before – nevertheless the match began with a Barty master-class. Not even in her wildest dreams could she have imagined getting off to that sort of flying start, reeling off the first three games without conceding a single point, a feat never achieved in a Wimbledon Ladies Final since records of that sort have been kept - going back to 1977.

The game was ten minutes old when Pliskova, 29, won her first point to trail 15-30 in the fourth game, eliciting a huge cheer from the crowd, but a minute later she was 4-0 down and it looked like an embarrassing mismatch. Barty was supremely relaxed, picking off forehand and backhand winners at will, her deep sliced backhand a thing of beauty, while the backbone of Pliskova’s game, her feared first service, was misfiring.

By the time Pliskova broke Barty’s serve to win her first game, the first set looked irretrievable and the crowd were worrying that this could be the shortest Ladies Final in SW19 history. But sometimes going ahead so quickly has its own hazards, and Barty started to play safe, and as she did so, Pliskova clawed her way back into the match. At 5-1 down, Pliskova again broke Barty’s serve and then held. At 3-5, the Czech was now just one break away from leveling things up. Now Barty was under pressure. But she stood firm with a stunning cross court forehand winner and held to love. First set Barty 6-3.

The crowd, momentarily distracted by the presence of Tom Cruise – interestingly not seated in the Royal Box - now started vociferously rooting for Pliskova, not least because they wanted a contest.


Now came a step up in class and a set of outstanding tennis. Barty went ahead, mixing up her topspins and slices to devastating effect, but Pliskova came back at her with pile-driver forehands that drew gasps from the stands, such was their power - and her first serve started finding its mark.

At 5-5, Barty broke Pliskova to lead 6-5 and serve for the match, but Pliskova broke her straight back to level at 6-6. The Czech was now playing with freedom and abandon while Barty was looking patchy. The Czech bossed the tie-breaker, taking it 7-4 as Barty capitulated with a nervy double fault.


What a turn around. After all that initial dominance, Barty had nothing to show for it. Could she wrest back the momentum?

The answer came quickly with Barty playing a sublime spinning backhand drop shot, her first drop shot of the match, to go one up. Now it was Pliskova’s turn to blow hot and cold. An imperious forehand winner down the line was followed by an all-too-casual slap as she netted a sitter of a volley, and Barty raced ahead.

With Barty holding serve to go 3-0, it seemed the final set was mirroring the first, but then Pliskova held for 3-1. Both women were playing incredible tennis with long rallies and impressive power hitting. The crowd appeared divided. Now it was Pliskova’s turn to show brilliance, and, serving to stay in the match, she delivered a rocket ace.


By the time Barty stood up at 5-3 to serve for the Championship, she was just one break away, again, from having it all unravel.

At 30-30, Barty missed a drive volley to give Pliskova a break point. After nearly two hours, could Pliskova come back yet again? Barty hit an incredible recovery shot to get back to deuce, then an ace threw up the chalk down the T. Seconds later, as Pliskova netted, Barty sunk to her knees. The crowd roared and rose. The number one seed finally had her first Wimbledon - and with it, £1.7 million in prize-money.

Up in the royal box, former champion Martina Navratilova wiped away the tears. Down on the court, and especially Down Under where the new champion’s family were watching on the telly, the Barty party was about to begin.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
×