Ash Barty's heartbreak over 'poor' treatment from US Open
A golden moment for Ashleigh Barty and CoCo Vandeweghe was tinged with disappointment as US Open officials cut short their celebrations.
Barty and Vandeweghe were hustled off court shortly after lifting the winners trophy, without being given the chance to let it all sink in.
The champions weren’t even allowed to address the huge crowd that had witnessed Barty claim her first ever Grand Slam title.
“I’m just bummed we didn’t have any sort of award ceremony,” Vandeweghe told reporters.
“We couldn’t thank anyone. I think that was poor form.
“Maybe we’ll get another moment sometime, we’ll have another Grand Slam at Australia. Maybe they’ll do us right in Australia since the U.S. couldn’t do me right.”
Barty echoed her partner’s disappointment at the situation that unfolded, devastated at not being given the proper platform to celebrate her first major title from four previous attempts.
The 22-year-old said they were escorted out because “the men needed to start”, referring to Del Potro’s showdown with Novak Djokovic.
“To be honest, I don’t think they would have worried if they were 10 or 15 minutes delayed,” Barty said.
“I think it would have been nice for us to be able to thank our teams and all the people that make it a possibility, and to thank the crowd as well.
“They were a little bit confused as to why we weren’t given the opportunity.”
Barty’s wins US Open doubles crown
Australian tennis star Ashleigh Barty has landed her maiden grand slam title, teaming with American CoCo Vandeweghe to win a thrilling US Open women’s doubles final in New York.
Barty and Vandeweghe saved three match points to edge out second-seeded Australian Open champions Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (8-6) in the first-ever women’s doubles grand slam final decided in a third-set tiebreak.
Barty had lost all four grand slam doubles finals with retired compatriot Casey Dellacqua, falling short at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in 2013 and at last year’s French Open.
But there was no denying the 22-year-old on Sunday, Barty and Vandeweghe prevailing after fighting off two match points in the second set and another in the deciding breaker.
“We’ve only played a handful of tournaments together this year but we’ve had pretty good success right from the get-go,” Barty said.
“This last fortnight has been really fun on and off the court. We’ve been relaxed.
“We’re very hungry to go as deep as we could. It was really nice to be able to play a pretty clean tournament.”
Barty’s triumph completes a memorable US Open for the Queenslander.
The sporting super talent also reached the fourth round of the singles, marking the first time the former Wimbledon junior champion and WBBL cricketer had made the second week of a slam.
“We’ve done a hell of a lot of work in the last 18 months and two years to get to this point. I needed to have that break,” Barty said of her sabbatical from tennis after the 2014 US Open.
“But, in the same breath, we’ve done everything kind of the way that we’ve wanted to.
“Now we get the reward.”
The world No.17’s earnings for the fortnight totalled $1.16 million – $662,000 for singles and $498,000 for doubles.
Barty has also won the US Open Sportsmanship Award, a gong recognising excellence in sportsmanship during the American lead-up events and the final grand slam of the season.
“It’s very humbling,” she said.
Barty is the seventh Australian to win the US Open women’s doubles title, joining four-times champion Margaret Court (1968, 1979, 1973, 1975), Judy Tegart-Dalton (1970-71), Wendy Turnbull (1979, 1982), Hana Mandlikova (1989), Rennae Stubbs (2001) and Samantha Stosur (2005).
with Agencies.
