After collecting doubles runner-up trophies at all four Grand Slams with fellow Australian Casey Dellacqua, Ash Barty has finally tasted Grand Slam success after winning the US Open doubles title with CoCo Vandeweghe as the no. 13 seeds.
Photo: NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 09: Ashleigh Barty of Australia and Coco Vandeweghe of the United States pose for photos with Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France after the women’s doubles final on Day Fourteen of the 2018 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 9, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
Barty and Vandeweghe defeated Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(6). The Aussie-US duo save three match points before claiming the title against the no. 2 seed and reigning Australian Open champions. They had already accounted for the top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova in the semis. The top seeds are also the reigning French Open and Wimbledon champions.
“Yeah, obviously we’ve only played a handful of tournaments together this year, but we’ve had pretty good success right from the get-go. 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,” said Barty when talking about playing with Vandeweghe.
After the win, the players have hastily been presented their trophies and did not have a proper award ceremony, something they were not happy about. “Well, it should be. It was an American playing in the championship. I’m just bummed we didn’t have any sort of award ceremony. 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”, said Vandeweghe during the press conference.
Barty said, “The men needed to start. To be honest, I don’t think they would have worried if they were 10 or 15 minutes delayed. 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 absolutely phenomenal; they really were. They were a little bit confused as to why we weren’t given the opportunity.
But at the end of the day, I mean, we still played a really good match and get to celebrate with our teams after. I think it would have been nice to voice that straight after the match.”
It pretty much comes down to the power of television as the networks would want the men to start on time.
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Photo: NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 09: CoCo Vandeweghe of the United States and Ashleigh Barty of Australia celebrate winning their Women’s Doubles final match against Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France on Day Fourteen of the 2018 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 9, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images for USTA)
Babos and Mladenovic, chasing their second Slam after winning at the Australian Open, had this to say on the part they played in a thrilling final in their post-match press conference. The match had ended on a double fault.
“I think it just slipped out of our hands in the second set, and then, after we were down big-time and we were really fighting till the end and this is why they are such a great team,” Babos said, in defeat.
“I don’t have regrets. We gave everything what we had. It was a great opportunity, but 100% sure that the way we play we will have a lot, lot, lot more.”
Mladenovic added: “From both sides were some rallies, some lines, luckier shot here and there. It’s all about this. It’s the magic of tennis. I am only proud…and the way we played tonight was great.”
