Australia’s newest Wimbledon champion, Ashleigh Barty, dropped in to see her beloved Tigers this week.

Fresh from winning the junior girls title earlier this month, 15-year-old Barty took a tour of the ME Bank facility with coaches Nicole Pratt and Jason Stoltenberg, and met the likes of Brett Deledio, Chris Newman, Nathan Foley, Dustin Martin, Daniel Jackson and Trent Cotchin.

“It’s an amazing facility.  I was here last year when it was still in the old one, but this place is unbelievable,” Barty said.

The talented youngster is from NRL territory in Queensland, but discovered a soft spot for Richmond from her father’s love of the Wests Tigers.

On the odd occasion she gets a break from travelling the world, she has taken the chance to see the Yellow and Black live in action. 

She will be Richmond’s guest at Sunday’s match against Geelong at Etihad Stadium.

Barty became the first indigenous Australian to win a championship at Wimbledon since Evonne Goolagong-Cawley in 1980.

“It was my first time there so I was a little bit nervous, and my first couple of rounds were pretty ugly,” she said.

“But as every match went on, I started to play better and better.”

Barty will remain in Australia for the next month, before heading overseas to contest the US Open.blog comments powered by Disqus