WIMBLEDON, England — Long before Ashleigh Barty became a Wimbledon champion, Evonne Goolagong Cawley believed Barty could be a Wimbledon champion.
“I do think it is possible for her,” Goolagong said in a 2017 interview in Australia. “She has a game that can give so many players a difficult time.”
At that stage Barty was still outside the top 10 and still working her way back after her 17-month break from tennis to play cricket. But Goolagong Cawley, who won the Wimbledon singles title in 1971 and 1980, spoke from experience and also from the heart.
Barty is not just a talent.