Amidst the feeling of despair brought on by the pandemic, Australians welcomed and celebrated the great news of two big Wimbledon wins by Aussies. Ash Barty ended the 41 year drought since the win by fellow Indigenous tennis star Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980. Barty's childhood dream has come true by claiming her maiden Wimbledon ladies' singles title. With a 6-3, 6-7 (7/4), 6-3 victory over eighth-seeded Czech Karolína Plíšková, the 25-year-old world number one took centre stage to lift the Venus Rosewater dish.
"I hope I made Evonne proud," Barty said emotionally when speaking of her hero.
She added: "This is an incredible achievement for all of us my whole team and I can't wait to be with them soon."
This is Barty's second grand slam title after her first at the French Open over two years.
The other Wimbledon victory was by Dylan Alcott who claimed his second Wimbledon quad wheelchair singles championship with a straight-sets defeat of Dutchman Sam Schroder. Alcott won the match 6-2, 6-2 to add the Wimbledon crown to the Australian and French Open titles he already won this year.
The Wimbledon victory was Alcott's 14th major singles championship. The current world number one also won the singles title in 2019.
At the end of the match, Alcott told the crowd in Court 3: "I'm cooked! That was hard," "If that went three sets, I'm in big trouble. But I just love Wimbledon, I get emotional thinking about it here. To me, it's been a privilege .... a dual Wimbledon champion."
The Filipino-Australian community is also celebrating an upcoming Fil-Aussie tennis achiever. Twenty-three-year-old Lizette Cabrera who is Townsville-born made her debut at the last Australian Open. Cabrera has 6th Australia Ranking and 146th Women's Tennis Association World Ranking.
In an interview, Cabrera said: “I'm loving every minute of it. All the ups and downs. I'm so grateful to be doing what I'm doing.”
With her passion for her sport, Cabrera sets her sight to follow the footsteps of top Australian tennis players to compete in the grass courts of Wimbledon one day.