Tennis Superstar Enters Golf, Wins Club Championship Ahead Of Missing French Open

Ashleigh Barty will not be able to defend her French Open title this year, but the world No. 1 tennis player has just proven that her hiatus from the sport does not mean she’s also taking a break from winning.

With tennis taking a back seat, the multi-talented Australian superstar brought her exploits to the golf course and won the Brookwater Golf Club women’s championship.

Barty seized the title with a seven and five victory in the match play final, an impressive showing that earned praises from several golf aspirants, including men’s club champion Louis Dobbelaar, who believes Barty could also enter the pro ranks of the sport.

“She’s got all the tools if she wants to pursue it. If she put her mind to it, I’m sure she could,” Dobbelaar told AAP, via the Guardian.

“I’ve seen quite a lot of golfers come from different sports and she’s the one that stands out the most – by far actually. Her ball-striking is really good. She just gets that naturally from tennis, the hand-eye stuff.”

Notably, Barty has professional cricket in her resume as well as she played for the Brisbane Heat in the WBBL in 2016, a proof of how much of a gem she is in sports.

Still, fans would want to see her on the tennis court where she most excelled. However, it won’t be granted for now.

The 24-year-old has begged off the major tennis tournaments this year due to safety reasons related to the current pandemic. She already skipped the U.S. Open in New York and is about to skip her title defense at Roland Garros a week from now.

"It has been a challenging year for everyone and, although I am disappointed on a tennis front, the health and wellbeing of my family and my team will always be my priority. Thank you to my fans for your continued support, I can't wait to play for you again," Barty stated in an announcement early this month.

Barty is the second Australian WTA singles No. 1 after Evonne Goolagong Cawley. She is the reigning singles champion at the WTA Finals and has a total of eight singles titles and 10 doubles titles on the WTA Tour. Besides her French Open singles title in 2019, the Queensland-born player holds a major title in doubles as well as she won the U.S. Open with CoCo Vandeweghe in 2018.