Ash Barty forms dream team as tennis legend reveals her next career move

The Australian Open champion will combine with her former coaches Craig Tyzzer and Jason Stoltenberg in the boutique coaching venture.

Their motivation is to develop a new generation of local tennis stars capable of beating the best in the world.

Barty, who in March announced her retirement from playing while the dominant world No.1, wants to pass her wisdom and expertise on to her younger compatriots.

After breaking a local drought of 44 years by winning the Australian Open in January, she retired content that she had fulfilled her playing dreams on the court.

But the three-time major winner believes that she and those who helped her to the top of the world in Tyzzer and Stoltenberg, have much to offer the sport in Australia.

“Growing up, I felt like we had this amazing culture and this history of champions who could compete at the very top level,“ she said.

“I think what we are able to offer is seriously unique. We are all on the same wavelength, we all have the same drive and passion, and I think that is pretty unique. We have great experiences together and we have learned some really tough lessons along the way.

“Deep down, it is something we have always wanted to do together and now we have the time to do it. We have got this next generation of girls and boys in Aussie tennis who hopefully want to go along for the ride with us and learn and develop together.”

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Tyzzer and Stoltenberg, a former world No.1 junior who reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon, built outstanding coaching resumes after their days on the court were complete.

Stoltenberg, 52, coached another former world No.1 in Lleyton Hewitt to his Wimbledon title in 2002 and has worked with top-level talent in various roles in Australian tennis.

Tyzzer was the WTA Tour’s Coach of the Year in 2019. He has guided top juniors to the professional circuit and has had roles with Barty and other Australian professionals.

Since Barty’s retirement, the Melbourne-based coach has received expressions of interest from other touring players, but he is keen to give something back to Australian tennis.

“I would rather keep all the knowledge and experience that we have gained over a long period of time right here in Australia,” he said.

“Both Jason and I have had significant offers to head overseas and coach other players, but our hearts are definitely in Australia and it’s here we think we can make a difference.

“With Ash involved, it’s really unique in world tennis to have someone so fresh off the tour ready to give back to the next generation of Australian talent.”

He has no doubt the champion from Queensland will make an outstanding mentor and coach to the best young juniors coming through.

“With the experiences we have had, and the level we reached, it is worth pursuing. We want to get Australian tennis back to where it should be,” he said.

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While Barty’s retirement stunned the tennis world, Stoltenberg has never doubted the Brisbane resident’s timing on or off the court and has no doubt the right hander will be an outstanding mentor and coach.

“It’s almost as though the stars have aligned. We are all free and available at the same time,” he said.

“Similarly to what Ash is going through now, mentoring young players became a passion of mine when I stopped playing, and going from player to coach was quite a natural transition for me. It wasn’t something that I found difficult. I really liked to help other people and I liked to see other people succeed. It remains one of my passions today.

“My motivation is to create something in Australia that is good for tennis all round and I’m excited about the possibility of us joining together for this project.

“The beauty of it is that Tyzz and I have worked together over many years. We have done this privately, within academies and on the road. We have experienced a lot and we know we make a strong team.

“But on top of this, with Ash’s fresh perspective as the recently retired world number one, she’ll bring a dimension to this that only she could bring and that’ll be inspiring for any young player that’s involved.”

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Coaches across the country reported a surge in interest during Barty’s reign of 114 straight weeks atop the rankings, while Tennis Australia recorded a significant leap in participation numbers after each of her three grand slam triumphs in Paris, London and Melbourne.

After retiring, the former US Open doubles champion said in a column for CodeSports she was keen to assist talented young girls make the transition from junior to senior ranks.

A Wimbledon girls champion in 2011, the 26-year-old enjoyed stunning success on the doubles court with Casey Dellacqua as a teenager.

But she struggled initially in singles and also with touring before taking a sabbatical at the end of 2014.

“Particularly in women‘s tennis, in that space where girls are aged between 13 to 18 years old and learning things and doing things for the first time on the tour as a professional, that can be really hard,“ she said.

“During my journey and when I began playing professionally on the tour, without the guidance of Tyzz and without the guidance of Stolts, I would have been so lost. We had to work through some pretty tough times, but we did it together.

“In the end, that guidance and wisdom created a really healthy environment with great culture and work ethic. All of that stuff that I learnt is going to be so important for the next generation of young Aussie players.

“I just want to see girls and boys just being able to live out their dreams, be the best version of themselves and have an opportunity to do it their way and have an opportunity to really be able to have a crack.”

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While Tennis Australia is responsible for developing elite talent, there are countless examples locally and around the globe of players who have thrived when working independently of their national federations.

Tyzzer believes their boutique venture could offer the best of both worlds by providing specialist coaching, as well as access to the contacts who helped Barty reach the top in tennis.

By working with Tennis Australia, they could assist those already identified as outstanding talents while also offering their expertise to others who prefer a more flexible program.

“There is no one pathway and to get focused on an unattainable goal of a singular pathway will lose players in the junior ranks,” he said.

“You only need to look at our current group of players to see the myriad ways they became professionals.”

In recent years, Barty has been interested in assisting her compatriots in their quest to succeed in the senior ranks.

The 2019 Roland Garros winner hit regularly with her peers at Pat Rafter Arena in Tennyson, Queensland, and also at Melbourne Park whenever in Victoria.

Barty and Tyzzer were already trialling a potential coaching partnership before the champion’s remarkable final fling, which saw her unbeaten throughout January when claiming the singles and doubles titles in Adelaide before her Australian Open success.

Throughout the latter stages of 2021, while preparing for the Australian summer, Team Barty spent a significant amount of time with talented 20-year-old Olivia Gadecki.

Barty loved the experience of assisting her fellow Queenslander.

“I really did take it upon myself in the last three or four years of playing and working with Tyzz, of trying to be a leader in that environment and to continually push girls and see what they had and see what their dreams were and see where they wanted to go,” she said.

“I was trying to create a really positive environment, an environment that was hard-working, but one that was created for the right reasons. Now I want to continue to see that grow and not lose that.”

Having watched Barty working with Gadecki, Tyzzer has no doubt she is a natural when it comes to coaching as well.

“That sparked an interest in both of us and Liv improved out of sight. We thought, ‘hey, this is not too bad‘,” he said.

“She soaked it all up and she is the type of girl who took it all on board and really stood up and showed us that it was having an effect. It was quite eye-opening for both of us. Ash has always had that interest in wanting to mentor a lot of the girls anyway.

“There just hasn‘t been that opportunity and there probably hasn’t been the numbers where we have been able to do it as well. That has been one of the driving things for this.”

Similarly to her idol Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, who has taken tennis to communities around the country for the best part of four decades, Barty is determined to help provide opportunities for Indigenous children.

She has run clinics for kids near Uluru and at Alice Springs, on the Tiwi Islands and in Cairns, among other regional communities in Australia.

The three-time major winner is competing in a golf exhibition in New Jersey this weekend, but is staying in touch with Stoltenberg and Tyzzer as they work on plans for the academy.

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The Icons Series at Liberty National brings together athletes from a number of sports to compete in a format putting the United States against the Rest of the World.

Superstar swimmer Michael Phelps, champion boxer Oscar De La Hoya and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger are among those representing America.

Barty‘s fiance Garry Kissick will be her caddy in the exhibition and she will team with Tottenham striker Harry Kane and boxer Canelo Alvarez for the Rest of the World combination.