Australia's Leading Women

Barty combined with Casey Dellacqua in doubles at Australian Open 2013 and, in just their third tournament together, the pair advanced to the final. It was the start of a magnificent 2013 campaign during which they also reached the Wimbledon and US Open finals, won their first title together in Birmingham – Barty’s first tour-level title – and Barty rose to world No.12 in the WTA doubles rankings. The partnership with Dellacqua, who would become a close friend and confidante as Barty navigated the early stages of her career, provided the emerging talent with invaluable experience on the game’s biggest stages and in high-pressure situations.

Barty consolidated her gains of 2017 with another top-20 season in 2018. But it was in 2019 when she attained an even more impressive level. Beginning the season with a run to the Sydney International final, she then advanced to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open and two months later cracked the top 10 after winning the Miami Open. That was her biggest career title, yet just two months later she bettered that when she stormed through the field to win the French Open, beating Marketa Vondrousova in straight sets in the final to become the first Australian champion in Paris since 1973. Just two weeks later, Barty made a brilliant transition to grass, winning her very next tournament in Birmingham – a triumph that saw her rise to world No.1. Just four other Australians – John Newcombe, Evonne Goolagong, Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt – have attained the top singles ranking.

In 2005, Stosur combined with Scott Draper to win the Australian Open mixed doubles title – her first Grand Slam trophy. Later that season, she commenced a doubles partnership with American Lisa Raymond that would lead to more Grand Slam success; the duo won the US Open and WTA Championships among five titles in 2005 and reached the final of Australian Open 2006, results helping Stosur rise to become the doubles world No.1. She and Raymond also won the Roland Garros title – one of 10 titles in a stunning 2006 season – and finished with 20 titles from 26 finals together. Stosur also enjoyed success with other partners, reaching Wimbledon finals in 2009 (with Rennae Stubbs) and 2011 (with Sabine Lisicki) and winning Wimbledon mixed titles in 2008 and 2014 with Bob Bryan and Nenad Zimonic respectively.  

Few players have recorded Fed Cup statistics as impressive as Stosur’s. Her introduction to the team competition was a rocky one; she lost four of her first five singles rubbers. But once she hit her stride in 2005 she was nearly unstoppable, winning 18 of her next 21 singles rubbers and going undefeated in 10 singles matches across 2008, 2009 and 2010. The Queenslander has gone on to win 29 singles rubbers – the most of any Australian in Fed Cup history – and she is also a flawless 8-0 in doubles matches. Three of those doubles victories came in fifth and final live rubbers – including her win with Ash Barty over Belarusians Victoria Azarenka and Aryna Sabalenka to send Australia into the 2019 final – and are victories Stosur cherishes as some of the finest of her career.

The same year she cracked the top 100, Molik was first selected for Australia’s Fed Cup team in 1999, beginning a distinguished 10-year career in the team competition. She made a resounding debut, going 4-2 in her six rubbers across singles and doubles in 1999 to help return Australia to the World Group. In 22 ties, Molik notched 12 victories in singles and six in doubles.

In 2013, Molik took over as Australia’s Fed Cup captain from David Taylor and began a successful stint which continues to this day. From 2013 to 2015 the team was entrenched in the World Group, before dropping down to World Group II in 2016. The squad – currently on a five-tie winning streak – won its way back into the World Group in 2018 and in 2019 progressed to its first final since 1993. Molik has presided over a team predominantly featuring Sam Stosur, Casey Dellacqua, Ash Barty and Daria Gavrilova and has fostered an enviable culture to which Australia’s female players have responded strongly. “I’m just so proud of my team,” Molik beamed after Australia’s semifinal triumph over Belarus in Brisbane in April.

Hailing from the Queensland city of Mackay, Nicole Pratt emerged as a promising prospect when she won the Australian Open 1991 girls’ singles title at the age of 17. For years she toiled on the circuit; from 1990 to 1996 her year-end WTA ranking hovered around No.200. But in 1997 and 1998 she significantly improved that; in 1997 she reached her first WTA quarterfinal (in Surabaya, Indonesia) and in 1998 she played in the main draw at all four Grand Slam tournaments for the first time. That year she also debuted in the top 100 (on 30 March) and was selected for Australia’s Fed Cup team for the first time, winning both her singles rubbers during Australia’s 5-0 drubbing of Argentina in the World Group II Play-offs.

In 2007, a knee injury began to wear Pratt down and she retired after the Australian Open in 2008. She has remained heavily involved with tennis, coaching Australian players such as Casey Dellacqua and Daria Gavrilova, and beginning work at the Australian Institute of Sport in 2009 while also working as a television commentator. In January 2015, Pratt was appointed Australia’s new Fed Cup coach and head of women’s professional tennis, positions she continues to hold.

Goolagong’s career began at the tail-end of the amateur era when she competed at the Australian Championships of 1967. Prior to 1971 she played just one Grand Slam tournament outside of Australia – she reached the second round of Wimbledon in 1970 – with her best result a quarterfinal run at Australian Open 1970. Goolagong started playing tennis as a young girl in her rural home town of Balleran, New South Wales by hitting a ball against a wall with a board from an apple crate. In 1965, her talent caught the eye of Sydney-based coach Vic Edwards and she moved to the city to develop her game and complete her schooling.

After a year away, Goolagong Cawley returned to tennis in late 1977 and from November that year to March 1978 she went on a tear, winning 46 of 49 matches – during that run she won Australian Open 1977, held in December -- and rising to world No.3. After severely injuring her ankle at Wimbledon 1978, she would capture the title two years later at the All England Club, becoming the first mother to win the Venus Rosewater Dish since 1914. It was her last Grand Slam singles title. After that, recurring injuries and a second pregnancy meant she played sporadically during the early 1980s, and she officially retired in 1983.

Serving as Australia’s Fed Cup captain from 2002 to 2004, Goolagong Cawley remains passionate about getting kids involved in tennis, especially those with indigenous backgrounds. The 68-year-old has worked tirelessly in this space, establishing the Evonne Goolagong Foundation and launching initiatives such as Indigenous Tennis ‘Come and Try’ days, national development camps and the annual National Indigenous Tennis Carnival in 2018. In 1997 she became Sports Ambassador to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Communities, and after being made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1982, she was advanced to Companion of the Order of Australia in 2018 in recognition of her “eminent service to tennis as a player at the national and international level, as an ambassador, supporter and advocate for the health, education and wellbeing of young Indigenous people through participation in sport, and as a role model.”

Then known as Margaret Smith, the girl from Albury announced herself as a force in the sport when she scooped her first two Australian singles titles (in 1960 and 1961) as a teenager. Her victory at Wimbledon in 1963 saw her complete a career Grand Slam – she lifted her first trophies in Paris and New York in 1962 – and when she walked away from the sport following the Wimbledon Championships of 1966, she had already won 13 major singles titles (from 16 finals) including seven in her home country. In that first portion of her career, Smith also combined with Ken Fletcher to complete the mixed doubles Grand Slam of 1963, and was a part of Australia’s champion Federation Cup teams of 1964 and 1965.

Court very nearly won a second calendar-year Grand Slam in singles in 1973 when she won the Australian, French and US titles in a triumphant return to the sport; she tripped up in the Wimbledon semifinals in three sets against Chris Evert. Women’s professional tennis was now in full swing; the WTA Tour was formed on the eve of Wimbledon 1973. Competing on the burgeoning Virginia Slims circuit, Court won a tour-high 18 titles from 19 finals that season. Despite not winning another Grand Slam singles title, Court continued to compete well into the 1970s, with her last Grand Slam singles appearance – after having a second child in 1974 – coming at the US Open at Forest Hills in 1975 (pictured). She retired in 1977, aged 35.

Court’s career is defined by her records, including an unmatched 11 singles titles at the Australian Open. She is one of just three women – the others being Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova – to have achieved a Triple Crown (singles, doubles and mixed) at the one Grand Slam tournament, which she completed at the Australian Championships of 1963 and the 1970 US Open. She also owns a “boxed set” of Grand Slam titles, having triumphed in singles, doubles and mixed at all four major tournaments throughout her career. Court was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1979 and the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame in 1993. In 2003, Show Court 1 at Melbourne Park was re-named Margaret Court Arena in her honour. She is also the recipient of an Australian Sports Medal, Centenary Medal and ITF Philipp Chatrier Award.