So close, yet so far for unseeded Australian doubles pair

At the start of the tournament, it seemed impossible; as the first week progressed, the impossibility slowly gave way to improbability. As the second week approached a close, an improbability suddenly became a possibility.

In general, a wildcard is supposed to be a gesture of good faith; one that says, ‘go on, have a go but don’t really do all that well for no one expects you to. Alright, win a match or two, but that should be that; but by no means shall you reach the final, for that would indicate a freak of nature or a failure of the rankings, and neither is acceptable.’

Well, every once in a while there comes along a wild card entry that decides to do away with conventional wisdom; it decides to wow the crowd, to fuel the imagination and, to quote the ‘Joker’, introduce a little anarchy, upset the established order and throw everything into chaos. A couple of Aussie girls did just that in Melbourne.

Dream run: Ashleigh Barty (R) of Australia with Casey Dellacqua (L)

27-year old Casey Dellacqua and 16-year old Ashleigh Barty gleefully accepted the wildcard that was offered to them, read the disclaimers that came attached to it, skimmed through the rule book and then tossed it out the window. They went through round after round but instead of getting knocked out at the next one, made it through to the final.

The crowds always love an underdog and if the underdog happens to be from the same country, the crowds really do come alive. And come alive, they did. They cheered the pair on and stuck with them through thick and thin. Even for us watching it on the Telly, it was quite obvious that there was real affection for the pair; so much so that I dare say that most neutrals were secretly hoping that they won.

What endeared the pair even more was the presence of the sixteen-year-old Ashleigh Barty. The crowd adopted this little teenager as their own and roared in approval every time she made a shot. With a singles ranking of 174 and a doubles ranking of a marginally better 145, not many had heard of this pocket dynamo before this tournament, but everyone who witnessed the final will know of her now. Her partner, Casey Dellacqua, is perhaps what one would call a journeyman player on the woman’s tour with a singles ranking of 102 and a doubles ranking of 71. She has been on the tour for a while but again, not many would’ve really paid much heed to her.

Ashleigh may never become a top player in the world; she may never win a Grand Slam. Casey may never make it past the second round of a Slam again; she may never even break into the top 100 again. Then again, Ashleigh could become Australia’s first female Grand Slam champ for a long time (barring Sam Stosur’s one Slam) and Casey could well become a doubles specialist.

We would all love for the latter to happen but even if the former did, no one can take the experience of the 2013 Australian Open away from them. All good things, as they say, must come to an end. So too, did this run. Unfortunately, the end was not a fairytale one. It is, however, said that it is the journey that counts; the destination is merely a consequence. Perhaps it was this journey that counted the most.

Barty and Dellacqua had not dropped a set on their way to the doubles final but eventually fell in three seeds to Italy’s world No.1 pairing of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, 6-2 3-6 6-2.

Well played, Ashleigh. Well played, Casey.