Barty’s embrace

She did not pump the air with aggression, or even jump up and down; rather she crouched down in relieved and grateful humility. Then she gave her opponent a warm and sympathetic hug over the net.

But the most revealing moment about Barty's character and inner struggle came in a moment, we the curious public, were not supposed to see.

It was after she was paraded through every nook and cranny of Wimbledon, from all the official presentations, running around the court and climbing into the area of her team and hugging them each individually, to chats with royalty and other dignitaries, and holding up her trophy to the outside crowd too from the balcony of the first floor of the Wimbledon club.

The camera kept following her further, to somewhere which should have stayed her private space. Where at last, after all the public displays of celebration paused, she was back in the corridor with her waiting team once again.

And there Barty could finally let go: there was a respectful silence amongst her whole team and at last Barty could cry: let the Atlas roll off her shoulder. That was the extraordinary burden of inner and outer expectation on her to fulfil her childhood dream and to match Yvonne Gooloogong Cawley's precedence 50 years earlier and claim the English crown once again by an Australian Aborigine.

Those were tears of unbelievable relief, triumph and joy over this extraordinary achievement.

What followed was equally precious and moving: she sank into the caring embrace of her partner Garry Kissick, who was there totally for her, holding her ever so gently to his heart. And his beloved and ever loyal coach, Craig Tyzzer, stood by her through all this with an eventually fatherly squeeze on her shoulder, reassuring her without words: 'Yes Ashley, this is real!'

I doubt, there was a dry eye amongst Ashley's team or many in the TV viewing audience around the world.

In that moment, it was not only Barty's dream that was fulfilled:

It was also a glimpse of the fulfilment of what Stan Grant referred to in his brilliant book and documentary about the Australian Dream.

Yes, this gave a taste of what it takes to fulfil the Australian dream: to recognise and embrace the people of Australia's first nation truly as our equal brothers and sisters.

For this to begin to happen, the Aborigines, the Yvonne Gooloogongs, the Cathy Freemans, the Adam Goodes and the Ashley Bartys, had to become world famous stars.

But they did it for all of us to see, if we have eyes and hearts, how proud they can make us feel that they, the first nation's people are so quintessentially and preciously foundational to the Australian identity and dream.