The Ash effect.

With barely a bead of sweat on her brow, Ash Barty walked off the tennis court in Shenzhen last November and straight into a packed press conference, the eyes of the world's media trained on her. Those closest to her say this is Ash Barty, a Vegemite-loving girl-next-door who is as much at home playing backyard cricket as she is slaying the world's best on a Grand Slam centre court. Federation Cup captain Alicia Molik says she believes that all these measures mean women's tennis in Australia is in its richest place right now, with youngsters such as Astra Sharma, Ajla Tomljanovic, Priscilla Hon, Daria Gavrilova and Destanee Aiava nipping at Ash's heels. Ash (centre) with her Fed Cup teammates in Canberra in 2018. [Extracted from the article]