Many of us were thinking it, but it was Fox commentator Tatiana Golovin who had the nerve to say it.

When Ashleigh Barty was a set and a break up in her Grand Slam final against Marketa Vondrousova, and with victory looming for the Australian 23-year-old, the retired French mixed doubles champion said a Barty victory would be "amazing for Australian tennis": "At least they won't be talking about [Nick] Kyrgios, they'll be talking about [a] positive in Ashleigh Barty."

As has been the case for too long, Barty has been an exemplary sportswoman whose respected demeanour and success has nonetheless failed to translate into mainstream media headlines.

Instead, Australian tennis fans have read on as two of its most notable men's players, Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic, continue to behave extremely badly.

This year, Kyrgios managed to make headlines despite withdrawing from the tournament, after claiming the French Open "sucks", while Tomic drew raised eyebrows and analysis aplenty after telling media he was "pretty sure" he tried in a listless first-round loss.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 37 seconds 37 s Nick Krygios disqualified after throwing a chair during Rome Open match

The narrative goes that Australian tennis has been in desperate need of a hero, but the truth is that Barty has had heroic qualities and a deadly story all along.

Loading

Paving the way for future Aboriginal Australian sporting stars

Take pause to consider what an extraordinary feat Barty's Grand Slam victory is.

She is the first Australian woman to win the French Open since Margaret Court in 1973. But as an Aboriginal Australian, the triumph two years earlier of her mentor, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, is perhaps most significant.

As Barty acknowledged after her win, Goolagong Cawley's extraordinary career paved the way for future generations of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous tennis stars.

"It's amazing how she's created this path for Indigenous tennis in Australia and I think now it's becoming more nationwide," said Barty post-match.

"There's more opportunities for kids to play tennis, both male and female, and I hope we can continue to create those opportunities and let kids know that this is an option for a career. And even if it's not, it's a sport that they can play for life."

Barty is already a Tennis Australia Indigenous ambassador and her Grand Slam victory is sure to mobilise another generation of Indigenous girls and boys, emboldened by the hope of reaching those same sporting heights.

Australian tennis legends Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Rod Laver have both been supporters of Ash Barty. ( AP: Aaron Favila, File photo )

This sentiment was shared not only by Goolagong Cawley, who emphasised in a statement how "exciting" it was "that another Aboriginal has won", but also by Olympic champion Cathy Freeman, who congratulated the Queenslander publicly on Twitter.

Barty, for her part, responded simply with "Sister".

A rough road to the top

As many would now know, however, Barty's journey to one of tennis' greatest heights has been anything but smooth, exemplified by her decision to depart the game for a "break" to play professional cricket.

French Open winner Ash Barty has fond memories of her time with Brisbane Heat.in the Women's Big Bash. ( Facebook )

Indeed, Barty's well-documented challenges, and interrupted career, were acknowledged by retired Australian tennis star Casey Dellacqua, who was in tears of joy after the match for a friend she was "extremely proud" of.

"She almost can't believe it, nor can I. It's quite phenomenal what she's been through," Dellacqua said. "I've seen first-hand how hard she had to work to get this point. I've seen her go through a really tough journey. It hasn't been easy for her at all, and she's done it all off her own (bat)… To achieve this really is quite extraordinary."

What's the media's role in the status of women's sport?

So why does it take winning a Grand Slam for a champion like Barty to get the attention she deserves?

Sexism continues to pervade most sports, including tennis.

French Open organisers came under fire before the start of the tournament for their decision to ban Serena Williams's catsuit for going "too far" (despite the fact she wore it, in part, for medical reasons).

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 42 seconds 42 s Barty is the first Australian to win a grand slam singles title since 2011 (Photo: AP)

Then, in the wake of teeming rain that forced both the men's and women's semi-finals to be rescheduled, the women's semi-finals were relegated to inferior courts (including the 5,000 capacity Court Simonne-Mathieu) while the men's semi-finals were both played on the main court, Phillippe-Chatrier.

It led to an outcry from the WTA (which made an official statement condemning the scheduling choice) and former champion Amelie Mauresmo. Many others simply accepted this as business as usual for women in sport.

Media coverage of women's sport has a significant role to play in combating such sexism and elevating women's sport to the status of men's.

This includes, critically, aiming for an equitable share of sports coverage.

But men continue to behave badly

The Australian sports media landscape is dominated by the premiere football codes in Australian rules football and NRL.

Sadly, the sometimes bad behaviour of men within those codes (as with Kyrgios and Tomic in tennis) ensures that they continue to hog headlines year-round.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 48 seconds 48 s Tomic "pretty sure he gave his best effort" in straight sets loss to Taylor Fritz

This year's NRL preseason provides perhaps the most obvious recent example, after a litany of off-field incidents relating to violence against women forced the Australian Rugby League Commission to announce it would stand down players facing serious indictable offences.

The so-called preseason from hell thus churned through column inches while some of Australia's most successful women's sports stars struggled for due recognition.

Barty's breakthrough win at the French Open provides an opportunity to change this pattern of media coverage.

From now on, let's hope more attention is given to heroes of Australian sport, like Ash Barty.

Kate O'Halloran researches women in sport at the Institute of Health and Sport at Victoria University, and is a former Victorian cricketer.

