BRISBANE: 227 Archerfield Road, Richlands, Brisbane, Queensland. It is an address that holds significance not just in Australian tennis, but the country’s sporting history. Once a house to the West Brisbane Tennis Centre, it is where former World No 1 and Australian tennis legend Ashleigh Barty first hit a tennis ball on the court.
Away from all the hassle of Brisbane city, Barty, with her long-time coach and friend Jim Joyce, spent almost two decades at the once buzzing facility, honing her tennis while also spending time with kids, who just like her, aspired to take up the sport she loved.
Today, however, 227 Archerfield Road is unrecognisable. About two years ago, the 20189 sq.m property, previously owned by the Joyce family, was sold to Kingsmede, an investment company. However, before locking it down for one last time Joyce, three-time Grandslam winner Barty, who had retired in March 2022, and others who were associated with the centre had a get together and partied at the facility. “That afternoon will mean as much to me as a lot of her big wins,” Joyce was quoted saying to the Courier Mail. “It was just bloody wonderful. There were no seats there because it was all gone. We just stood and chatted about her life and mine, had a bit of a hug and off she went and I pushed the locks across the gate,” he had added in June 2022.
When this writer visited the address on Friday, the only evidence of any connection to tennis was the old board that was left untouched. West Brisbane Tennis Centre, it read, with a phone number that doesn’t work anymore. Looking over from the street, all one could see beyond the old damaged board were hundreds of cars parked and stacked one over another. Having been converted into an industrial complex, the address now leads to Wheel Pros — a company that designs, markets and distributes branded aftermarket wheels. Besides that is another company called Auto Car Removals, which offers solutions to steel, remove and wrecking four-wheelers.
Barty is now a retired tennis legend, she has been for a while now. She plays golf, had played cricket in the past, but has ruled out any sort of comeback to sports for the foreseeable future. With a young family to take care of, Barty, who does commentary occasionally, already has her hands full. Joyce, meanwhile, is spending time with family as well. Even as the duo has moved on, everyone, including this writer, who passes through the Archerfield road cannot help but pause, take note of the West Brisbane Tennis Centre board amidst a pile of cars and reminiscence about the role it had played in one of the Australian sporting legends.