World number one Ash Barty's on-courtsecret weapon may be her slice backhand but it is her mental game which is helping her most to win, her mentor and leadership coach Ben Crowe says.

It's no surprise for Crowe that Barty thanked her team and joked she was sick of seeing her own face after advancing to the third round of the Australian Open, where she will play Elena Rybakina on Friday.

Crowe is the mindset coach restoring the fortunes of the Australian Cricket team, after helping the Richmond Football Club to two premierships and also mentors world champion surfer Stephanie Gilmore and fellow tennis ace Grigor Dimitrov. He also works with many CEOs and corporates.

"Ben has become a massive part of my team ... helping me with my mental application, and changing my perspective of things in both life and in sport," the young Aussie star has been quoted saying.

Crowe says the key to Barty's humility and mental strength is the separation between her personal and professional worlds.

"Ash knows tennis is what she does, it is not who she is," Crowe told The Australian Financial Review on Thursday.

There is a whole generation of 50-plus alpha males who have achieved success but are not fulfilled.

Ben Crowe, mindset coach

"Ash has captured the hearts and minds of Australians but also the whole world because she is showing how you can achieve professionally but still have perspective personally which I think the world is craving."

"Especially after the Hayne royal commission, there is a whole generation of 50-plus alpha males who have achieved success but are not fulfilled. Achievement without fulfilment is the ultimate failure in life," he says.

Ash Barty celebrates her victory over Polona to advance to round three on Friday.Eddie Jim

"That is why the separation between the personal and professional is so important."

Crowe, a former international marketing director for Nike,shares many of the same lessons with CEOs, executives and boardrooms, emphasising three key mindsets.

"The first is around purpose mindset," he says, which shifts your perspective from "I to we" or money, fame and status to intrinsic motivations.

"You stand for something, you believe in something, there is something that lights you up and there is a contribution or legacy you want to leave the world which at your funeral will be celebrated about you."

Our greatest failures can lead to our greatest success because it unlocks humility and learning.

Ben Crowe, Ash Barty's mentor

Secondly, connection mindset is really embracing vulnerability as a strength which gives people inside the organisation permission to be imperfect but unconditionally worthy.

"Often leaders put on a mask or armour for self preservation because you think you have to be this perfect CEO."

"The reason our greatest failures can lead to our greatest success is because it unlocks humility and learning. It is also why our greatest success can lead to our greatest failures because of ego, pride and identity."

Finally, performance mindset means totally focusing your attention in the moment of performance on the best version of yourself and the things you can control and letting go and accepting the things you can't control which cause anxiety, stress and worry."

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Meet the man helping Barty ace her mental game - The Australian Financial Review