Shortly after wrapping up her 2016 title - the first of her career – at the Roxy Pro in France, the likable 22-year-old Aussie addressed the media at Manly beach in Sydney. There in her official capacity as ambassador for the upcoming Australian Open of Surfing 2017 (February 25-March 3), Wright handled the one-on-one media chats with patience and class. The nine-day event will attract top surfers – including Wright – to the birthplace of Australian surfing, in addition to more than 325,000 beach-lovers of all ages from across the world.

Repeatedly told “just one more interview” on a number of occasions late in the session, Wright would respond with words to the effect of “too easy, let’s do it!” before quickly meeting and greeting each new media rep, whether from a newspaper, magazine, or interjecting radio station with a spare two-minute gap in its on-air schedule.  

Inside Sport queried Wright as to how these sort’ve duties, as well as the practice of holding up surfing trophies after tournament wins, changes a young person’s life. Surely it has to; surely it has changed young Tyler’s existence. You know, turned her world upside-down … in the best ways possible.

“Not really; I feel more normal now than I’ve ever felt before,” Wright responds. “I spent so much time on the road travelling that I grew as a human being first before I really set out on the professional career path that I took and could put the attention to.

(Photo by Salty Dog)

“And I was lucky enough to have sponsors like Rip Curl and Monster and such good board-shapers who understood that I needed time to grow as a human being. This was important because I was so young when I arrived on the tour.”

After Wright wrapped up the 2016 title in France, she slammed the issue home by winning the final event of the Women’s Samsung Galaxy Championship Tour at Maui, Hawaii across late November and early December. As Wright shares, her journey towards a world title began well before the opening event of the 2016 season on the Gold Coast, which she won, along with four other tournaments for the year.

“Even though I was on the tour through a lot of those growing years, and then obviously came out last year saying that I wanted a world title - that I was going after one, and decided to actually go after one - I’ve been in a very fortunate position to be backed by some pretty special people. To have them in my corner, I’ve been a pretty lucky kid.”

Check out our awesome one-on-one interview with Tyler Wright in the December issue of Inside Sport, currently on sale.