Melbourne, March 23 (BUS): World number one Ash Barty has retired in Australia at the age of 25 and at the height of her game, due to fulfilling her tennis goals and exhausting life on the tour.
She quit with 15 titles, less than two months after winning the Australian Open, and claimed her third Grand Slam title after Wimbledon in 2021 and the French Open in 2019.
“I know how much work it takes to bring out the best in you…I don’t have that in me anymore,” she said in a video posted to her Instagram account on Wednesday.
“I don’t have the physical drive, the emotional desire and everything it takes to challenge yourself at the highest level anymore. I’ve spent.”
It is Barty’s second retirement from the sport, having walked away from the game as a teenager in late 2014 after being upset with the Tour, Reuters reports.
She made a comeback in 2016 and rose quickly in the world rankings, gaining worldwide fame for her great tennis playing and the fans’ affection for her good sportsmanship and calm demeanor.
She spent a total of 121 weeks as the world number one and seemed destined for more success in the game’s biggest tournaments.
However, she never hid her hatred for the wandering life and her homesick battles.
“Ash Party has a lot of dreams that she wants to chase after that doesn’t necessarily involve traveling the world, being away from my family, being away from my home, which is where I always wanted to be,” she said. In the video, she gives an interview to her best friend and ex-husband partner Casey Delacqua.
“I’ll never stop loving tennis, it’s been a huge part of my life, but I think it’s important to enjoy the next part of my life as an Ash Party person, not an Ash Party athlete.”
‘What a player’
Barty experienced depression during the tour after becoming a professional in her teens, which led her to quit and briefly reinvent herself as a professional cricketer in her home state of Queensland.
When the COVID-19 pandemic halted elite tennis in 2020, I took nearly a year off the game to spend time with family rather than join the ring after it resumed.
“I know I’ve done this before,” she said, “but with a different feeling.”
“I am so grateful for tennis, it has given me all my dreams, plus more, but I know now is the time for me to step away and chase other dreams and stop the rackets.”
She got involved after earning nearly $24 million in career prizes and as a national champion after ending a 44-year wait for a home win at the Australian Open in January by defeating American Danielle Collins in the final.
As the second Aboriginal Australian to win a Grand Slam title, following in the footsteps of the great Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Barty also became an Aboriginal idol in her country.
Barty’s bomb has drawn praise from players and officials.
“Happy to ashbarty, destroyer of tennis,” said Britain’s Andy Murray. “What a player he is.”
WTA president Steve Simon said Barty has always led by example “through the professionalism and unwavering sportsmanship that she delivers in every game.
“With her accomplishments in the major tournaments and the WTA Finals, and reaching the top of the No. 1 ranking in the world, she has clearly established herself as one of the great champions of the WTA.”
Her retirement reflects Justine Henin’s decision to resign in 2008 as the 25-year-old world number one with seven Grand Slam titles. Henin came out of retirement in 2010, inspired by the return of fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters.
The 2005 US Open champion Clijsters retired in 2007 at the age of 23 but returned after a two-year hiatus to claim three more Grand Slam titles.