Ash Barty’s sudden retirement comes as a shock, but if anyone was likely to drop this kind of bombshell it was always likely to be the 25-year-old Queenslander.
She has always been able to put her tennis career in perspective, sometimes even seeming detached.
This is someone who rose to world No 1 – the point at which she bows out – having spent a season playing in the women’s Big Bash cricket while on sabbatical in her late teens.
Ashleigh Barty has announced her surprise retirement from tennis. She did so while she was still in her prime
A natural talent of extraordinary magnitude, she can also play well on the golf course and is an avid fan of Australian Rules football. She, along with her fiancé Gary Kissick, is also a keen Liverpool fan.
Barty has been described as a reflective person. She also speaks out about anxiety and depression. Her destiny was not to be in the competitive and demanding elite tennis world that she entered into her thirties.
As she said in her announcement, she now wishes to ‘chase other dreams’, bringing down the curtain while in her prime.
Her departure is a huge blow to tennis in general and the women’s game in particular, especially at a time in the game’s history when the Williams sisters look all but finished (not to mention Roger Federer).
By winning Wimbledon, and giving her nation a longed-for homegrown champion of its own Grand Slam in January, she had established herself as the one truly outstanding player of the women’s division at present.
She was a cultured player, with a unique use of the slice backhand and a serve that was remarkably accurate for someone her size. She moved effortlessly on the court and was capable of adapting to hard, clay or grass courts.
This abrupt end was attributed to a broad perspective on life and the feeling that she had already fulfilled her tennis dreams.
This comes also after the 2021 season, which was particularly difficult. She was forced to travel by Covid and comply with Australian entry restrictions.
In January, the Australian presented her country with a champion from its home Grand Slam.
With her win at Wimbledon, she proved herself to be a true star in women’s Tennis.
She moved effortlessly on the court and was capable of adapting to any clay, grass, or hard court.
A lot of it was in the UK where her relatives are located in the Nottingham region. Following the US Open, she spent her free time on a North West golf tour. She wasn’t a normal tennis champion.
Barty leaves behind a women’s game which is now even more open, and which has Poland’s Iga Swiatek promoted to being its top-ranked player.
The Australian may have acted quickly. It could be. She would not be the first tennis player to realize that she acted too quickly and return at a later time. There is plenty of time to do that at 25.
But a pre-determined list of hobbies and interests suggests this is not the case. She was a fantastic player, but she did not win the US Open. Emma Raducanu had upset her last year.
She mastered all three of the main surfaces with a superb all round game – and then before you knew it she was gone.
The 25-year-old now leaves behind a women’s game which is even more open