Australian tennis star and world number one, Ash Barty, made a shock announcement on Wednesday that she is retiring from professional tennis.
In a video posted on Instagram, the three-time grand slam winner told her friend Casey Dellacqua, also a retired professional player, that this is the first time she has said it out loud.
“It’s hard to say, but I’m so happy and I’m so ready,” she said. “And I just know at the moment in my heart for me as a person this is right.”
The 25-year-old referred to the time she took an indefinite break from professional tennis in 2014, after which she returned in early 2016, but said that the feeling is very different this time.
“I am so grateful for everything that tennis has given me. It’s given me all of my dreams plus more,” she said.
“But I know that the time is right now for me to step away and chase other dreams, and to put the rackets down.”
The news comes just a little over a month after Barty took the Australian Open title in Melbourne. The champ also has 2021 Wimbledon and 2019 French Open Grand Slam titles to her name.
When Barty achieved her first Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) number one ranking in 2019, she became only the second Australian to do so after fellow Indigenous Australian Evonne Gooloagong Cawley in 1976.
Barty said Wimbledon 2021 was a pivotal moment for her as an athlete and a person.
“You work so hard your whole life for one goal, and I’ve been able to share that with so many incredible people,” she said.
“But to be able to win Wimbledon, which was my dream, the one true dream that I wanted in tennis, that really changed my perspective.”
She recalled the gut feeling she had after the tournament that there was still a part of her not quite satisfied, but her win at the Austalian Open in January was the perfect way to complete and celebrate her tennis career journey, she said.
“As a person, this is what I want, I want to chase after some other dreams that I’ve always wanted to do, and always had that really healthy balance, but I’m really really excited, she said.
Barty told Dellacqua that she had a perspective shift in the latter part of her career, a realisation that her happiness wasn’t dependent on getting results, but rather success was was knowing that she'd given everything she had.
“I know how much work it takes to bring the best out of yourself, and I’ve said it to my team multiple times, it’s just I don’t have that in me anymore,” she said.
“I don’t have the physical drive, the emotional want, and kind of everything it takes to challenge yourself at the very top level anymore.”
She said that tennis will always be a significant part of her life, but she wants to enjoy the next phase as Ash Barty the person rather than Ash Barty the athlete.
In addition to an outstanding tennis career, Barty has also played professional cricket at a high level, signing with the Brisbane Heat for the Women’s Big Bash League during her tennis hiatus.
