It came out of the blue but, on reflection, may not have been the biggest surprise in tennis.
Ashleigh Barty, the world No1 for the last 114 weeks and counting, has announced her retirement from tennis at the age of 25.
She posted a video of a conversation with her dear friend and former doubles partner Casey Dellacqua, beginning:
“So many times in my life, both my professional and personal, you’ve been there for me and this is perfect for me to share with you, to talk to you, my team and loved ones, that I’ll be retiring from tennis. First time I’ve said that out loud!”
She went on:
“I know in my heart for me as a person this is right… I know I’ve done this before but with a very different feeling. I’m so grateful for everything tennis has given me, all of my dreams plus more, but I know the time is right for me to step away, chase other dreams and put the rackets down.”
She referred there to other times she has made the decision to leave tennis for periods of physical and mental recuperation from tennis.
The popular Australian made her presence felt on the tennis tour at a precocious age, spending long stretches away from home as a junior, and ultimately won her only junior Major title at Wimbledon at the age of 15.
She and Dellacqua had huge success in doubles while Barty was still just a teenager, reaching the finals of the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in 2013.
But a year later, she decided to take a break, saying:
“It was too much too quickly for me, as I’ve been travelling from quite a young age… I wanted to experience life as a normal teenage girl and have some normal experiences.”
During almost two years away from tennis, she played cricket in the Women’s Big Bash League. She returned in May 2016, won the US Open doubles title the following year, and her first singles Major title at Roland Garros in the summer of 2019, having also picked up the prestigious Miami 1000. She ended the season with the WTA Finals trophy and as world No1.
With the arrival of the Covid pandemic in 2020, and after reaching the Australian Open semis, she opted to return to her homeland for the duration of the year. Australia adopted one of the most stringent entry systems, even for its own nationals, and Barty has always needed to have time home with family and friends as often as possible.
Once the world opened up again, she won Miami a second time, and then the Wimbledon title—a particularly emotional achievement—but returned home after the US Open without defending her WTA Finals title.
That Wimbledon victory was clearly a watershed moment for her:
“Wimbledon last year changed a lot for me as a person and for me as an athlete… To be able to win Wimbledon, which was my dream, the one true dream that I wanted in tennis, that really changed my perspective.
“I just had that gut feeling after Wimbledon, and had spoken to my team quite a lot about it. There was just a little part of me that wasn’t quite satisfied, wasn’t quite fulfilled. There was a perspective shift in me in the second phase of my career, that my happiness wasn’t dependent on the results.”
So having gone on to complete the emotional circle with victory at her home Major in January, the first Australian to win there in 44 years, she decided now was the time.
“I don’t have the physical drive, the emotional want and everything it takes to challenge yourself at the very top of the level any more. I am spent.”
In all, she has won 15 titles in singles and 12 in doubles, earning prize money of $23,829,071. And she leaves at the very top, one of the most popular players and characters of her era, with the fourth longest streak as No1 behind women of the stature of Steffi Graf, Serena Williams and Martina Navratilova.
She concluded:
“I know that people may not understand it. I’m OK with that. Because I know that Ash Barty has so many dreams that she wants to chase that don’t necessarily involve traveling the world, being away from my family from my home, which is where I’ve always wanted to be.”