CANBERRA: Australian tennis great and current world number one Ash Barty has announced her retirement from the sport at just 25 years old, saying “the time is right now for me to step away and chase other dreams and to put the racquets down.”
“I wasn’t quite sure of how I was going to do this,” an emotional Barty said to a good friend and former doubles partner Casey Dellacqua in a video posted to Barty’s social media.
She said: “It’s hard to say … I’m so happy and I’m so ready. I just know at the moment in my heart for me as a person this is right.”
Barty is the current world No. 1 women’s singles player, just the second Australian to reach that status in the WTA rankings era after fellow Aboriginal woman Evonne Goolagong Cawley.
Barty won three Grand Slam singles titles, her first shock victory at the French Open in 2019, before winning Wimbledon in 2021 and the Australian Open earlier this year – making her the reigning champion in two of the four Grand Slams. Wimbledon win | 02:37
She finished the past three calendar years as the world’s number-one ranked player, a remarkable achievement reflecting her consistency across all court surfaces. That record placed her in the esteemed company of Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, and Serena Williams.
She also won the 2018 US Open in women’s doubles alongside Coco Vandeweghe, reaching a personal ranking as high as fifth in the world in doubles.
In 2021, she partnered with fellow Australian John Peers to claim a bronze medal in mixed doubles at the Tokyo Olympics.
A humble champion, Barty was awarded the Young Australian of the Year in 2020 and has garnered a host of other commendations for her work on and off the court.
Barty previously took an indefinite break from tennis after the 2014 US Open, subsequently converting to cricket and becoming a professional player for the Brisbane Heat in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Big Bash League.
