Australia’s Ash Barty, the No. 1-ranked women’s tennis player in the world, has recently announced her retirement from the sport at the age of 25.
Barty said in an emotional video posted on Wednesday, March 16 on her social media accounts: “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.”
The announcement comes less than two months after she won her home Australian Open, her third Grand Slam singles title.
“It’s the first time I’ve actually said it out loud and, yeah, it’s hard to say,” Barty told her former doubles partner Casey Dellacqua in the video interview. “But I’m so happy, and I’m so ready.”
“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,” Barty said.Barty, who left tennis in 2014 to pursue a professional cricket career but returned to the sport only two years later, wound up winning her three major singles titles on three different surfaces. The first surface was on clay at the 2019 French Open, which was then followed by a win on grass at Wimbledon last year. This was also followed up by a win on the hard courts of Melbourne Park at the Australian Open in January.
The Women’s Tennis Association Tour said Barty has held the No. 1 ranking for 114 consecutive weeks.
She is the second woman to retire while being ranked No. 1 in the world. Justine Henin retired on May 14, 2008, after spending 61 consecutive weeks ranked at the top. Henin also was 25 at the time of her retirement, but did come back two years after her retirement, after reaching the final of the 2010 Australian Open before stepping away for good in 2011.
“Ashleigh Barty with her signature slice backhand, complemented by being the ultimate competitor, has always led by example through the unwavering professionalism and sportsmanship she brought to every match,” Women’s Tennis Association chairman and CEO Steve Simon said in a statement. “With her accomplishments at the Grand Slams, WTA Finals and reaching the pinnacle ranking of No.1 in the world, she has clearly established herself as one the great champions of the WTA.
“We wish Ash only the very best and know that she will continue to be a tremendous ambassador for the sport of tennis as she embarks on this new chapter of her life. We will miss her.”
Barty said tennis has “given me all of my dreams, plus more, but I know that the time is right now for me to step away and chase other dreams, and to put the rackets down.”
She noted in her Instagram caption that she leaves the sport “feeling proud and fulfilled” and said there will be more to come at her news conference on Thursday, March 17.
