The number one in world tennis, the Australian Ash Barty announced on Wednesday that he is retiring. from this sport at the age of 25 due to physical and mental exhaustion. “Today is a difficult day and full of emotions because I announce that I am retiring from tennis,” said Barty in the message that accompanies a video that he posted on his Instagram account in which he thanked for the support throughout his sports career. and highlighted the sensations of “pride and fullness” that this sport leaves him. “I no longer have the physical drive, the emotional desire not all it takes to challenge yourself to the top of the level. I’m exhausted“said Barty, who has been the number one racket in the world for more than two years and was crowned champion at the last Australian Open. “There is no right path and no wrong path, it is my path,” Barty said in the interview. Recorded with former Australian tennis player Casey Dellacqua and posted today on Instagram.
The last match that Barty played as a professional was the final of the last Australian Open, in which she beat the American Danielle Collins in two sets and became the first local tennis player to win the tournament in 44 years. It was the third Grand Slam title for the current world number one in the WTA ranking, after having also lifted the Roland Garros trophy in 2019 and the Wimbledon trophy in 2021.
It is not the first time that Barty has abandoned tennis, he already did it in 2014, as a teenager of 17, to dedicate herself professionally to cricket, before returning to the courts two years later, when she began a dazzling progression that took her to the world throne of women’s tennis. Her definitive breakout year was 2019, when she captured her first Grand Slam title in Paris and became world number one for the first time, a position she has held for 119 weeks ever since.
Barty has won 15 singles titles and 12 doubles titles in his tennis career.