At 25, Ashleigh Barty announced in a video posted on her Instagram account that she was ending her career. The Australian leaves tennis at the top.
Nobody expected it. After winning the Australian Open this year, Ashleigh Barty ended her career on Wednesday March 23. The world No. 1 announced her decision in a video posted on her Instagram account with her friend Casey Dellacqua. The Australian “thought for a long time” to retire.
Winner of three Grand Slam trophies (Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and the Australian Open), the Australian believes she has given everything to her sport: “I no longer have the physical motivation, the emotional will and everything it takes to surpass myself at the highest level. I’m exhausted. I have nothing more to give on a physical level.”
If Ashleigh Barty realized her dream by triumphing last year on the grass of Wimbledon, a taste of unfinished business followed her until the Australian Open last January where the native of Ipswich won at home. : “There was just a little part of me that wasn’t quite happy, that wasn’t quite fulfilled. And then came the challenge of the Australian Open. For me, that’s the most perfect way, my perfect way, to celebrate the incredible journey that my tennis career has been.” In the future, the player wants “to pursue other dreams that don’t necessarily involve traveling the world.” In 2014, Ashleigh Barty had already put an end to her career to take advantage and “experiencing life like a normal teenager”. During this short period, she had devoted (successfully) several months of her life to cricket before returning to racket.
Barty has never shied away from making strong and marked choices during her career to preserve her balance including during the period of Covid where she chose not to play so as not to leave Australia in the first year of the Covid epidemic (absent from the circuit between February 2020 and January 2021). Last year, she had traveled continuously for almost six months with her team without being able to return home. Tributes to Ashleigh Barty have been pouring in since she announced her decision.