A week ago, to the day, and it is still sinking in for the tennis world, that the world’s best women’s player has given up the sport, for good it seems.
Having won her home tournament of the Australian Open in January, 25-year-old Ash Barty has not been seen on the court since.
Her absence from the first two Masters 1000 events of the year, Indian Wells and the Miami Open, with no reason given should have been an indicator that things weren’t right.
She then stunned the world last Wednesday as an interview with her friend and former player, 37-year-old Australian, Casey Dellacqua, aired online.
Opinion – James Spencer (Twitter – @jspencer28)
When I got home and heard the news, I was personally very shocked.
Of course, Barty had wanted her whole life to win the Australian Open.
Doing so in January was historic, as she became the first woman to do so in 44 years since Christine O’Neil triumphed way back in 1978.
This then gave Barty her third Grand Slam, after the 2019 French Open victory, last year’s Wimbledon win, and more recently in Melbourne.
Now surely the logical goal would have been to win the Career Grand Slam, and to clinch the fourth leg of the year, by winning the US Open.
And Barty, is outstanding on hard-courts, so surely this would have been a tangible goal.
She has however won the year ending WTA Finals in Guadalajara once back in 2019, which is a major tournament on the women’s tour, and arguably the biggest outside of the four Grand Slam’s.
The Aussie may well have won the Miami Open twice and the Cincinnati Masters in the States, but there are other Masters 1000 titles missing from her CV, such as the Madrid Open and the Italian Open.
So, it’s not a case that she has won everything in the sport, or that she has won 20 Grand Slams.
She has three, and look at Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, Serena and Venus Williams. They’ve all won multiple Grand Slams and are still going on in their mid to late thirties.
And when you are world number one, surely you want to stay there.
That motivation should be lasting like it has been for other champions in our sport.
Of course, she had time off the sport when she left to play cricket, but Barty coming back was meant to be a sign that she still loved the game.
But to quit at the early, young age of 25 with perhaps up to 10 years left, has left many speechless.
I was stunned last year when Britain’s Johanna Konta announced her retirement at 30, and to think she probably had three or four years left at the top.
And to think, this is even more shocking.
What will happen now?
Firstly, Poland’s Iga Świątek has become the new world number one, and deservedly so after her wonderful win at Indian Wells gave her a stonking 1000 new ranking points.
As for Barty, she probably has more than enough money to retire on and live off.
She would be a well-sought out commentator within the game.
But a competitive animal like her will surely miss the sport and being on the court.
Her drive to become the best took her to the very top. Will we see her again? Only time will tell.
