In late 2014, Australia’s Ashleigh Barty was disillusioned with tennis. It was a sport she loved and played from the age of five. As a child prodigy, she won the junior girls Wimbledon title, and as a senior, reached the doubles final of three Grand Slams. But the grind and rigour of the sport got to her: she retired and took up cricket, playing for the Women’s Big Bash League. She returned to tennis 18 months later.
Now, Barty is hanging up her racquet again, for good. But this time she feels she has given the sport her all. Indeed, Barty is at her sporting peak: At 25, she has held the World No 1. ranking for 121 weeks. She has three Grand Slam titles in her kitty, all on different surfaces, beginning with the French Open in 2019 and ending with the 2022 Australian Open. The triumph at Melbourne Park, which ended a 44-year-drought for a home Major champion, is often considered her crowning glory.
