On March 23, 2022, Ashleigh Barty He surprised all the fans and announced his retirement from tennis at the age of 25 and as the WTA world number one. Winning the Australian Open represented the end of a story that you could have experienced new and incredible chaptersbut that the Australian who decided to close and put back in the bookshop.
Barty was dominating the WTA Tour and could have added many more Grand Slams to her collection before her retirement.
Ashleigh Barty: «My new life is what I’ve always wanted»
In an interview with the New York Times, the three-time Grand Slam champion opened up about her new life with no regrets.
She said: «Honestly, what surprised me the most was how comfortable I felt after retiring. I think it was normal at first to be afraid of not knowing what my life would be like after tennis. I wasn’t sure what it would be like.» I was going to deal with this since I’m someone who likes to be organized, but overall it wasn’t a problem.
The most surprising thing in a positive way is that I easily adapted to this new lifestyle and it is what I have always wanted. Retirement of number one? I think it was strange, but my position in the standings was probably the least of my concern at the time.
I made my dreams come true, everyone has their own and has a different way of defining success. I knew that I gave everything I could and was lucky enough to live my childhood dream. It was time for a change. I didn’t want to keep playing tennis because that was what I was expected to do and then blink and realize that maybe other things just slipped away.
2022 has undoubtedly been a great year in this regard. A lot has happened off the pitch, and now I’m pretty tired, and it’s scary to think that normally I’d be in the middle of a pre-season preparing for an Australian summer that’s upon us.»
