When Australia's world number star Ash Barty announced her retirement on Instagram this morning, it left the women's tennis circuit stunned. She has held the top spot for 114 consecutive weeks since her first Grand Slam title—the 2019 French Open—and has been at the absolute peak of her powers, going on to win the Australian Open last month.
Only Steffi Graf, Serena Williams (both 186 weeks) and Martina Navratilova (156 weeks) have had longer streaks as world No 1 in the women's game.
Barty created history too, by becoming the first home player to win the Australian Open men's or women's singles title in 44 years.
The 25-year-old famously enjoyed a prolific but short career as a cricketer too, having played in the Australian women's Big Bash.
As a teenager, Barty played nine matches for Brisbane Heat in the 2015-16 season and also participated in the Women's National Cricket League, scoring a century for Queensland and averaging 46.63 with the bat. She soon returned to tennis and kicked off her professional career with the racquet in style.
Interestingly, Barty has credited her 18 months out of tennis for making her a “ better person, on and off the court. A better tennis player”
Her cricket coach Andy Richards told The Indian Express that cricket gave Barty a sense of belonging and teammates for life.
“She’s very much a team-oriented person,” said Richards. “If we look at her love for her family, her indigenous cultural background, there’s a strong feeling of belonging in all of that. In tennis, she didn’t have that as a young girl growing up, spending a lot of time away, overseas without a really strong network.”
“Tennis is considered an individual sport. But you’ll notice that when she talks, she always says ‘we’. She talks about her team. I think she had a lot of fun with us, she had a lot of freedom. And she’s carried that forward,” said Richards.
Cricket is not the only other sport she has dabbled in. Barty's father had represented Australia as an amateur and the tennis star exhibited her golfing skills too in 2020.
With the pandemic raging across the globe, Barty opted out of the French and US Open slams, opting to stay in her country. She participated in the Brookwater Golf Club championship in September 2020, winning the match-play final.
It is unlikely that Barty will make a return to tennis again. Wimbledon was her dream and the Australian Open was the icing on the cake. Since she no longer wants to be “Ash the athlete”, as she said in her interview, the sporting community seems to have lost an all-round champion.
