WTA world no. 1 and reigning Wimbledon and AO champion Ashleigh Barty has announced her sudden retirement from tennis at the age of 25.
Some of her comments to friend Casey Dellaqua…
“I’m fulfilled, I’m happy.”
“I know how much work it takes. I don’t have the physical drive or the emotional want anymore. I’m spent.”
“It’s the right time to chase other dreams.”
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while. Winning Wimbledon last summer, which was my dream, my one true dream, that really changed my perspective. I had that gut feeling after Wimbledon and I told my team.”
“Then winning Australian Open felt like the most perfect way, my most perfect way.”
“I want to chase other dreams.”
“I’ve given everything I have to this beautiful sport. This is right for me.”
Ashleigh Barty · Australian Open · Wimbledon
Winston Smith · March 24, 2022 at 12:10 pm
Scoop
Iâve been a big tennis fan since forever…Stan Smith, Arthur Ashe onwards.
Iâm afraid to say that as a spectator sport is is becoming a disaster, rapidly becoming inconsequential (much interest due to online betting) with womenâs tennis at the forefront of this train wreck: Djokovic among the alltime greats, banned for asserting a basic human right, Barry, #1 retires, Anisimova quits in middle of tough match, with her coach saying he canât work with her, Osaka, fake Japanese, total head case. Has anyone figured out how in the world Raducanu won US Open? Sheâs barely a top 80 player in reality. Is tennis âfixed.â Something is fishy about Raducanu, canât quite put my finger on it, too good a story. Has anyone taken note of the fact that Russian playersâ flag wasnât displayed on scoreboard at BNP Paribas. Fritz vs Rublev: Fritz gets Stars and Stripes next to his name, Rublev, blank space.
At least we still have golf and hockey, tennis is essentially done
Scoop Malinowski · March 24, 2022 at 3:57 pm
Winston, communism is destroying the sport, they better stop it now or they will wreck the sport we love. Unbelievable they way the tennis world is trending towards, pickle ball may capitalize big time, the way UFC did after boxing self destructed with all the fake fights, ducking dodging and fraudulent pretenders masquerading as greats. Hopefully this site won’t be pickleball-prose.com any time soon.
Sam · March 24, 2022 at 6:47 pm
I don’t follow women’s tennis much, but shocked about Barty.
I guess there’s probably a lot she’s not telling us? đ¤
Scoop Malinowski · March 24, 2022 at 6:59 pm
Yes it just doesn’t make sense, why not retire weeks or months ago. The whole I want to stay home for a while and skip a few months statement was odd. Then the sudden exit even odder. There is a small vibe that she was forced out and it took a while to come out and address it. She always showed a happy go lucky, love for playing vibe. No sign of any “tired of it all” attitude. She actually seemed like one of the happiest players in the WTA. Beautiful dominant game. Walking away from about $10m a year doing something she loves, what millions of others wish they could do? Look at how you have Serena, Fed, Rafa, Lopez, Kerber, Venus… they can’t get enough of it. Yet Barty bows out at 25? Not buying it.
Cory · March 24, 2022 at 11:23 pm
Scoop, i agree with you , this is too fishy. What do you posit is the story, then?
Scoop Malinowski · March 25, 2022 at 7:41 am
Cory, it reminds of the Bartoli situation. Bartoli wins Wimbledon, then is quoted after (before US summer hard courts) about being excited to play Cincy, New Haven and US Open. She said this during a press conference while she was in France. She then flies to Cincinnati to play and then suddenly on the second day of the tournament in Cincy she announces her retirement. Why fly from France to Cincy to announce retirement? She claimed being tired of the travel etc. But then shortly after she was hired to work as a TV commentator (more travel). So it seems these retirements could be cover for something else which I won’t say but I think most astute tennis fans can figure out.
Sam · March 26, 2022 at 5:45 pm
Scoop wrote:
So it seems these retirements could be cover for something else which I wonât say but I think most astute tennis fans can figure out.
Ouch. đŁ