World No.1 tennis player Ash Barty announces retirement from tennis: 'I'm fulfilled. I'm happy'

Ash Barty has always done things her own way.

The world No.1 tennis player is keeping with that tradition in how she's walking away from the sport, too, announcing on Wednesday (23 March) that she is retiring from the sport for good.

"There's no right way, there's no wrong way, it's just my way," Barty said in a video posted on her Instagram account.

She added: "[I'm] retiring from tennis. It's hard to say, but I'm so happy and I'm so ready. And I just know at the moment in my heart for me as a person, this is right. I'm so grateful to everything that tennis has given me. It's given me all of my dreams plus more. But I know that the time is right now for for me to step away and chase all the dreams and yeah, and to put the rackets down."

In January, Barty became the first Australian woman to win the Australian Open in 44 years. The title, won in front of record TV audiences at home, brought Barty's singles Grand Slam haul to three, having previously won at the French Open in 2019 and Wimbledon 2021.

She called her Wimbledon victory "the one true dream that I wanted in tennis," adding: "To be able to win Wimbledon, which was my dream... that really changed my perspective. And I just had I just had that gut feeling after after Wimbledon and had spoken to my team quite a lot about it. And there was just a little part of me that wasn't quite satisfied, wasn't quite fulfilled."

Barty said that fulfillment came after winning The Australian Open in January, where she beat American Danielle Collins in the final.

Barty won a bronze medal at the Summer Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 in 2021, pairing up with John Peers in the mixed doubles. The duo lost in the semi-finals, but won the bronze medal match. Barty, seeded No.1, had lost in the opening round of the singles.

Ash Barty: 'This is what I want'

Barty was the Wimbledon junior champion in 2011 at age 15, marking the first major accomplishment of her young career and drawing comparisons to the all-court game of the great Martina Hingis. Two years later, she and doubles partner Casey Dellacqua reached three Grand Slam doubles finals, finishing as runner-up at each.

She finished 2014 ranked world No.153, but announced that she was stepping away from the sport to spend time at home with her family. She took up professional cricket at home in Australia. She would make a return to tennis in mid-2016, following nearly two years away.

Playing at full pace again by 2017, Barty finished the season inside the top 20 in both 2017 and 2018, but saw her true breakthrough in 2019, when she captured the WTA 1000 event in Miami, then made a shock run to the French Open final, beating Marketa Vondrousova in the final and winning Australia its first major singles title in eight years (Sam Stosur 2011 US Open).

She reached the world No.1 ranking after her victory at Roland-Garros and claimed the sport's biggest-ever check by winning the WTA Finals in 2019. But she saw much of her time at No.1 disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Her three-set Wimbledon win over Karolina Pliskova in the final was her most emotional, Barty near tears on Centre Court as she became the first Australian woman to win the title since her hero, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, in 1980. Barty, like Goolagong, is of Indigenous heritage, and said "I hope I made her proud" when asked about Goolagon's reaction to her Wimbledon win.

"This is what I want," Barty said in her Instagram video, which was a sit-down chat with good friend Dellacqua. "I want to chase after some of the dreams that I've always wanted to do and always have that really healthy balance. But I'm really, really excited."

Different perspective gives Barty clarity

Barty said since her comeback in mid-2016 that she has approached the sport with a different perspective. Not only does she leave it as a major champion, but she was also voted the Young Australian of the Year in 2020, the nation's highest honour for a young person.

She retires with $24 million (USD) in prize money, 15 career singles titles and with a career record of 305-102. She also does so as the world No.1 player - going out on top.

Said Barty in her retirement video: "There was a perspective shift in me in this second phase of my career that my happiness wasn't dependent on the results and success is knowing that I've given absolutely everything I can. I'm fulfilled, I'm happy and I know how much work it takes to to bring the best out of yourself."

She continued: "It's just I don't have that in me anymore. I don't have the physical drive, the emotional drive... everything it takes to challenge yourself at the very top level anymore. And I think I just know that I'm absolutely I am spent. I just know physically, I have nothing more to give."

"I've given absolutely everything I can to this beautiful sport of tennis, and I'm really happy with that. And for me that that is my success and I know that people may not understand it. And that's okay. I'm okay with that because I know that for me, Ash Barty, the person has so many dreams that she wants to chase after that don't necessarily involve traveling the world."