Ash Barty has given a rare glimpse into where she was at mentally before she stunned the world and announced her retirement at the age of 26.
The Aussie champion gave it all away after sensationally winning the 2022 Australian Open, a triumph that cemented her position as the world’s best player.
Barty revealed she began to lack motivation after claiming victory at Wimbledon in 2021, the tournament at the top of her career bucket list.
Barty won the 2019 French Open, 2021 Wimbledon and 2022 Australian Open to join an exclusive club of players to have won grand slams on all three surfaces.
Tennis fans might have felt robbed of another 10 Barty grand slam wins, but the Queenslander said she had achieved everything she wanted to in the sport and had nothing more to give.
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She’s now revealed there was another emotion that played a part in her premature retirement.
Barty has told Channel 7’s Hamish McLachlan there was a period late in her career where she was angered by public claims she was not deserving of the No. 1 ranking — an accolade she still held at the time of her retirement announcement.
Barty was eliminated at the quarter-final stage of the 2021 Australian Open — and it came at a time when Naomi Osaka had won four of the previous nine grand slams.
When Barty elected not to travel overseas during the global pandemic she was able to freeze her ranking points on the WTA Tour. It all resulted in public claims Osaka was at the time the better player.
Barty has now revealed the public comments did sting.
“There was plenty of noise (before the tournament),” Barty told McLachlan.
“(People were saying), ‘Is Ash the best player in the world?’. And that made me angry.
“That really p***ed me off because I know I am the best player in the world.”
There are still plenty who believe Barty can still return to be the world’s best player — despite the fact she’s never looked back after her retirement.
Barty last month announced the birth of her first child, a “beautiful boy” named Hayden.
But that doesn’t mean fans aren’t desperate to see Barty back on the court.
Leading Australian sport commentator Robert Craddock said earlier this month Barty would have been a bit uncomfortable watching the Wimbledon women’s singles final where Marketa Vondrousova became the first unseeded woman to win the tournament, beating world number six Ons Jabeur.
So unexpected was her Wimbledon run that the world No. 42 told her husband Stepan Simek to stay at home in Prague to look after their cat Frankie, until a pet sitter was found to allow him to travel to London for the final.
Craddock pointed out that Barty had swept aside Vondrousova in all their previous meetings and believes the Queenslander could easily have held some regrets about her decision to give it all away.
“She (Vondrousova) won one match in her last four at Wimbledon,” Craddock said on Fox Sports’ The Back Page.
“I just wonder… what she (Barty) is thinking of that, because she played her four times and didn’t lose a set. She was just a better player. So, she’s a new mum, I just wonder whether she’s thinking, ‘There’s still some slams out there for me’.”
He’s thinking exactly how Barty’s legion of fans have thought for the 15 months since her retirement.