Ashleigh Barty

Ashleigh Barty is a former Australian professional tennis player, who reached the World No. 1 ranked and retired from the sport at the age of 25.

Ashleigh Jacinta Barty was born on April 24, 1996, in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, to Josie and Robert Barty. She began working with her longtime junior coach, Jim Joyce, at the West Brisbane Tennis Centre at the age of four. Barty was already playing against male adults at the age of 12. The Australian’s highest junior ranking was world No. 2.

At the age of 15, she won the girls’ singles title at Wimbledon. That made her just the second Australian girl to win the event, with the other being Debbie Freeman in 1980. Barty began competing on the WTA Tour in 2012. She did this with fairly limited success, managing two Grand Slam victories by the end of 2014. These were at the 2013 Roland Garros and US Open.

After the 2014 US Open, Barty announced she was taking a break from tennis, playing professional cricket during that period. She returned to tennis in February 2016. After making a slow start to her comeback to the sport, Barty began to have success in 2017.

In March of that year, she claimed her first WTA title at the Malaysian Open by overcoming Nao Hibino in the final. Barty reached two more finals in 2017. The first was on grass in Birmingham, where she lost in three sets to Karolina Pliskova. A few months later, she reached her first final at the WTA 1000 level in Wuhan. She fell 7-6, 6-7, 2-6 to Caroline Garcia.

2018 brought two more titles for Barty. These were at the Nottingham and at the end-of-season WTA Elite Trophy. She defeated Johanna Konta and Wang Qiang, respectively, in the finals. However, 2019 cemented Barty’s place as a worldwide star.

She began by winning her first WTA 1000 title at the Miami Open. That run included triumphs against Petra Kvitova, Anett Kontaveit, and Karolina Pliskova in the final. Barty then had a memorable journey to the 2019 French Open title. She made the final with victories against Jessica Pegula, Danielle Collins, Andrea Petkovic, Sofia Kenin, Madison Keys, and Amanda Anisimova. Barty sealed the title by dominating Marketa Vondrousova in the final. The final score was 6-1. 6-3.

The success in 2019 did not end there for Barty. She also won the WTA Finals to end the season. The Australian beat Karolina Pliskova in the semifinal before getting past Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

After the 2020 season was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Barty had another memorable season in 2021. This included claiming two more WTA 1000 titles. The first was a second Miami Open title, while the second came at the Cincinnati Open.

But the undoubted highlight of 2021 for Barty was her triumph at Wimbledon. She reached the final by outclassing Carla Suarez Navarro, Anna Blinkova, Katerina Siniakova, Barbora Krejcikova, Ajla Tomljanovic, and Angelique Kerber. Barty then triumphed 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 in a thrilling final against Karolina Pliskova to reign supreme in London.

Barty won her third Grand Slam at the 2022 Australian Open. Remarkably, she won her home tournament without dropping a set during the tournament. Her 6-3, 7-6 final victory against Danielle Collins was the hardest she was pushed throughout the event.

However, Barty then shocked the tennis world on 23 March 2022 by retiring from the sport. She was the World No. 1 player at the time. The three-time Grand Slam champion later detailed in her autobiography how she lost some motivation to keep playing after winning Wimbledon, which was her one true dream in tennis.