Former WTA number one Ashleigh Barty talked about the joys and her experience of motherhood, just a month after welcoming her first child.
The retired Australian star shocked the tennis world early last year when she called time on her playing career. Barty ranked top of the world and, having just bagged the 2022 Australian Open, felt she realized her pipe dream as a tennis player, and there was nothing more to give.
It was a watershed moment in her career. But Barty's priorities became clear after that. The 27-year-old married her longtime partner Garry Kissick last July, with whom they welcomed their first child less than a month ago - a son, named Hayden. For Barty, this feels like a new lease of life as she told Herald Sun.
"It's the best thing I've ever done, and the hardest thing I've ever done. Hayden is amazing, I feel so very lucky. Garry and I are really just enjoying what is a pretty quiet time together at home as a little family."
"Having seen my sisters become mums, and spending so much time with their kids, I had some idea of how it would feel, but it's certainly at a different level when it's your own child, and they are completely dependent on you! It's pretty incredible."
Once one of the fittest and dominant players on tour, Barty now keeps fit, taking morning walks with good company - her son Hayden filling her arms and her pet dogs by her side, and she loves it.
"My hands are a little bit more full now but my morning walk is still my favorite part of the day. The pack of hounds and Hayden and I all out together and getting on with the day!"
Barty then goes on to speak fondly of her earliest tennis memories. She picked a racket at the age of four, and she was obsessed with hitting tennis balls every time, that her father turned their home garage into a replica of a tennis court.
"'It was my first love, Hame; it consumed me every single day – all I wanted to do was hit tennis balls. Dad converted our garage at home. He got some masking tape and put it to the exact height of a net. I would hit in that garage for hours and hours and hours, before school, after school."
"When I wasn't having a lesson because it was raining, I was in the garage. It was just something I became fascinated and curious about, trying to learn how to master my craft, learning how to compete against the wall and against myself."
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