“Ash has always traveled down the road less worn, and it’s what has made her so special,” said Darren Cahill, an Australian who is a former player, an ESPN analyst and a leading coach. “She’s never conformed to the norm and even her game is truly unique on the WTA Tour these days. She’s the complete player and person both on and off the court. A true Aussie legend.”
Barty said that winning Wimbledon, long considered the ultimate achievement for Australian tennis players with their country’s close ties to Britain, shifted her outlook on her career. Winning the Australian Open gave her a storybook ending. She withdrew from the BNP Paribas Open, the prestigious event in Indian Wells, Calif., making her Melbourne triumph her final match.
“To be able to win Wimbledon, which was my dream, my one true dream that I wanted in tennis, that really changed my perspective,” she said, adding, “And there was just a little part of me that wasn’t quite satisfied, wasn’t quite fulfilled. And then came the challenges of the Australian Open and I think that for me just feels like the most perfect way. My perfect way to celebrate what an amazing journey my tennis career has been.”
Her sudden retirement is clearly a blow to the sport. She is enormously popular in Australia with her unpretentious personality and, as a prominent figure of Indigenous Australian descent, she has also broadened the sport’s appeal at home and abroad.
“I think it’s a major loss,” Cahill said in an interview. “Personality, game style and the way she represented the sport as a No. 1 are all significant. Plus, she’s from a Grand Slam nation, which adds to the loss.”
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