By: JJ G

Ash Barty, an Australian tennis player who was ranked #1 in the world, recently shocked the world by retiring at 25! She said “that “she wanted to chase her other dreams and put her racquets down.”

This is not the first time that Barty stepped down from playing tennis. In 2014, she left tennis for over a year and a half to play professional cricket. But this time, Barty said she is stepping down for good. She said her ideas began to change after she won Wimbledon, her biggest dream at the time.

Barty made her announcement video on Instagram. Her crazy video included her discussing her thoughts about retiring with a good friend Casey Dellacqua. Dellacqua, is also a retired tennis pro that used to be Barty’s doubles partner.

After she launched this video, it was clear that tennis at a very high level was very stressful and demanding. “I know how much work it takes to bring the best out of yourself,” she said. “It’s just I don’t have that in me anymore.”

Even though Barty retired at such a young age, 25, she has been playing for a while. She started playing tennis at four and went pro at 14. Between 2019-2021, Barty was World tennis number one. She won 15 women’s singles tournaments in her career; this includes three Grand Slams. Grand Slams are the biggest tournaments in tennis.

One Grand Slam that she won was the French Open in 2019. Another one was in 2021, she won Wimbledon. And, the last one, she won the 2022 Australian Open, becoming the first person in 44 years to be born in Australia and win the Australian Open.

Other players retired when they were young, some still returned to the tennis world after sometimes, however, very few players have gone out while they were number one in the world. “I have given absolutely everything I can to this beautiful sport of tennis,” she said, “and I’m really happy with that.”