“Gutted for tennis” Andy Murray congratulates Ash Barty for her fantastic career after she announces a shocking retirement
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Andy Murray and Ash Barty
World No. 1 Ash Barty shocked the entire tennis world when she announced her sudden retirement. The 25-year old is a 3-time Grand Slam champion and has been World No. 1 for 119 weeks of which 112 came in consecutive weeks and had finished as the World No. 1 for three consecutive years (2019, 2020, 2021).
Barty announced her retirement on 23rd March through a special interview with her former Doubles partner and fellow Australian, Casey Dellacqua. While she did no clearly state one reason for her retirement, she spoke that having achieved all of her dreams as a tennis player including winning the Wimbledon (in 2021) and Australian Open (in 2022), she wanted to focus more on Ash Barty as a person and not as a tennis player.
With the entire tennis fraternity coming ahead and congratulating her career while also speaking of the shock the 25-year old has given them retiring on top of her game, former World No. 1 Andy Murray was not far behind. The Brit took to his Twitter handle and wrote, “Happy for @ashbarty gutted for tennis what a player.”
Ash Barty retires undefeated this season
Barty played only during the Australian Open series this season, starting her season at the WTA-500 event in Adelaide which she won dropping a set only in the first match. She then directly played at the 2022 Australian Open where she was the favourite for the title and given it was in front of her home crowd, there was no stopping her.
Barty went on to win the Grand Slam without dropping a single set and captured her 3rd career major to go on an 11-match unbeaten streak and becoming only the second active woman player and 5th active player behind Serena Williams and the Big-3 to win majors on all surfaces having won the French Open in 2019.
Having retired without playing a match since the Australia Open finals, Barty has truly retired on the top of her game and has robbed the tennis fraternity a fantastic player who was seen as one of the strongest forces on the Tour.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)