“Maybe she had no motivation,” Karolina Pliskova reflects over the shock Ashleigh Barty retirement
Follow Us
Ashleigh Barty vs Karolina Pliskova
The former World No. 1 Karolina Pliskova, has been back to the grind this season after suffering a hand injury in December. Pliskova is one of the few remaining pillars of stability in the face of tennis, and her much-awaited return to the tour has put a smile on her fan’s faces.
The two-time grand slam runner-up was one of the few high-profile players to pull out of the Australian Open, the first major of the season.
Karolina Pliskova speaks on Ash Barty retirement
Recently, Karolina Pliskova spoke to WTA insider on the topic of Ash Barty retirement ahead of the beginning of th Charleston Open.
The Czech star revealed that she was absolutely shocked in first receiving the news, with the mere thought of it being unbelievable.
“I was shocked because I’m not really on Twitter….But somebody messaged me and said, “Oh, did you see the news?”…They said, “No, no, Ashleigh, she stopped.” I’m like, “No way, that’s not possible. Tell me the reason,” said Pliskova.
Pliskova then revealed that she empathized with and understood Ash Barty’s decision despite not relating to it personally. Just because someone likes the sport and loves aspects of it doesn’t mean others love it too.
“I understand everybody’s different. For me, it’s not understandable at all because I just like the game so much. But I understand somebody maybe suffers, somebody doesn’t like to travel. She basically won everything that she wanted to win, I suppose maybe she had no motivation,” added Pliskova.
She then went on to praise Barty, hailing her as an amazing candidate to hold the top spot, having the perfect charisma for it. However, she ended the interview with a glimmer of hope, having hopes that Barty might return sometime in the future.
“But I was surprised and shocked. I thought she was a really good number one for our sport and she was there for a while. Of course now, Iga is a really good player, but I just thought Ashleigh was a good person and she had good charisma. I’m going to miss her. But you never know. I think maybe she’s going to come back. And then she’s just going to be 27,” said Pliskova.
Stay Updated!
Akash Mandal
(433 Articles Published)