Ash Barty is one of Australia’s big sports stars, but the champion has left no doubt about his professional future.
Ash Barty seems to have lost hope of returning to professional sport once and for all after confirming once again that he had ended that chapter of his life.
Barty’s retirement announcement in March at the age of 25 still seems to hurt Australians who want to believe the three-time Grand Slam winner and champion has some plans to return to the sport.
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His appearances in the Icons Series tournament and a round in St Andrews before Cameron Smith’s triumph at the Open made many believe Barty was preparing to seek world golf dominance.
But Barty has poured water back into any kind of comeback.
Since her retirement, Barty has also published her first four books Little Ash series, won the NAIDOC Person of the Year and won the women’s competition at her local golf club.
Taking advantage of the books of 101.9 The Fox Melbourne’s Fif, Fev and Nickthe great AFL Brendan Fevola asked about his future sports plans and Barty gave an answer that none of his fans would want to hear.
“We can’t accept that I don’t want to do professional sports anymore,” Barty laughed.
“I love golf, it’s my hobby. It won’t be my profession, I don’t intend to make it my profession, but I do it once a week if I can, and in game four.
“There is no need, there is no desire to do professional sports, especially golf. I love it as a walk with my friends, but yes, not for me. “
Barty won three Grand Slam titles and played WBBL cricket with the Brisbane Heat.
After his retirement, he left the door for a comeback at any moment, but Barty’s recent comments are pretty definitive.
Speaking in St Andrews, Barty said: “I love my golf, it’s a hobby,” he said. “It’s something I love to play socially with my friends in some of the most beautiful fields in the world. But it’s certainly not something I want to take too seriously. This is fun. I love it. It has always been a hobby of mine, so it is a pleasure to be able to experience very interesting things like this today. “
As for a comeback in tennis, Barty also shut it down, he didn’t even see Elina Rybakina grab her Wimbledon crown.
“I didn’t watch this year’s Wimbledon finals,” Barty told The Guardian last week. “Sorry to disappoint.
“Obviously she was enchanted by Ons (Jabeur) and Elena (Rybakina), who are brilliant girls. And obviously it was great to see Nick, whom I’ve known for over a dozen years, come to the final.
“But since I retired, I’ve probably seen as many games as when I played, which wasn’t much. From time to time we will have it as background noise, but it is very rarely that I sit down to watch a game from start to finish with no interest.
“I’ve hit enough tennis balls in my life. I don’t need to see others hitting them either.
“I don’t regret retirement. Not one. I knew it was the right time for me. It was what I wanted to do. And I know a lot of people still don’t understand it. But I hope they respect it in the sense that it was my decision “.
When Barty retired, his longtime coach Craig Tyzzer revealed that he asked him “Can I retire now?” after winning the French Open in 2019.
The comments came after radio announcers asked if Barty would have retired after the Australian Open if he had lost.
“My decision was the same, I knew it was my last Australian Open and it somehow set me free to be more myself than I could ever have been in my life and play completely without any consequences.” , said Barty. Go out and enjoy it and play with real freedom and that in the end helped me a lot. “
Barty said the Australian summer took her to when she fell in love with the sport and said it was “the perfect way to play my last game”.
Since retiring, Barty said she has been “super busy” and hinted that she will focus her professional life in the future on inspiring the next generation.
Barty said her great niece Lucy inspired her to write the book and she was the perfect reviewer.
“It’s great to be able to encourage kids to try different sports, to try everything, to keep trying different sports until they find something they like,” Barty said.
“I tried a lot of things when I was young, but tennis was my first passion, my first love and it encourages kids to keep exploring it.
“Sport is so many things. My best friends of all my life met through sport. You meet different people, you challenge yourself, it’s a healthy lifestyle and I think encouraging children to take part in it is something I’ve always been passionate about. “
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