Tennis legend John McEnroe says the bombshell retirement of Australia’s two-time grand slam champion Ash Barty harm the ladies’s recreation.
Barty is considered one of numerous high-profile gamers lacking this month’s Australian Open in Melbourne, with organisers of the embattled match now additionally sweating on an harm scare to Novak Djokovic.
The reigning champion’s retirement announcement surprised the game and got here in the identical 12 months as 20-time main champion Roger Federer and 23-time winner Serena Williams additionally referred to as time.
Williams’ sister Venus, pregnant stars Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber are additionally lacking the match, whereas 2021 US Open winner Emma Radcanu is more likely to succumb to harm.
Barty final week introduced she was pregnant for the primary time.
Iga Swiatek has taken up the mantle because the world’s No. 1 participant and launched a 37-match profitable streak after the Queenslander’s retirement.
But McEnroe says Barty’s choice to finish her profession at simply 25 whereas on high of her recreation “hurts the sport” as a result of it brings into query the feminine circuit and leaves Swiatek with no actual rival.
“I think when Ash Barty retired that obviously sent shockwaves because here is a young woman at 25 that had come off winning Wimbledon, then winning the Australian Open and you think ‘OK, she’s going to win the US Open in the next year and it’s just a matter of time’,” he informed Eurosport.
“Obviously, I hope she’s happy, you never want to see someone walk away from it that young because then you’re like ‘what’s wrong with the women’s game that the No. 1 player walked away from the game aged 25’.
McEnroe compared Barty’s retirement and Swiatek’s year of dominance to that of his own rival and Swedish great Bjorn Borg, who stepped away from the sport at the same age.
“We had that issue too because my buddy and my rival Bjorn Borg walked away and never played a major after 25. It would hurt me, and my career, I believe,” he stated.
“Just not having that rival, I believe hurts the sport, and there’s reasons that we can’t get into, there are a lot of reasons, there’s never one reason, and there’s no one for Ash Barty either.
“But hopefully everyone will look at things to make sure that these women on the tour are being taken care of to the best of their ability so they feel as comfortable as possible doing their thing.”
