Nine months after her shock retirement announcement, Ash Barty insists she has no regrets over her resolution to stroll away from tennis, claiming she was even stunned how “comfortable” she has been within the time since.
Barty surprised the tennis world when she confirmed she was retiring from tennis in an emotional interview along with her good buddy Casey Dellacqua in March.
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The 26-year-old was additionally coming off a shocking triumph on the Australian Open by which she turned the primary Aussie to win their dwelling Slam in singles tennis since Chris O’Neil in 1978.
Barty had additionally sat atop the WTA rankings for a mind-boggling 114 consecutive weeks upon the announcement of her retirement.
In her retirement announcement, the Queenslander acknowledged it was primarily right down to not having the “physical drive, the emotional want and everything it takes to challenge yourself at the very top level any more”.
And regardless of the preliminary “fear” and “uncertainty” of how she would tackle life post-tennis, Barty claims she’s having fun with life as an on a regular basis particular person, one thing she “wanted”.
“To be honest, I think what has surprised me most is how comfortable I’ve been,” Barty advised The New York Times.
“I think there was probably a normal fear or uncertainty in not knowing what my life would look like after tennis after being so focused.
“I was a bit unsure how I would deal with that because I am a person who likes to be organised.
“There was probably a little bit of fear in that, but overall, that hasn’t been an issue, a concern or a worry.
“What’s been surprising in a good way is that I’ve slipped quite seamlessly into this life that’s just like everyone else, which is kind of always what I wanted.”
Since retiring, Barty has penned quite a lot of kids’s books in addition to her autobiography, titled “My Dream Time”.
However, in line with The New York Times, Barty will nonetheless be concerned in tennis as she plans to crew up with former coaches Craig Tyzzer and Jason Stoltenberg to arrange an academy for Australia’s greatest younger stars.
It is thru that academy that Barty expects to get her “tennis fix”, having all however shut the door on a return to life on the WTA tour.
“The more time I’ve had to sit and think and absorb this year, I think it is never in the sense of me competing professionally again,” Barty mentioned.
“But I’ll never not be involved in this sport.
“So I think that’s where I’ll always get my tennis fix, that taste of the sport that gave me so much.”
Originally printed as Barty lifts lid on massive retirement ‘fear’ as subsequent transfer revealed
