World No.1 Ash Barty shocked the world on March 23 by announcing that she’ll be retiring from professional tennis. At just 25, Barty won her 3rd grand slam title in Melbourne a couple of months ago and was just one US Open title away from completing a career slam. She also had the 4th longest streak as World No.1 for consecutive weeks.
The news came as a shock to not only fans but her contemporaries too. World No.2 Iga Swiatek, who is the outright favorite to be Barty’s successor revealed how emotional she got after hearing about Barty’s retirement news. She said that she was crying for a long time and was very sad with a hint of confusion.
“You already know that I like to cry, so I was crying for a long time,” the Pole said. “I mean, there was a lot of confusion in me, for sure. But also sadness because when I think of the player that is really complete in terms of physicality, mentality, tennis-wise, I always thought of Ash and I always looked up to her. I mean, I still do.”
