Tennis will miss the “beauty and artistry” of Ash Barty, following her shock decision to quit the game at the age of 25.
That’s the view of leading commentator Sam Smith, who also noted it was “slightly odd” that Barty bowed out having never defended any of her three Grand Slam titles.
The Australian won at Roland-Garros in 2019, but skipped the 2020 tournament as COVID-19 forced a reshuffle of the schedule and made travel difficult.
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Her surprise retirement means she won’t defend at Wimbledon this year or in Melbourne in January.
“I was really surprised when I saw the news, but I’m not shocked at all,” Smith told Wide World of Sports.
“My gut feeling, when I left Australia in January was that she’d play for another year, but I couldn’t see much beyond that.
“I thought she’d have played this year, to defend at Wimbledon, because she won’t have ever have defended any of her Grand Slam titles, that’s slightly odd.
“But it’s a Hollywood ending, you can’t get better than winning your home slam.”
Australian tennis legend Todd Woodbridge told Wide World of Sports that Barty was the most talented female player of the last 20 years, and Smith noted her all-round game was a throwback to a previous era.
“She’s such a complete player. She was a modern classic, like a Federer. The shots from the 50s and 60s, you can see the history of the sport in her game,” she explained.
“The skillset was wonderful, and that has been missing from women’s tennis for a while. The shame is that the only way I could see players beating Ash on a regular basis would be to come in to the net on a regular basis, and now they won’t have to.
“A player like Ash doesn’t come along very often. She brought an artistic beauty back to the sport, something that had been missing almost since the time of Evonne Goolagong or Hana Mandlikova.
“The sport needs beauty and artistry, like Federer.”
The extensive travel around the world and time away from Australia likely played a significant factor in Barty’s decision to call it quits.
She sat out the end of the 2021 season after months on the road, preferring instead to return to Australia.
As Smith pointed out, Australian players face a much bigger challenge than players from other parts of the world.
“I have a feeling that played a part in it,” she said.
“She’s lucky to have such a wonderful place where she loves living, with a loving, close family. Not everyone has that. It’s very special and I think she values it above everything else.
“I wonder what would have happened if Rafa (Nadal) was Australian, for example. He likes to go back to Spain, that’s where his soul is, and he’s able to pop back there quite easily.
“I think the distance tests the Australians quite a lot. I know Sam Stosur had a base in the States, but that’s not for Ash.
“You wonder how much 2021 really took out of her. The only way she can stay in a good space is, as Casey Dellacqua calls it, hitting and running. Play a few tournaments and then go home for a while.
“She couldn’t do that last year. I suspect she learned a lot in those eight months.
“This is not a spur of the moment thing, it’s a well thought out decision.”
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