Three-time Grand Slam singles champion Ashleigh Barty shocked the sports world when she announced her retirement on March 2022. Her current net worth is estimated to be around $40 million. The retired professional tennis player and cricketer is currently the second Australian tennis player to rank No.1 in the world in the singles division by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). She was also among the top 10 players in the doubles division and has achieved so much in her career following a career high ranking of being the fifth best player in the world.
She is also the reigning champion at the Wimbledon as well as the Australian Open. Throughout her career, she has won fifteen singles titles and about twelve doubles titles on WTA tour. She may have shocked the world upon announcing her retirement but according to the reports, the people close to her were not astounded by her sudden retirement. She is the second player who decided to retire while still holding the No. 1 ranking after Justine Henin.
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Early Life and Introduction to Tennis
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Ashleigh Barty was born on April 24, 1996 in Ipswich, Queensland. Her mother is Josie and her father is Robert who used to be a professional golf player. Her mother is a daughter of an English immigrant and her father grew up in rural part of North Queensland town of Bowen. Through her great-grandmother, Ash Barty is among the members of the Indigenous Australian Ngaragu people who are the Aboriginal people coming from the southern New South Wales and northeastern Victoria. Barty grew up in the suburb of Ipswich, Springfield, and has attended the Woodcrest State College.
During her childhood, Barty used to play netball and tennis however she decided to focus on playing tennis because he thought that netball is just for girls and her sister is much better than her at the said sport. Though she grew up to be a famous cricketer, she did not play it while growing up. At the early age of four years old, she already started working with her longtime junior coach, Jim Joyce, at the West Brisbane Tennis Centre. Although the coach did not usually train children as young as four year old Barty, she made an exception for her since she has a high level of focus and excellent hand-eye coordination.
Forming Her Team and Junior Career
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By the time Barty turned nine years old, she was already practicing against the opposite sex who is six years older than her. When she turned twelve years old, she was already playing against adult male players. During this time, she has met her first mentor, Alicia Molik, at the National Championship in Melbourne for kids. The Former tennis professional Scott Draper eventually joined the coach team of Barty and worked with her throughout the National Academy. When she turned fifteen, the former top 20 player Jason Stoltenberg decided to take over as her primary coach.
Barty was only thirteen when she won her first ever title at the Grade-4 Australian International. She continued playing only at the tournaments which are below the higher tiers until the end of 2010 and recorded 24–2 in her five events during the season. She has played her first ever junior Grand Slam event the following year at the Australian Open in 2011 however she had a Grand Slam upset after she lost her opening match to Lauren Davis. Luckily she was able to bounce back from her defeat when she won both singles and doubles events at the two high-level Grade 1 events at the Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup in Malaysia and Belgian International Junior Championships. She then won her only junior Grand Slam title at the Wimbledon the age of fifteen. She then became the second Australian to ever win the girls’ singles event after Debbie Freeman in the year 1980.
Professional Career as A Tennis Player and Cricketer
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Barty made her debut for the WTA Tour in the early 2012 for the singles and doubles main draw. She debut on the doubles at the Brisbane International which is Brisbane’s inaugural tournament. She initially failed the singles qualification and decided to team up with Casey Dellacqua to enter the doubles division and reached the semi-finals. The following year, Barty began playing primarily at the WTA Tour level. After losing in the qualifying rounds at five tournaments, she decided to play about eight singles main draws.
In 2014, Barty announced that she will going on a hiatus from playing tennis to pursue career in cricket. She then signed up with Brisbane Heat for the inaugural Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) the following year. However in 2016, she announced that she will be returning to play professional tennis after the end of the WBBL season. She admitted that she felt overwhelmed with the success she achieved early in her career that she decided to take a minute to step back. As soon as she returned, she went on to win her first WTA title at the Malaysian Open and rose to 17th place worldwide as a tennis player. She achieved yet another milestone when she won the French Open after defeating Marketa Vongdrousova which made her the first Australian woman after 46 years to win the title and she was only 23 at the time. She was recognized as the world’s No. 1 after she beat Germany’s Julia Goerges at the Birmingham Classic. However, she announced her retirement from professional tennis on March 2022.
Earnings, Investments and What’s Next for Ash Barty
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Throughout her entire professional tennis career, she was able to achieve a net worth of $40 million despite her young age. At 25, she is already retired and with her money, she does need to work a day in her life. She was able to bank about $23.8 million total of prize money in the duration of her professional tennis career. Going on the court earnings alone, she is the highest-earning tennis player in 2021. She also had numerous sponsorship deals with brands and companies such as Marriott Bonvoy, Head, Swiss watchmaker Rado, Vegemite, FILA and Jaguar.
With her earnings and accumulated wealth, it was reported that she currently has at least three houses in Australia. She is currently busy overseeing the construction of her home with fiancé, golfer Garry Kissick. While she may be busy in her personal life after announcing her retirement, fans have speculated that she might be returning to cricket or pursue a golf career. She has stated in some of her interviews that she does not want to be constantly traveling and being away from her family and her home. She added that she will never stop loving tennis as it has been a massive part of her life, but she wants to enjoy her life as Ash Barty the person and not her life as an athlete.
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Sources: Sports Keeda, Tennis 365, The National News
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