Ashleigh Barty reveals one moment that ‘really p****d’ her off – ‘That made me angry’
Former world No 1 Ashleigh Barty has opened up about how comments before her successful 2022 Australian Open campaign “made her angry”.
The Australian dominated women’s tennis from 2021 until her retirement in March 2022 as during that period she won seven titles – including the Wimbledon in 2021 and the Australian Open the following year – and also ruled the roost in terms of the No 1 spot on the WTA Rankings.
Barty first became world No 1 in June 2019 and stayed there for seven weeks before she was replaced by Naomi Osaka, but four weeks later she was back at the top and remained there until she hung up her tennis racket.
Despite starting her final season on the WTA Tour 2022 at No 1, there were one or two commentators who questioned whether or not she was the best player in the world at the time as some felt defending champion Australian Open champion Osaka was ahead of her in the queue.
However, Barty shut up her detractors as she first won the Adelaide International and then followed it up with the Australian Open crown, in the process becoming the first Australian woman to win their home Grand Slam since Chris O’Neil in 1978.
She won the title without dropping a set and it turned out to be her final trophy as she announced her retirement from the sport not long after the event.
Barty, who recently gave birth to her first child, admitted during an interview on the Hamish McLachlan podcast Let’s Talk that she was peeved off by suggestions that she was not the best in the world ahead of the 2022 Australian Open.
“There was plenty of noise [before the tournament],” the three-time Grand Slam winner said.
“[People were asking], ‘Is Ash the best player in the world?’ And that made me angry.
“That really p****d’ me off because I know I am the best player in the world.”
By the time Barty dropped off the WTA Rankings following her retirement, she had spent a total of 121 weeks at No 1, which puts her seventh on the all-time list for most weeks spent at No 1. She also finished her career with 15 titles – including three majors and three WTA 1000 titles – and had a 305–102 (74.9%) win-loss record.
Over the course of her career, the Australian earned $23,829,071 in prize money, which currently slots her in at No 15 in the all-time WTA earnings list.
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