Nine words that seal Ash Barty’s legacy

Ash Barty’s retirement stunned the world, but there were nine simple words, near the end of her video message, that have Australia cheering.

Aussie champion Ash Barty has shocked fans at home – and around the world – with her announcement, in a video shared to Instagram on Wednesday afternoon, that she’ll retire from professional tennis aged just 25.

“Today is difficult and filled with emotion for me as I announce my retirement from tennis,” Barty, who less than two months ago snagged her third grand slam crown after winning the Australian Open, wrote in the video’s caption.

“I am so thankful for everything this sport has given me and leave feeling proud and fulfilled.”

But, as a number of people reacting to the news on social media pointed out, Barty’s legacy in the sport isn’t the only thing she should be feeling proud of.

The World No. 1 – like fellow tennis champ, Japan’s Naomi Osaka, and the US gymnast and Olympic gold medallist Simone Biles before her – has shone a light on the importance of, as journalist Maggie Zhou wrote on Twitter, “this generation of sportswomen putting themselves and their mental health first”.

Sharing the emotional news with her former doubles partner and good friend Casey Dellacqua in the video, Barty said, “I’m so happy and I’m so ready and I just know at the moment in my heart, for me as a person, this is right.”

Then she uttered nine simple words that cemented her legacy for good. After years of sacrificing everything for her sport, she was ready to enjoy life “as Ash Barty the person, not Ash Barty the athlete”.

”I don’t have the physical drive, the emotional want and everything it takes to challenge yourself at the very top level anymore,” she explained.

“I just know I am absolutely spent. I know physically I have nothing more to give. And that for me is success.”

Ash Barty has announced her retirement from tennis at the age of 25. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Barty said she’s ready to enjoy life “as Ash Barty the person, not Ash Barty the athlete”. Picture: Instagram

Many on social media echoed Zhou’s sentiment, with Czech tennis star Petra Kvitova commending Barty on “showing your true class leaving tennis in this beautiful way”.

really proud to see this generation of sportswomen putting themselves and their mental health first — go ash barty, you’ll always be an australian legend

— maggie zhou (@yemagz) March 23, 2022

Ash, I have no words... actually you are showing your true class leaving tennis in this beautiful way.

I am so happy I could share the court with you.. tennis will never be the same without you! I admire you as a player and a person.. wishing you only the best! ❤️@ashbarty

— Petra Kvitova (@Petra_Kvitova) March 23, 2022

I love how Ash Barty has never defined herself by the work she does, the sport she plays. I love how she walks away when it’s not as much fun as it should be - and then walks into something else and is even stronger. Life lessons. Go well, Ash. @ashbarty

— Virginia Trioli (@LaTrioli) March 23, 2022

Ash Barty says: "I know that, I am spent, physically, I don't have anything more to give...I have given everything I can to this beautiful sport...and I'm really happy with that. For me, that is my success"

Absolutely devastated by this, but, you have to back her decision. pic.twitter.com/vg3B8jVXUv

— Naaman Zhou (@naamanzhou) March 23, 2022

“I love how Ash Barty has never defined herself by the work she does, the sport she plays,” ABC Radio Melbourne’s Virginia Trioli tweeted.

“I love how she walks away when it’s not as much fun as it should be – and then walks into something else and is even stronger. Life lessons. Go well, Ash.”

“On the one hand, this is the least Great Resignation of all because watching @ashbarty at the top of her game – on and off the court – is an absolute treat,” wrote The Parenthood’s executive director Georgie Dent.

“On the other hand, watching a legend act with integrity & retiring on her own terms is pretty great. Thank you Ash!”

Both Osaka and Biles have been lauded over the past 12 months for, in the face of grand slam tournaments and competitions on the world stage, unapologetically putting their own physical and mental health first.

In a piece for The New York Times last year, journalist Alan Blinder described Osaka’s headline-making decision to withdraw from the French Open as “a potent example of a movement among elite athletes to challenge the age-old notion that they are, and must be, as peerless in mind as they are in body, untroubled by the scourge of mental illness”.

“The disclosures by these athletes, who have sometimes been empowered by social media and word of one another’s experiences, have pushed the subject from the recesses of the sports world squarely toward the centre of modern life’s biggest stages,” Blinder wrote.

“And they are forcing the sports community to acknowledge that the pressures of competition have assuredly contributed to illnesses among some stars – and that those stars were never untouchable.”

Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka has also been lauded for putting her health first. Picture: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

US gymnast and Olympian Simone Biles has also been candid about her own struggles. Picture: Kyodo News via Getty Images

Opening about her decision in a Time Magazine op-ed titled “It’s OK to not be OK”, the 23-year-old, who has been candid about her mental health struggles, said she felt “uncomfortable being the spokesperson or face of athlete mental health as it’s still so new to me and I don’t have all the answers”.

But, she added, “I do hope that people can relate and understand it’s OK to not be OK, and it’s OK to talk about it”.

“There are people who can help, and there is usually light at the end of any tunnel.”

In the same vein, Biles – who missed a week of the Tokyo Olympics while dealing with mental health concerns – has said she’s hopeful her experience would lead to more empathy for athletes, because many have “things that [they’re] working through behind the scenes”.

“I feel like it’s hard, but it’s harder being a female athlete because everybody prays for your downfall and wants you to mess up and all of that stuff,” she told NBC’s Mike Tirico in an interview after scoring a bronze medal in one event.

“I don’t think they take into consideration our mental health because what we do isn’t easy or else everybody could do it. But also, at the end of the day, we’re not just athletes or entertainment.

“We’re human too and we have emotions and feelings and things that we’re working through behind the scenes that we don’t tell you guys about. And so, I just think it’s something that people should be more aware of.”