Ash Barty told Pat Rafter a year ago she would retire after winning Wimbledon

Ash Barty was a few beers deep when she confided in Aussie tennis legend Pat Rafter more than a year ago about her shock career plan.

Pat Rafter has revealed Ash Barty told him more than a year ago she was planning to retire if she won Wimbledon.

The three-time grand slam champion stunned the tennis world on Wednesday when she posted a video on Instagram announcing she was walking away from the sport at age 25.

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Speaking to good friend and former doubles partner Casey Dellacqua, Barty revealed how achieving her childhood dream of winning Wimbledon last year was the catalyst for her seriously contemplating retirement. She decided to keep going until the Australian Open in January, which she won, and that made it clear to her the time was right to call it quits.

“Wimbledon last year changed a lot for me as a person and for me as an athlete when you work so hard your whole life for one goal, and I’ve been able to share that with so many incredible people,” Barty said on Wednesday.

“But to be able to win Wimbledon, which was my dream — the one, true dream I wanted in tennis — that really changed my perspective. I just had that gut feeling after Wimbledon and had spoken to my team quite a lot about it.

“There was just a little part of me that wasn’t quite satisfied, wasn’t quite fulfilled. And then came the challenge of the Australian Open.”

Barty is waving goodbye to tennis. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Rafter revealed on Thursday he spoke to Barty after she was knocked out of the 2021 Australian Open, where she opened up to him about her retirement plans should she succeed at the All England Club.

“It was actually at the Aussie Open last year. She’d lost in the semi-finals and she had a really good opportunity to get through and win it the year before,” Rafter told ABC News Breakfast.

“She was going off to Wimbledon later on and (she was) just talking about, ‘I only want one goal set in my mind, and that is to win Wimbledon and once I’ve done that, I’m done’.

“I’m going, ‘What are you talking about Ash? You’re young, you’ve got so many years left’.

“But she had it in the back of her mind that she was just going to win Wimbledon because that meant so much to her, and then lay the racquets down.

“For her to play the Aussie Open this year and to win that, I was surprised she was going to play because I thought she was going to stop. She’s a stubborn girl and that’s what made her so good as well.”

Rafter told 2GB their conversation last year came when Barty was “a few deep in some beers”. After watching her triumph at Melbourne Park less than two months ago, the Aussie legend thought she might push on and try to win the one grand slam missing from her resume — the US Open in New York.

But Barty had made up her mind and America wasn’t part of her plans.

Game recognises game.

Winning the Australian Open was the perfect way to sign off. Photo by Michael Klein

Rafter says the world No. 1 will adjust to life after tennis easier than most because she’s made the decision to retire on her terms, rather than being forced into it.

“The transition, it will take her a year or two to settle, I reckon, and then I think she’ll be fine,” Rafter told 2GB.

“The attention’s still going to be on her. Everywhere she walks there will be people asking for autographs and photos but it starts dying down pretty quickly as well, you get forgotten pretty quick.”