Tennis champion Ash Barty will ‘never’ pursue commentary career

Diving into a commentary career has almost become a formality for retired tennis stars, but Aussie champion Ash Barty has no interest.

For professional athletes, diving into a career in media and commentary after retirement has almost become a formality.

It doesn’t take long for a high-profile tennis star to make their commentary debut after hanging up the boots, but Australian champion Ash Barty has no interest in picking up the microphone this summer.

“No, never,” she responded to queries about a potential commentary career this week.

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Barty’s overwhelming popularity and natural charisma would make her the perfect addition to Channel 9’s commentary team, but the 26-year-old is enjoying life away from tennis.

The reigning Australian Open champion — who also claimed grand slam triumphs at Wimbledon and Roland Garros before announcing her retirement earlier this year — hasn’t watched a match since she quit.

“I’m not training to be an athlete anymore,” Barty said while promoting her My Dream Time memoir.

“I’m not training as a job, I’m training for leisure and training to have fun.

“I miss competing and challenging myself against the best of the world but I don‘t miss a lot that comes with it.

“I‘m still competitive with myself when I train at home. I still try and push myself but there’s no white-line fever any more.

“And I never really felt like there was this void that needed to be filled in because there was a genuine sense of fulfilment at the end of my career.

“I don’t think I was still searching for the competitive beast anymore …

“I still probably don‘t know exactly (what is next), there are certainly things that I want to do and ways I want to contribute and whether that is through my foundation, got plenty of work to do with that, so there is excitement around that.

“It gives us time to plan these things, plan what is my reason for me to get out of bed, to keep working on my purpose and keep developing that and keep contributing in different ways.

“That is what is exciting, there is a little bit of, ‘What is it?’ and that is an exciting question.”

Ash Barty at Bulimba State School. Photo: Steve Pohlner

Barty squeezed plenty of success into her relatively short career before shocking the tennis world when she retired at the age of 25 fresh off her 2022 Australian Open success.

Speaking to Channel 7’s Sunrise, the Queenslander said while she was appreciative of being able to see the world, it was a hard life being on the road most of the year from a young age.

“It was hard, without a doubt, but has also been a massive part of my life and has helped shape me to who I am today,” she said.

“There are certainly some tough parts about it but all in all when we finished this book and went through everything there wasn’t a part of me that had any regret, I certainly didn’t want to change anything.”

Now months on from her decision to retire from tennis, Barty reiterated she is happy with how everything has played out.

“Absolutely no regrets (about retirement) — life’s been great,” Barty said.

“It’s everything I’ve ever wanted. I feel very fortunate I’ve been able to live out my childhood dream and have a career for 20 years.

“It was something I loved and now what excites me is our next chapter and what that is I’m not quite sure yet but the last six months, if it’s anything to go by, it’s going to be a really fun journey.

“Much to a lot of people’s disgust, the professional athlete is done, the tank is empty but it has been a lot of fun ticking off a few other things that I was loved to do. I’m a weekend hacker on the golf course, I love to get out with my mum and my girlfriends and that’s about as far as we go.”

Ash Barty with husband Garry Kissick.

Originally published as Tennis champion Ash Barty will ‘never’ pursue commentary career