The clue that Ash Barty’s retirement could be short-lived

Sam Stosur, centre, after what was supposed to be her last singles match

Tennis fans can breathe a sigh of relief – the state of the game may be in a bit of a hole here following the retirement of Ash Barty, but all is not lost. Barty could be back on court any time.

Retiring clearly doesn’t mean that much in women’s tennis, if Sam Stosur’s recent exploits are anything to go by.

Stosur made a fuss about retiring from singles at this year’s Australian Open, but she popped up in the singles draw at Strasbourg this week.

By my rough calculation, that’s a retirement that lasted 107 days.

She was beaten in straight sets in the opening round by French youngster Harmony Tan, before explaining her coming back was allegedly not a comeback.

There to play doubles, she answered an SOS from officials who didn’t have enough players for the singles draw.

“This wasn’t a comeback to singles,” she said. “It was just a good opportunity. Overall, I actually hit the ball really well – I hit some balls as if it were five years ago, when the ball was going exactly where I wanted it to.”

Stosur will play doubles at the French Open, but hasn’t shut the door on another singles appearance. “If Roland Garros calls me and says, ‘You wanna play singles?’ … sure.”

The Weekend Australian’s tennis correspondent Will Swanton wrote this week about the dire state of Australian tennis since Barty hung up her racquet. We’ve got one man in the top 50 and one woman in the top 100.

So here’s hoping Barty is about to do a Justine Henin and make her retirement short-lived.

Henin was 25, entrenched as the world No. 1 and on a 32-match winning streak before her retirement in 2008. After 16 months of twiddling her thumbs, she got sick of it and made a comeback.

Then there’s Belgian Kim Clijsters – Aussie Kim to her many fans in this part of the world – who retired in 2007 and came back a couple of years later to win two US Open titles as a mother and reclaim the world No.1 ranking.

Interestingly, Stosur still has a singles ranking of 490.

But Barty’s name has been wiped from the list. Her WTA profile simply says, “Retired Player”. But that could change any time.

Unearthing Aussie gem

File this one under the best Australian athlete you’ve never heard of … Well, OK, if you’re a keen follower of the cross country mountain bike world cup you will be well and truly aware of the exploits of Rebecca McConnell. But most of the rest of us have missed them.

McConnell, from Canberra, has been to three Olympics, but this year she is on fire in the world cup, winning the first three events in Brazil, Germany and now the Czech Republic.

Her Czech win last week, on what has been described as a technical circuit at Nove Mesto, prompted a flood of emails from readers complaining that we were ignoring one of Australia’s best sporting exports. So here she is.

“I knew obviously coming into this race that I’m in the best form of my life,” McConnell told VeloNews. “I think there’s no doubt about that.

“It’ll be obviously really nice to have this head start for the second half of the season. But it’s early days and my goals have been well and truly achieved for the year.”

She’ll next be in action at a world cup event in Leogang, Austria, on June 10. Keep an eye out for her.

Triple golf treat

You didn’t have to be a keen student of the game to know there were three decent golf tournaments on last weekend: the Soudal Open, a European Tour event at Rinkven International Golf Club outside the Belgian city of Antwerp; the Knoxville Open, a Korn Ferry Tour tournament in Tennessee; and the LPGA’s Cognizant Founders Cup, at Clifton, New Jersey.

You would have to know your golf, however, to pick the winners of all three events.

But one punter managed it, selecting Englishman Sam Horsfield to take the Soudal Open, Houston’s own Anders Albertson to triumph in the Knoxville Open and Aussie Minjee Lee to claim the Founders Cup.

The unnamed punter obviously wasn’t that confident, throwing just a lazy dollar on the three-leg golf multi with Sportsbet.

Still, he probably wasn’t complaining when it paid a whopping $20,748.

“It’s hard enough picking one winner of a golf tournament, let alone three. This is one of the most incredible multi wins we’ve ever seen,” said Sportsbet’s Sean Ormerod.

Long way round

Some strange things are happening as the travel industry struggles to get back on its feet after the pandemic. Here’s one of the strangest: Sunderland fan James Jelly travelled to Wembley this week to see his team play Wycombe in a League One promotion play-off.

But he went via the Spanish resort of Menorca, because it’s cheaper than getting a train from Newcastle to London.

Jelly, a 33-year-old purchasing manager, paid $22 to fly Ryanair to Menorca on Thursday, then shelled out $50 for an overnight stay in an airport hostel before catching an $18 flight back to Stansted Airport, just north of London. A mate gave him a lift from there to the game.

He reckons it would have cost him $260 for a return ticket to London on the train and British Airways wanted $285 for a direct flight.

“I can’t wait for it now I’ve booked it,” Jelly said before he left. “I’m going to pack my shorts and make a little holiday out of it. I’ll have a couple of pints and a walk around Menorca.”

Not sure how he is getting home.

Another golden oldie

And finally … if you weren’t inspired by the story a couple of weeks ago about 100-year-old sprinter Lester Wright, maybe 99-year-old swimmer Charlotte Sanddal will do it for you.

Sanddal, from Montana, was the star of the US Masters Swimming Spring National Championships in San Antonio, Texas, competing in the 500m freestyle in the 95-99 age group. She wasn’t hurrying, but she finished – in 21min 21.79sec.

“I think they’re glad I’m finally finished so they can go on with the meet,” she said.

Sanddal is happy to be a bit of a role model for older athletes.

“People realise that you don’t have to quit,” she said.

“You can keep going and enjoy it, as well as meet people from all over. It’s a good way to spend your time.” Go Charlotte.

[e-mail] @walmason