Ashleigh Barty wins a fifth Newcombe Medal, Australia’s top tennis award, in the year of her retirement from professional tennis. It should be noted that the former world No.1 surprisingly announced her retirement last March.
What everyone expected was confirmed, and that is that Ashleigh Barty he took a new Newcombe medal, a great decoration of Australian tennis. The Aussie player left the sport when she was going through the best moment of her career, being No.1 in the world and after having won the title at the last Australian Open. Ash had already won this award in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021, in some cases shared. Barty was presented with the award by John Newcombe himself at the Australian Tennis Awards at Melbourne’s Crown Casino.
“Obviously, this has been a very important year in my career and in my life. We’ve had an amazing year of celebrating a journey not only by me, but by my team, and there’s a lot to be proud of. I am here so proud to know that I delivered absolutely every ounce I could with this beautiful sport that brought me so much more than I could have dreamed of.. There are so many people behind the scenes who helped me and allowed me to live my dream and find out what it feels like to work hard and really go after something you love.”
The brilliant mastery at the end of his career
Barty’s 2021 season had already been historic, winning several WTA circuit titles and leading the world ranking by far. In the middle of that year, the Australian managed to fulfill the dream of being Wimbledon champion, something that made her start thinking about leaving tennis sooner rather than later. After seeing little action in the pandemic, taking refuge in her house, after the 2021 US Open she also decided to return to Oceania to prepare for the following season.
Her 2022 would start almost as a continuation of what had come before, first with a title in Adelaide, and arriving at Melbourne Park as the heavy favourite. There, Ash Barty had an exceptional path, without giving up a set throughout the entire journey and being the first Australian to win the Australian Open in 44 years. Surprisingly, just weeks after this achievement, at the height of her career, the Ipswich-born she announced her retirement from tennis.
