Here is a timeline of the key events of retiring world number one Ash Barty’s tennis career:
APRIL 2000: Barty begins playing tennis at age four in Queensland, Australia at the West Brisbane Tennis Centre with coach Jim Joyce.
APRIL 2010: Barty begins her professional tennis career just after turning 14 at an International Tennis Federation event in Ipswich. Later that year in Mount Gambier she reaches the semi-finals at only her second professional tournament, defeating Ayu Fani Damayanti in her maiden professional victory.
JAN 2011: Plays her first junior grand slam event at the Australian Open but is knocked out in the opening round after losing to No 3 Lauren Davis.
JULY 2011: Barty defeats Irina Khromacheva at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships final 7–5 7–6 to win the girls’ singles tennis title at the age of 15. She’s the second Australian female to win the girl’s singles event after Debbie Freeman in 1980. Tennis Australia awards her a wildcard into the US Open. She is unable to qualify for the main draw after losing to Julia Glushko in her opening match.
2012: Barty makes her singles and doubles main draw debuts on the WTA Tour in early 2012. Her doubles debut came at the Brisbane International. Her doubles debut came at the Brisbane International, the year’s inaugural tournament. After failing in singles qualification, she teamed up with Casey Dellacqua to reach the doubles semi-finals while still just 15 years old.
2013: Barty begins playing primarily at the WTA Tour level. She only plays in eight singles main draws in total after losing in qualifying at five tournaments.
SEP 2014: Barty announces she is going on hiatus from tennis as she takes up cricket. She signs with the Brisbane Heat for the inaugural Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) season in 2015.
FEB 2016: Barty announces she is returning to professional tennis at the end of the WBBL season. She explains the success she achieved so early in her career had overwhelmed her and caused her to take a step back.
FEB 2017: She wins her first WTA title at the Malaysian Open and rises to No 17 in the world, despite never breaking the top 100 prior to her time off. After reuniting with Dellacqua, she also finishes the year inside the top 20 for doubles.
JUNE 2019: At the age of 23, Barty becomes the first Australian woman in 46 years to win the French Open after defeating Marketa Vongdrousova 6-1 6-3. She assumes the world No 1 ranking a fortnight later after beating Germany’s Julia Goerges 6-3 7-5 in the final of the Birmingham Classic.
JAN 2020: Awarded Young Australian of the Year.
SEP 2020: Despite never having played golf professionally, Barty becomes Brookwater Golf Club Women’s Champion.
JAN 2021: Barty returns to tennis after an 11-month break and headlines two WTA tournaments in Melbourne ahead of the Australian Open. At the Open, she is defeated in three sets by Karolina Muchova in the quarter-finals.
JULY 8, 2021: Barty becomes the first Australian woman to reach a Wimbledon singles final since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980.
JULY 10, 2021: Barty achieves a childhood dream, beating Karolina Pliskova 6-3 6-7 6-3 to become the first Australian woman to win Wimbledon in 41 years.
JAN 29, 2022: Barty beats American Danielle Collins 6-3 7-6 (2) to win her maiden Australian Open title, ending a 42-year drought for homegrown winners of the grand slam.
