Ashleigh Barty and her son Hayden attended to watch the Billie Jean King Cup tie between Australia and Mexico. The former world No. 1 gave birth to her son Hayden in 2023 with her husband, professional golfer Garry Kissick, whom she has been in a relationship with since 2017 and married in 2022.
Barty cheered on her compatriots during the tie against Mexico. The Australian team consisted of Arina Rodionova, Daria Saville, Taylah Preston, Ellen Perez, and Storm Hunter. They welcomed the Mexican team to the Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane and secured the qualification with a 4-0 victory.
Saville won her singles match and also teamed up with Perez to win the doubles. Rodionova and Preston also secured respective victories in their singles matches to seal Australia's qualification for the next round. The presence of the 3-times Grand Slam champion was captured by cameras when the series was already 2-0 in favor of Australia.
The Australian tennis legend announced her retirement in March 2022 shortly after clinching the Australian Open title and attaining the world No. 1 ranking at just 25 years old. As she mentioned at the time, she already felt she had accomplished her primary goals and was looking forward to new challenges in her personal life:
"To be able to win Wimbledon, which was my dream, the one true dream that 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," she said. "I think that for me feels like the most perfect way, my perfect way," Ash Barty added.
👀 A familiar face in the stands ❤️ Inspiring the next generation 😍 #BJKCup | @ashbarty | @TennisAustralia