Craig Tyzzer, coach of three-time Grand Slam champion Ashleigh Barty, says her decision to retire did not come as a shock as she had hinted at the possibility in the past.
Barely two months after winning the Australian Open, Barty stunned the sporting world on Wednesday when she announced that she is retiring with immediate effect. The Australian is not only the reigning Australian Open champion, but she also won’t defend her Wimbledon crown and will bow out while sitting top of the WTA Rankings.
While many were surprised by her announcement, Tyzzer told a press conference in Brisbane that Barty hinted during a conversation at Roland Garros in 2019 that she wanted to quit.
“The first thing she said to me was, ‘Can I retire now?'” he revealed.
“I sort of went, ‘Hang on, I’m not ready for that’.”
He added: “It’s not a shock to me. Ash does her own thing and when we started together she wanted to do it the way she wanted to do it. I think it’s the right time.
“I don’t think there’s anything left in the tank for her.”
Barty had admitted that when she won Wimbledon in July she had fulfilled a lifelong dream and strongly considered retiring, but she continued to play and went on to become the first Australian women to win her home Grand Slam since 1978.
Tyzzer admits it was difficult to get her motivated for this year’s Australian Open.
“The hardest thing was trying to motivate her to get a spark to go, ‘Hey, you need to be out there’,” he said. Because her tennis and her mindset – she was so relaxed and so easy-going with it all. It was almost like she didn’t care whether she won or lost, but she obviously did.
“I think the Australian summer was for everyone else and not for her.”
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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