
Australia cricket captain Meg Lanning has opened the door for Ashleigh Barty if she wants to play cricket again. The 30-year-old led her side to victory at the Cricket World Cup this weekend, defeating England by 71 runs.
Barty made history by capturing the Australian Open title in January and became the first Aussie woman to do so since Chris O'Neil in 1978. But, last month, the former No.1 shocked the world by announcing she would be retiring from tennis aged just 25.
With many keen to see what Barty does next, the star batsman, with Barty’s history as a cricketer in mind, would love to line up alongside the three-time grand slam champion.
“If she wants to come and have another crack at cricket (we) would certainly be interested in talking to her," Lanning said. “She was pretty good last time she played. She seems very talented at most things she does. Let’s see what happens.”
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All-rounder Ellyse Perry also shared her thoughts on Barty’s future and if a return to the cricket field is on the cards.
“There’s a general expectation you’ll play for an extended period of time and go for as long as you possibly can. That’s the norm,” Perry said. “She genuinely tends to buck the norm a little bit and do what’s best for her which is just really cool.
“It sounds like golf is in with a better chance (than cricket). It’d be really nice for her to be able to do what she wants to do. There’s speculation around what sport she’s going to play next or what she’s going to do. Hopefully, she just gets to find that out for herself and do exactly what she’s got planned.”
In late 2014, Barty decided to take an indefinite break from tennis and during her hiatus, she signed with the Brisbane Heat and participated in the inaugural Women's Big Bash League season.
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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