Ash Barty has announced a shock retirement from tennis at just 25.
The Australian world number one revealed the surprising decision via her Instagram feed.
"I am so thankful for everything this sport has given me and leave feeling proud and fulfilled," she said.
"Thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way, I'll always be grateful for the lifelong memories that we created together."
Confirming the stunning news in an interview with close friend Casey Dellacqua, Barty revealed how achieving her dream of winning Wimbledon in 2021 led her to start considering retirement.
"It's something I've been thinking about for a long time," she said. "Wimbledon last year changed a lot for me as a person and for me as an athlete when you work hard your whole life for one goal and I've been able to share that with so many incredible people but to be able to win Wimbledon, which was my 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, then came the challenge of the Australian Open, that for me feels like my perfect way to celebrate what an amazing journey my tennis career has been.
"As a person this is what I want, I want to chase after some other dreams that I've always wanted to do."
Barty, who won her first singles grand slam at the French Open in 2019, has not played since winning the Australian Open final over Danielle Collins in January, and bids farewell to the sport knowing she has exhausted all of her physical energy.
"I just know that I am spent, physically I have nothing more to give," added Barty.
"That for me is success. I've given absolutely everything I can to this beautiful sport of tennis. I'm really happy with that. That is my success.
"Ash Barty the person has so many more dreams that she wants to chase after that don't necessarily involve travelling the world, being away from my family, being away from my home, which is where I've always wanted to be.
"Now I think it's important I get to enjoy the next phase of my life as Ash Barty the person, not Ash Barty the athlete."
French Open day eight: Elina Svitolina and Aryna Sabalenka into last eight
Elina Svitolina will take on Aryna Sabalenka in the French Open quarter-finals after continuing her brilliant return to grand slam tennis by beating Daria Kasatkina.
Svitolina will be the second Ukrainian opponent faced by Belarusian Sabalenka, who recovered from losing a 5-0 lead in the first set to beat Sloane Stephens 7-6 (5) 6-4 in the first night session women’s match.
Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz continued their march towards a probable semi-final meeting with identical 6-3 6-2 6-2 victories – Djokovic over Juan Pablo Varillas and Alcaraz against Lorenzo Musetti.
Picture of the dayTweet of the day
Djokovic had some help warming up for his match from his eight-year-old son Stefan.
Stat of the dayGreat Danes
The past and the present of Danish tennis met at Roland Garros on Sunday. Caroline Wozniacki is now a mother of two and is playing in a slam legends event for the first time.
Fallen seeds
Men: Lorenzo Musetti (17)
Women: Daria Kasatkina (9), Elise Mertens (28)
Who’s up next?
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Victories for Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff on Monday would set up a rematch of last year’s final.
Swiatek takes on Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko, who will be looking to join Svitolina in the last eight, while Gauff meets Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.
In the men’s event, fourth seed Casper Ruud meets Nicolas Jarry and sixth seed Holger Rune plays Francisco Cerundolo, while Alexander Zverev features in the night session again, this time up against Grigor Dimitrov.
New mother Elina Svitolina hails ‘special’ French Open quarter-final spot
New mother Elina Svitolina continued her incredible grand slam return by defeating Daria Kasatkina to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open.
The Ukrainian gave birth to daughter Skai in October and played her first tournament in more than a year at the beginning of April.
She arrived in Paris on the back of a WTA title in Strasbourg and, watched by husband Gael Monfils, extended her winning run to eight matches with a 6-4 7-6 (5) success against ninth seed Kasatkina.
“Definitely I wouldn’t dream about this when I was giving birth in October last year,” said Svitolina.
“It’s unbelievable for me to be able to compete here and to get to the quarter-final is special. Hopefully I can push further. I’m really motivated to give my everything for the next matches.”
The former world number three, who can match her best ever grand slam run by making the semi-finals, overcame nerves at the end, twice failing to serve it out, before clinching victory in a tie-break.
Svitolina spent four years in the top 10 and is enjoying being able to play without so much expectation, saying: “I think this is one of the things that I noticed that right now I don’t have that pressure that I used to have before.
“Of course, me personally I put pressure for myself because I want to win a slam. This is the ultimate goal for me.
“But definitely not the pressure from outside. No one expects that I’m going to come into Roland Garros and make quarter-final at the beginning of the tournament.
“That’s why I feel like this really helps me. I feel almost like I’m 17 again coming on the tour fresh. I’m not defending any points. Not here, not next week. I feel more free.”
Kasatkina has been the most outspoken Russian player against the invasion of Ukraine and earned praise from Svitolina ahead of the contest.
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She knew Svitolina would stick to the Ukrainians’ policy of not shaking hands with Belarusian and Russian opponents, though, and gave a quick thumbs-up before heading straight to her chair.
One Russian is through to the last eight, with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova arguably even more of a surprise than Svitolina.
The 31-year-old achieved the best result of her career here two years ago by reaching the final but underwent knee surgery last year and is ranked down at 333.
She recently lost 6-0 6-0 to Iga Swiatek in Rome but took out her third seed of the week with a 3-6 7-6 (3) 6-3 victory over Elise Mertens.
“I had a fear and doubts that maybe I will never win a match again,” said Pavlyuchenkova. “Maybe I will never get my good form back or I will never be fit again. What if I start playing again and the pain comes back and my knee is bad again?
“But I guess this motivation and this desire of coming back and competing again and being on these big stages again and playing three-hour matches like today, there was a lot more weight on that. So that kind of pushed me.
“I believed, I worked so hard and, even with all the failures that I had this year – and there were sometimes ridiculous matches that I lost – still kept on believing, working hard, and just persistence and patience.”
Pavlyuchenkova will next meet Czech Karolina Muchova, who reached her first French Open quarter-final with a 6-4 6-3 win over Elina Avanesyan.
Novak Djokovic reaches record 17th French Open quarter-final with clinical win
Novak Djokovic surpassed Rafael Nadal’s all-time record by reaching his 17th French Open quarter-final.
The 22-time grand slam champion defeated Juan Pablo Varillas 6-3 6-2 6-2 to maintain his run of not having lost before the last eight at Roland Garros since 2010 and set up a clash with 11th seed Karen Khachanov.
Djokovic is still 12 Paris titles behind Nadal though, and, with the Spaniard missing for the first time since 2004, his great rival knows what an opportunity this is.
He said: “I’m proud of it, but my attention is already on the next match. Obviously quarter-finals, Khachanov, I know what my goal is here. I’m trying to stay mentally the course and of course not look too far.
“Obviously the performance of today gives me a great deal of confidence about how I felt, about how I played. So I’m looking forward to the next match.”
Peruvian Varillas, ranked 94, has enjoyed the best week of his career but he had needed five sets to get through all three of his previous matches and was unable to trouble Djokovic.
The third seed had been pushed extremely hard by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in his previous match and struggled physically, so this was a very welcome easy afternoon.
Djokovic raced into a 4-0 lead and the only time he looked in any discomfort was when Varillas won two games in a row and forced a break point in the next one.
The third seed, who criticised the crowd for booing while he took a medical time-out in his previous match, was again jeered for his reaction and cupped his hand to his ear after winning the next-but-one point.
There were plenty of cheers at the end, though, as Djokovic wrapped up the victory after an hour and 57 minutes.
He said of the crowd: “I thought they were great, especially at the end. They gave me a very nice chanting and support and, as a player, you always want to receive that love from the crowd.”
A semi-final blockbuster against Carlos Alcaraz is looming ever closer, and the Spaniard continued to look every inch a potential champion in a 6-3 6-2 6-2 victory over Lorenzo Musetti.
The 21-year-old Italian is a big talent, especially on clay, and this was a crowd-pleasing encounter, with Alcaraz pulling off several shots through his legs.
Ultimately it was a straightforward win, though, as world number one Alcaraz, who missed the Australian Open through injury, stayed on track for a second successive grand slam title.
Khachanov is bidding to reach the semi-finals at a third straight major tournament and he recovered from a poor first set to beat Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego 1-6 6-4 7-6 (7) 6-1.
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