Every other story in this series is about pushing through. Ash Barty’s is about stopping. At 18, ranked in the top 100 and coming off three Grand Slam doubles finals, she quit tennis, took up professional cricket, and spent nearly two years being a normal teenager. Then she came back — and became world No. 1 with three Grand Slam titles. If your kid is burned out, this is the story to read.
1. Childhood: Ipswich, Queensland
Ashleigh Barty was born April 24, 1996, in Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, to Robert Barty — of Ngarigo Indigenous ancestry — and Josie Barty. She has two older sisters. Her parents introduced her to tennis around age five, and her first courts were at the West Brisbane Tennis Club in Archerfield, where family friend Jim Joyce coached her. (When the club closed after nearly 70 years, Barty returned for an emotional farewell — she’d been hitting there for 21 years.)
Barty was a natural all-court player — someone comfortable at the baseline, at the net, and everywhere between — and Joyce challenged her to develop every shot rather than specializing early. Tennis Australia spotted her talent young, and she progressed through the Australian junior system with her local club roots intact: no move to Florida, no famous academy.
2. What set her apart early
Versatility and feel. While most juniors were building one big weapon, Barty was building a complete game — slice backhands, net skills, smart court positioning. Her variety made her almost unplayable at junior level, and her demeanor set her apart too: famously calm, famously grounded, the kid opponents liked and crowds adopted.
The results came early and loud. In 2011, at 15, she won the Wimbledon girls’ singles title. In 2013, at 17, she reached three Grand Slam women’s doubles finals (Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open) with Casey Dellacqua — one of the most successful WTA debut seasons in history. She turned pro shortly after her 14th birthday and cracked the top 100 while still a teenager.
3. How she trained as a junior
Here’s what’s striking about Barty’s junior years compared to the other players in this series: it was normal. Local club, longtime family-friend coach, Australian junior system, then the ITF pro circuit. No parent quitting a career, no cross-country move, no homeschooling on public courts. She trained like a serious Australian junior — club sessions, regional and national events, Tennis Australia support — and rose on talent and completeness of game.
But the schedule caught up with her. She’d been traveling internationally from a young age, living out of suitcases while her friends were in school. After the 2014 US Open, at 18, she announced an indefinite break from tennis. “It was too much too quickly for me as I’ve been travelling from quite a young age,” she said later. “I wanted to experience life as a normal teenaged girl and have some normal experiences.”
She didn’t just rest — she switched sports entirely. With zero competitive cricket experience, she signed with the Brisbane Heat for the inaugural Women’s Big Bash League season in 2015-16, playing nine matches, and also played 50-over cricket for Queensland. The Heat’s coaches said her athleticism and ball skills were “extremely transferable.” She played team cricket for about a year and a half, then in February 2016 — 17 months after walking away — she returned to tennis, linking up with coach Craig Tyzzer, who would guide her for the rest of her career.
4. The through-line to pro success
The break didn’t cost her — it made her. She broke into the top 20 in 2017, won her first WTA singles title in Kuala Lumpur, and kept climbing: world No. 1 in June 2019, French Open champion that same month, Wimbledon champion in 2021 (ten years after her junior title there), Australian Open champion in 2022 — the first Australian woman to win her home Slam in 44 years. She retired in March 2022 at 25, on her own terms, as world No. 1, with three Grand Slam singles titles. Barty herself credits the cricket years with rediscovering her love of tennis: her teammates “couldn’t care less whether I could hit a tennis ball or not. They accepted me, and they got to know Ash Barty.”
5. What tennis parents can take from this
- Burnout is real, and breaks work. Barty quit at 18 and came back better. If your teenager is going through the motions, dreading practice, or crying in the car, a real break — not a week, a season — isn’t failure. It’s what saved one of the great careers of the decade.
- Other sports aren’t the enemy. Barty’s cricket stint built athleticism, gave her a team experience tennis never could, and let her miss the game. Multi-sport play in the teen years doesn’t derail tennis — it often rescues it.
- Listen when they say it’s too much. Barty’s words — “too much too quickly” — are worth memorizing. The international junior treadmill starts earlier every year. If your kid is telling you they’re tired, believe them the first time. The game will still be there in 17 months.
Leave a comment