MY ACCOUNT
You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.
That is how tennis fans the world over will be feeling after women’s world No1 Ash Barty shockingly announced her retirement on Wednesday.
Barty noted that achieving a lifelong goal of winning Wimbledon last year and being “spent physically” were motivating factors behind her decision.
The 25-year-old bows out on top having lifted her home slam at the Australian Open back in January, and is a three-time singles major champion.
Following news of her retirement, Stats Perform has delved into some of Barty’s best facts from a stellar career.
SECOND ONLY TO OSAKA IN SLAMS SINCE 2016
There have been 14 different singles grand slam champions in a stacked women’s game since 2016.
In that time, Barty has women three major titles – the second most alongside Angelique Kerber. Indeed, the only player to have more in the women’s game over that period is Naomi Osaka with four.
Barty retires on a 13-match winning streak (all on hard courts), a run that of course includes her triumph at the Australian Open.
It matches the best run of her career, with Barty proving 13 is not unlucky for all by racking up the same amount of wins on clay and grass between May and June 2019 – that stretch having seen her lift her first slam at the French Open.
KVITOVA A FAMILIAR FOE
Barty has mixed it with the best in the women’s game but she has faced no player more than two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.
She has faced the Czech on 10 occasions, with the two sharing five wins apiece. Barty has also beaten Sofia Kenin, Karolina Pliskova, Shelby Rogers and Kiki Bertens on five occasions.
Caroline Wozniacki (3) and Mona Barthel (2) are the only players Barty has faced more than once but never beaten in women’s tennis.
Conversely, Barty has defeated each of Marketa Vondrousova, Camila Giorgi, and Saisai Zheng four times from as many attempts, her most matches against any players against whom she has maintained a 100 per cent win rate.
STILL GOING STRONG
Never has the saying “always leave them wanting more” been truer than in the case of Barty.
She has averaged seven aces per match in women’s tennis in 2022, the joint-most of any player alongside China’s Qinwen Zheng and Hailey Baptiste of the United States.
Barty has made 77 aces in total in 2022, the joint-sixth most of any player but 30 fewer than WTA leader Madison Keys (107).
Moreover, she has won 94 per cent of service games, the highest rate of any player and eight percentage points higher than second-ranked Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.
Barty won 71 per cent of her points when serving this calendar year, the highest rate of any player and four percentage points higher than second-most Rybakina.
Indeed, Barty did not lose a match in her shortened 2022 season, finishing 11-0 and winning 25 of her final 26 matches.
114 WEEKS AND OUT
Barty is the second female player to step away from the game when ranked world number one, with Justin Henin having done so in 2008 after 61 consecutive weeks at the top.
Barty does so having racked up 114 straight weeks at the summit of the rankings, a run which represents the fourth longest in the history of the WTA Tour behind only Steffi Graf (186 weeks), Serena Williams (186) and Martina Navratilova (156).
Her accumulated total of 121 weeks represents the seventh highest of all time. Barty finishes her career with 15 singles titles in total and 12 in doubles, while she ends with a 305-102 win-loss singles record, and 200-64 in doubles.
