Linda Pearce: Though Ash Barty has retired, she may yet join long list of tennis comebacks

Instead, shockingly, it came on Wednesday, at just 25.

Henin first retired at the same age, while entrenched as the world No.1 and the reigning French and US Open champion. Borg, the owner of 11 grand slam singles titles, was gone for good at 26, (well, in every way that mattered, for we refuse to acknowledge that ill-fated, overweight and mercifully brief comeback a decade later). Then there was 31-year-old Sampras, who beat his long-time rival Andre Agassi in the 2002 US Open final in what he described as a “storybook ending” to his storied 14-slam career, while not confirming for another 12 months that he was done.

Whether Barty will seek a Henin-style encore (in the Queenslander’s case, a second following her temporary hiatus from late 2014) like the similarly diminutive Belgian her original coach Jim Joyce so admired — and who returned in large part to chase an elusive Wimbledon crown that would have completed her set of singles majors — only Barty will decide, and the future shall reveal.

Yet, it does seem more final this time, and there was a national exclamation of stunned disbelief intermingled with disappointment that Australia’s most beloved current sporting figure was packing away her racquets. Not just because she is at the height of her powers, but because her genius, variety and creativity is perhaps exceeded only by her impeccable sportsmanship and classy, humble demeanour.

More from that mould, please.

If only there were.

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To joke that it was news only her rivals wanted to hear was to downplay the respect and affection she has also earned from within the locker room, reflected by the sentiments shared on social media, but also in other ways and places.

Her 2021 US Open conqueror Shelby Rogers had lost her first five matches against Barty before that upset victory last September, then used her post-match interview to share an array of compliments, from down-to-earth to professional, before saying: “I mean, this girl is everything every player wants to be.’’

Thanasi Kokkinakis’ simple “respect it” tweet encapsulated the regard from both locker-rooms, while Andy Murray, as he so often does, was pitch perfect with his “Happy for @ashbarty, gutted for tennis, what a player”, complete with red love heart.

Current players aside, other reactions ranged from fellow Australian Rennae Stubbs’ “OMG” to respected WTA staffer Courtney Nguyen’s message “STOP TEXTING ME I’M CRYING GIMME A SEC”. Barty’s own words included “fulfilled”, “happy”, “excited”, “grateful”, “ready. And “spent”. Spent. Nothing more to give, now that, after climbing the Wimbledon summit last year, she had that first-in-44-years Australian Open triumph to bury any sense of more-still-to-do, and not-quite-finished-yet.

Evonne Goolagong Cawley’s supportive and optimistic-for-the-future sentiments were echoed around the Australian tennis community, for how brave it is to depart while so dominant, having won three of the last four tournaments she had played, as inarguably the best female player in the game. Some sadness, too, though, for just one of three Australians to win a major single title this century is a rare champion indeed.

Back in 2014, when a couple of us revealed that the 19-year-old Barty was walking away from tennis for the first time, she was so young that it always seemed reasonable to think that she might eventually be back. Her rise and her struggles had both come so early that she just needed to sort a few things out, was the (hopeful) thinking; it wasn’t the game that was the issue, so if and when she could learn to handle the travel and the loneliness and everything else came with it, surely we would see the Ipswich homebody back on tour. Maybe not, but, well, maybe.

This time, though, feels different to Barty, and to anyone who has followed her story. The big change is that she is content now, not running from something, but towards something better. She is content, with her career and her life, so no longer inclined to leave the latter to pursue the former; to endure long stretches on the road, train and work as hard as she knows she must to be as good as she is.

A few knew among her close inner circle.

A few more suspected it was coming.

Most of the world was oblivious. Stunned.

Yet, given that Barty’s last match was on that magical night at Melbourne Park, the longer this latest absence extended, the more it seemed that something was not quite right that was yet to be revealed. An injury, perhaps, or some other issue.

Retirement, though? Surely nothing quite so drastic. Even if she was never likely to be around for a Williams-esque career marathon, there were three legs of the career slam ticked off. And the possibilities. Boundless.

Lists have been shared today of former greats who left and returned to the WTA: Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters and Martina Navratilova among them. Also Henin.

As Joyce said in an extensive interview with this reporter at the end of 2017 when discussing the player he first met two weeks before her fifth birthday: “Everyone compared Ash to Martina Hingis, but I used to say to her, ‘You want to be a player like Justine Henin,’ she was our pin-up girls for the women.

“I said, ‘Look at her, Ash, she’s not big, but look at how she can go out there and compete. Serena and Lindsay Davenport and all these girls can go out and belt balls at her and she just stands up to them.’

“I said, ‘You need that, you need all variety, especially your slice, and you want to be able to volley well. And the other thing you’ve got to have is a really good serve, Ash. You don’t have to be real big to have a good serve, don’t worry about that.’

“I’m old fashioned but I still think that’s going to really help Ash when she gets to Wimbledon in a couple of years.’’

And so, famously, last year it did. Which, she has now revealed, was also the beginning of the end. But in a good way. Also a different way to most, and perhaps we should have guessed there would be a twist, for Barty has never made decisions based on what others have done.

When she told Joyce in early 2016 that she was returning, there was much that the pair discussed alone and courtside at the West Brisbane Tennis Club. “The last thing I said was, ‘Ash, this time round, Barty 2.0 or whatever she calls it, do it your way, mate. This time, run it your way … If you pick your team, pick the people you’re happy with and do it your way this time, you can only blame yourself if it doesn’t work out. If you don’t like it this time, you don’t like playing and you want to give it up in a year or two’s time because you don’t like it, it’ll be for all the right reasons this time. And if you’re happy while you’re playing you’ll do well.’’’

Even at under 12 or under 14 level, it was not about the results, but the learning, the big picture and, ironically, the long game. In that same interview, Joyce remembers tossing one junior trophy in the bin and telling young Ash that she would feel the same way about it later, for it was when she was 20-25 that it would really start to matter. He has kept many of her old messages, including one from March, 2017, when she announced she had “finally done it, broken the top 100”. With little trophy emojis to go with it.

There would be 15 in singles altogether, including those three slams, and as the rest of the world wondered how many more were coming, Barty herself had far different plans. With such a relentless focus on records, from whether Serena can catch Margaret Court, or which of Roger, Rafa and Novak will end up as the statistical GOAT, this is a very different take.

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An opportunistic sports betting company released a Barty Futures market within 90 minutes of the embargoed reveal, with a comeback on the third of six lines of betting, behind resuming in the WBBL and turning her hand to commentary, and ahead of pro golfer, beer ambassador and PM. Would probably win the federal election in a landslide, to be honest.

Henin, incidentally, returned to tennis after just over 19 months away, made the 2010 Australian Open on her slam return, then contested just three majors thereafter, and lost in the quarters at the All England Club before a recurrence of her chronic elbow injury prompted her official farewell early the next year.

Barty is missing only a US Open from her personal set, but that alone would not be enough to drag her back, for, as she has said, there are other dreams to chase, and a life she dearly loves at home.

That includes her family, dogs, golf, footy, fishing. She will do no more or less than she wishes, probably in whatever sport she chooses, and one of my favourite off-court Barty moments came when we were both at the Wuhan Open in 2017, and the comeback kid, far more comfortable in her own skin, had beaten three top-tenners to reach what was then her biggest career final.

It was grand final eve, and the Richmond fanatic was determined to watch the events from the MCG the next day, while unsure, at that stage, of the exact timing. “Hopefully tennis doesn’t get in the way,’’ she said. The Tigers won that time; Barty didn’t.

Easy to guess which result meant more to her, though, and the everywoman aspect of an understated superstar was part of what endeared her to so many.

More Coverage

Philippoussis: Barty’s grace in a world of egos

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Analysis: Why Ash Barty has decided to walk away

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So enjoy retirement, Ash Barty.

Thanks for what you brought to the game.

And know that you can come back any time you like.