Ash Barty, the world’s top-ranked women’s tennis player, retired on Wednesday. Just a day later, she hinted that she might return to the sport in the future. “The door is closed, but not locked,” she said. Loading Something is loading.

Just a day after she retired from tennis for the second time in her career, the women’s number 1 Ashleigh Barty has already hinted that she could one day return to the court.

Barty, 25, announced in an Instagram video on Wednesday that she was retiring, saying she had “given absolutely everything”.

“I’m happy, I’m happy and I know how much work it takes to get the best out of yourself,” she told player-turned-comer Casey Dellacqua in the video.

“And I’ve said it to my team several times – I just don’t have that in me anymore.”

However, the Australian refused to rule out a return to professional tennis at a press conference in Brisbane on Thursday.

“I’d say never say never,” she said. “I would say the door is closed, but not locked.

“I’m never one to say absolutely never, never, never. But yeah, it feels like it’s closed.

“I feel like I’ve given absolutely everything to the sport and I have nothing left to give. But I know tennis will always be a big part of my life and I’ll be able to contribute in different ways, so that connection will with tennis might always be there.”

Barty has retired before. AP Photo/Andrew Brownbill

Barty, a three-time Grand Slam winner who has been ranked No. 1 in the world for 112 consecutive weeks, has retired and has not retired before.

After losing in the opening round of the 2014 US Open, Barty, then only 18 years old, announced that she was “taking a break from professional tennis” and instead embarking on a career in cricket.

“It went too fast for me because I’ve been traveling from a young age,” she said at the time. “I wanted to experience life as a normal teenage girl and get some normal experiences.”

However, after only one season of cricket, Barty was convinced to return to tennis by none other than Serena Williams.

“Ash was at a restaurant, I think, and Serena sent her a message saying, ‘You’re too good a player to retire. You need to come back,'” Barty’s former coach Jim Joyce revealed in January.

This post Tennis door closed but ‘not locked’ was original published at “https://www.insider.com/ash-barty-retirement-tennis-door-closed-but-not-padlocked-2022-3”