Ash Barty nabs first major title following tennis retirement

Less than two weeks after announcing her retirement from tennis, Ash Barty has already claimed her first major title after winning a local golf tournament in Brisbane over the weekend.

The Australian Open champion shocked the world by announcing her retirement from tennis in March after earning the title of World no. 1 and winning her third grand slam.

Now, it appears that the 25-year-old is swapping the tennis court for the golf course after she took out the top spot at the ladies’ competition at the Brookwater Golf and Country Club.

Congrats to Ash Barty who won $30 this weekend for winning the ladies golf championship at the Brookwater Golf and Country Club pic.twitter.com/hfl0VZ4AvK

— HerWay_Magazine (@HerwayMagazine) April 3, 2022

It should come as no surprise that this isn’t the first time the multi-talented sporting star has dominated the green, after winning the club’s Women’s championship back in 2020.

 

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Commenting on Barty’s golfing win at the time, leading men’s winner and two-time Queensland amateur champion Louis Dobbelaar said Barty had “all the tools” to turn into a professional golfer.

“I’ve seen quite a lot of golfers come from different sports and she’s the one that stands out the most, by far actually,” he said.

her father, Robert Barty, has previously hinted to AAP that Ash may pursue golf after claiming she’s quite the impressive golf player.

“She’s too good. She can beat me. She’s the best golfer in the house,” he said.

When pressed on what his daughter’s next moves were, he admitted he wasn’t sure but that golf could quite possibly be her next sporting endeavor.

“I don’t know what she’s going to do to be honest, but I know she gets a lot of enjoyment out of golf so I think she’ll play (more),” he said.

Despite the impressive win over the weekend, there’s still plenty of speculation surrounding the former tennis star’s next move as Barty has also proven she is highly skilled at cricket. Barty has previously tried her hand at cricket, signing with the Brisbane Heat for the annual Big Bash League season in 2015.

Barty’s former cricket coach at Queensland Cricket, Dave Richards, described her as “extraordinary”, praising her incredible work ethic and fierce drive to continually do better.

“I’ve been coaching cricket for a long, long time and I genuinely don’t think I had been as excited watching someone play, essentially for the first time,” he remarked.

Whether it’s a future career in golf or cricket, the Australian icon has remained tight-lipped about her future, choosing instead to keep the sporting world on the edge of its seat.