Ash Barty's retirement is a bolt from the blue, but she departs tennis with universal acclaim and respect

It seems only weeks ago that a nation's eyes bulged at the sight of Ash Barty turning her 5-1 deficit in the second set of the Australian Open final into an historic, cathartic victory.

That night, American Danielle Collins shed a tear on the podium and privately wondered how on earth such a petite and kindly opponent had dismantled her so ruthlessly.

Now Collins and other contenders eye an inconceivable opportunity of their own: at 25, with the world at her feet, Barty has retired from tennis, foregoing her zenith and trophies galore.

There is no perfect analogy for the shock this moment engenders — the death of Shane Warne, the onset of war and the ravages of the pandemic add a decent dose of perspective, too — but there is something of the first retirement of Michael Jordan about it.

For Jordan, the pressure that came with his achievements was too overbearing, the personal scrutiny too great, and the loss of freedom too oppressive.

Famously, he took off and played baseball instead, just as Barty's first tennis «retirement» of 2014 meant a switch to cricket.

Less than two months after her Australian Open victory, Barty announces she is quitting the game to begin the «next phase» of her life.

Between the pair there is a more meaningful overlap: golf, with its fresh air, open pastures and barriers to the outside world. On a golf course, Barty can compete in anonymous seclusion. On Rod Laver Arena — whose concourses are lined with banners, billboards and flags featuring her image — she can never escape prying eyes and well-meaning pressure.

Jordan's biographer David Halberstam explained it like this:

«Golf became increasingly important to him, his great escape from all his other numbing on-court responsibilities, the one place