Ashleigh Barty retiring aged 25 may be due to her missing her home in Australia, says Eurosport's Alize Lim

Eurosport’s Alize Lim said that Ash Barty was brave, and that a love of “being at home” may have contributed to her decision to retire. The world No. 1 announced her retirement from tennis aged only 25 on Wednesday, stunning the tennis world.

Ad/> She said that was «absolutely spent» and had “nothing more to give" physically in an emotional interview with fellow Australian Casey Dellacqua posted on social media. WTA MiamiRaducanu: I want to be in the game as long as possible3 HOURS AGO Lim told Eurosport that the «hard-headed» and «brave» winner of the 2022 Australian Open knows what makes her happy. “My first thought was how brave!” Lim said.

“Because she is at the top of her form, she is at the top of the ranking, she is at the top of her success, she has just won a Grand Slam at home. /> «And at the same time she knows that she is not going to be happy continuing and she has the courage to say ‘stop’. »She knows what she wants; that's what makes her feel good.

She is really hard-headed and it's what makes her happy." /> Lim explained that Australian players leave home for tournaments as early as April, stay abroad until after the US Open in August and only return home in September. Barty has made no secret of her love for her home country, and said there ‘were tears’ whenever she had to leave Australia for the long tennis season. “She has always said that she loves being home, that she has a hard time leaving for long,” says Lim.

“She never hid it. So, in that sense it's not so surprising that she wants to [be at home]. “The tours are extremely long, much longer than for Americans or Europeans, because it's so far for them to go home.