Tennis - Barty retirement a sign of the times, say sports industry experts

Ash Barty's retirement from tennis is symptomatic of how the new generation of players view their careers and sport must rise to the challenge of ensuring a healthier overall environment to retain its top talent, industry experts have told Reuters.

The Australian world number one announced her decision to retire on Wednesday. She said she had achieved everything she set out to and cited fatigue with life on the Tour.

Phil de Picciotto, head of sports agency Octagon, said Barty's decision was indicative of players' increasing awareness of the personal costs involved in sustaining an elite sporting career.

"To be excellent in anything requires sacrifice," De Picciotto told Reuters. "There's an extremely high level of dedication required for anyone to do exceptional work."

Improving the overall environment for athletes is imperative for all stakeholders in the multi-billion dollar sporting industry, he added.

"This is a common objective," De Picciotto said. "I think of everybody because brands, including human brands, like athletes, typically become more valuable over time.

"It's in everybody's interest that athletes play at a high, healthy level for as long as possible. It's in everybody's interest to build brands and to sustain success. It's much more difficult to continue to rebuild time after time."

De Picciotto said that athletes who had already earned big money at a young age needed to look for other reasons to stay in their sport.

"I think most of those are about human health and human enjoyment," he said.

"And that's a really good thing. You don't want athletes to be playing simply because they feel it's the only way that they're going to make a living."

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For Ken Wong, marketing professor at Queen's University