World number one Ash Barty – a timeline of tennis star’s career

Here is a timeline of the key events of retiring world number one Ash Barty’s tennis career:

APRIL 2000: Barty begins playing tennis at age four in Queensland, Australia at the West Brisbane Tennis Centre with coach Jim Joyce.

APRIL 2010: Barty begins her professional tennis career just after turning 14 at an International Tennis Federation event in Ipswich. Later that year in Mount Gambier she reaches the semi-finals at only her second professional tournament, defeating Ayu Fani Damayanti in her maiden professional victory.

JAN 2011: Plays her first junior grand slam event at the Australian Open but is knocked out in the opening round after losing to No 3 Lauren Davis.

JULY 2011: Barty defeats Irina Khromacheva at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships final 7–5 7–6 to win the girls’ singles tennis title at the age of 15. She’s the second Australian female to win the girl’s singles event after Debbie Freeman in 1980. Tennis Australia awards her a wildcard into the US Open. She is unable to qualify for the main draw after losing to Julia Glushko in her opening match.

2012: Barty makes her singles and doubles main draw debuts on the WTA Tour in early 2012. Her doubles debut came at the Brisbane International. Her doubles debut came at the Brisbane International, the year’s inaugural tournament. After failing in singles qualification, she teamed up with Casey Dellacqua to reach the doubles semi-finals while still just 15 years old.

2013: Barty begins playing primarily at the WTA Tour level. She only plays in eight singles main draws in total after losing in qualifying at five tournaments.

SEP 2014: Barty announces she is going on hiatus from tennis as she takes up cricket. She signs with the Brisbane Heat for the inaugural