{"id":202169,"date":"2025-10-10T07:54:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T07:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/202169\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T07:54:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T07:54:09","slug":"the-player-ash-barty-wanted-to-take-her-world-number-one-ranking-when-she-suddenly-retired-in-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/202169\/","title":{"rendered":"The player Ash Barty wanted to take her world number one ranking when she suddenly retired in 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Follow us on Google Discover <\/a> <\/p>\n

Ash Barty was the best player alive when she called time on her tennis career.<\/p>\n

Just months after Barty picked up her third Grand Slam at the 2022 Australian Open<\/a>, she retired from tennis.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old was ranked number one in the world and had been so for over 80 consecutive weeks, but decided it was time to \u2018chase other dreams\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"AshPhoto by James D. Morgan\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Retiring from tennis, Barty<\/a> gave up her world number one ranking, allowing one of her WTA rivals to take the top spot.<\/p>\n

But who did the Australian want to be ranked number one in the world in her absence?<\/p>\n

Ash Barty \u2018hoped\u2019 Iga Swiatek would become world number one when she retired<\/p>\n

During her retirement press conference, Barty was asked for her thoughts on the potential new world number one.<\/p>\n

\"AshPhoto by PATRICK HAMILTON\/AFP PHOTO\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I\u2019m not sure of what the possibilities are. I\u2019ve never been one to look at it much,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that if it is Iga [Swiatek]<\/a>, there is no better person.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s an incredible person, a great tennis player. The way that she\u2019s brought this fresh, fearless energy onto the court has been incredible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved testing myself against her. I loved playing her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barty and Swiatek played each other twice on the WTA Tour<\/a>, with the Aussie emerging victorious on both occasions.<\/p>\n

2021 Madrid Open 3R \u2013 Ash Barty defeated Iga Swiatek, 7-5, 6-42022 Adelaide SF \u2013 Ash Barty defeated Iga Swiatek, 6-2, 6-4<\/p>\n

The retiring world number one believed Swiatek deserved to take the ranking from her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved practicing with her and spending time with her team. She\u2019s a brilliant person, and was one of the first to message me, which is really nice,\u201d said Barty.<\/p>\n

\"IgaPhoto by Robert Prange\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she thoroughly deserves it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that she can take it and still be her, do it her own way, and really chase what she\u2019s after in her career and her dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barty\u2019s wish came true as Swiatek took the world number one ranking from her on April 4, 2022, and never looked back.<\/p>\n

In fact, just two years later, Swiatek overtook Barty in the all-time list for weeks at world number one.<\/p>\n

RankNameWeeks at number oneMost consecutive weeks1Steffi Graf3771862Martina Navratilova3321563Serena Williams3191864Chris Evert2601135Martina Hingis209806Monica Seles178917Iga Swiatek125758Ash Barty1211149Justine Henin1176110Lindsay Davenport9844WTA weeks at number one<\/p>\n

Whether she would have done so had Barty not retired is another question altogether\u2026<\/p>\n

Chris Evert claimed Iga Swiatek would have overtaken Ash Barty anyway<\/p>\n

Speaking to Discovery<\/a> in 2022, Chris Evert made a bold claim about the number one ranking.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think even if Ashleigh Barty hadn\u2019t retired, Iga would have reached the number one spot,\u201d said Evert<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe wants it so bad, she wants it so badly, and she\u2019s so committed to the game that she forces herself to be in the moment, and she\u2019s in every single point.<\/p>\n

\"ChrisPhoto by Artur Widak\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThat mental strength of hers is really propelling her to the top. She\u2019s mentally the toughest player out there by far right now; she\u2019s on another level.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer attitude is wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swiatek is now a six-time Grand Slam champion and has established herself as one of the greatest players of her generation.<\/p>\n

She hasn\u2019t, however, been able to add to her 125 weeks as number one in 2025.<\/p>\n

Ranked number two behind Belarus\u2019 Aryna Sabalenka<\/a>, Swiatek has a lot of work to do if she wants to return to the top spot.<\/p>\n

The race for the WTA number one ranking<\/p>\n

Swiatek currently trails Sabalenka by 1,552 points in the Live WTA Rankings.<\/p>\n

1. Aryna Sabalenka \u2013 10,225 points2. Iga Swiatek \u2013 8,673 points<\/p>\n

The Pole will struggle to take the number one ranking from Sabalenka before the end of the year, but could close the gap with strong performances in Wuhan and at the WTA Finals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then at the Australian Open in 2026, she could return to the top spot and secure her 126th week as world number one.<\/p>\n

Only time will tell if Swiatek can overtake Sabalenka, but it will certainly be worth keeping an eye on over the coming months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover Ash Barty was the best player alive when she called time on her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[99422,49,48,616,82,593,4306],"class_list":{"0":"post-202169","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-ash-barty","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-iga-swiatek","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tennis","14":"tag-wta"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}