"You really can't get used to the idea that I don't want to play a sport professionally at all anymore," the Australian told Melbourne radio on Monday evening.
"I love golf, it's one of my hobbies, but it won't become my job. I don't intend to make it my job (...) I feel neither need nor want to play a professional sport again, especially golf. I love it, like going out with my friends, but no thanks, not for me," she added.
At only 25 years old, when she was at the top of her sport and had won the Australian Open a few weeks earlier in front of her home crowd, Ashleigh Barty had surprised the sports world by announcing her retirement to "pursue other dreams".
An accomplished golfer – she had won a tournament on a course near Brisbane designed by the great Australian champion Greg Norman during the health crisis, during which she preferred to stay in Australia – Barty is also an accomplished cricketer, and she had played one season in the Australian Women's Championship, temporarily putting her tennis career on hold at 18.
Since retiring, Barty got engaged and published a series of children's books, "Little Ash."
© 2022 AFP