Ash Barty has opened up on her highly-anticipated return to Wimbledon as fans speculate about a potential comeback campaign.
Barty will be back on the world stage at the All England Club after accepting an invite to play a doubles match, where she will team up with former Aussie partner Casey Dellacqua once again.
The event will be the first time the 28-year-old takes to the All England Club courts since winning the singles slam there in 2021. Barty then shocked the sporting world a few months later when she announced her retirement in 2022.
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However, the opportunity to return to Wimbledon was an easy choice for her to make.
“It’s bizarre to be back, but I’m very excited. It’s a very special event,” she told Nine’s Today.
Ash Barty on Today. Nine
“The tournament reached out and I of course accepted (the invitation). I was like ‘Of course, absolutely. I’ll be here’.
“It is the best place to play tennis in the world.
“(The invitational match) is exciting, it gets so many of the good ex-players back together to go out and enjoy the grass.
“I did request if I could play with Casey and get the old band back together. It’s going to be nice to get back out there with her and strike a few again.”
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Ashleigh Barty in action during the 2021 Women’s Singles Final at The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship. Getty
The former world No.1 had a simple answer to speculation that the event may spark a professional comeback.
“Absolutely not,” Barty said.
“This is the only comeback and it’s an exhibition (match).
“I’m here to have a good time with my best mate.
“It’s for fun and for enjoyment to entertain people who are at Wimbledon to enjoy the whole event. (It’s for) the people who are there to obviously watch the best players in the world go about their business and see who the champion will be.
“I’m excited to play a very small part in it.”
Ashleigh Barty (r) and Casey Dellacqua (l) play in the doubles match at the Fed Cup in 2018. Getty
Barty previously confessed that she had only picked up the racquet a handful of times since the birth of her son Hayden last year, and now jokingly claims that doubles teammate Dellacqua will be carrying their partnership.
“I hope she’s been practicing because she’s got a lot of load to carry,” Barty laughed.
“The first challenge is finding the middle of the racquet.
“I’m very grateful and lucky that I am in a position where I get to come out and do something that I’ve loved with one of my best mates.”
Barty famously ended Australia’s 41-year drought when she won the Wimbledon title in 2021, with her idol, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, the last Australian woman to lift the trophy.
She revealed her return through the Wimbledon gates quickly brought back memories and all the emotions that come with the sport.
“It brings back this really unique feeling of a place where my dream came true,” she said.
“It was walking through the gates again, it was absorbing and reflecting.
“It is amazing that a lot of the memories have come flooding back along with the emotions. Not so much the forehands and the backhands, or the serves, but it’s the emotions that came with that moment so it was very special walking in the gates for the first time.”
This time around, Barty’s son Hayden will get to see his mother in action.
Ashleigh Barty kisses the trophy. Xinhua News Agency via Getty Ima
“It’s nice to have my family here. It’s a special place for me and a special place for us,” said Barty.
“(Hayden) travelled well and we’re having a good time.
“I don’t know how much I can be with saying never (to returning). I honestly love my life.
“I had such a full career, such an amazing journey, this is just the next chapter of my life.”