Former Australian tennis star Ashleigh Barty revealed that her on-court meltdown at 2018 Wimbledon left her “embarrassed and ashamed” as that was the moment that prompted the Australian to make changes. During her 2018 Wimbledon third-round match against Daria Kasatkina, Barty lost her cool and composure as she unloaded on her box, specifically her coach Craig Tyzzer.
In the end, Barty ended up suffering a 7-5 6-3 defeat. “This crisis has been brewing for months, remaining largely invisible to everyone but those in my inner sanctum, but now it spills over in the very public spotlight of the British grass-court season.
The issue is that my good is great, but my bad is horrible. When I’m winning, I look like a million bucks but when my tactics aren’t working, I lack the maturity to solve my own problems. I’m a 22-year-old highly trained professional athlete, but in this moment I decide on a public tantrum,” Barty wrote in her book, per the Sunday Mail and News Corp Australia.
Barty felt ’embarrassed and ashamed’
In her book, Barty wrote that she was disgusted “not just (at) losing the match and losing my s—, but losing my dignity too. I shun my closest supporters and cry myself to sleep that night, embarrassed and ashamed”.
Following the Wimbledon incident, Barty reached out to mindset coach Ben Crowe. A few months later, Barty captured her first Grand Slam title at the 2019 French Open. Later, Barty won two more Grand Slam titles – at the 2021 Wimbledon and 2022 Australian Open.
Also in her book, Barty revealed that she felt at peace in the aftermath of her shock retirement at 25. “Just like that, my career is over. I’d like to tell you I feel stunned or shocked, but I feel good. Great, even.
All day long there’s a kind of pulsing wave rushing through me, not of excitement or fear or adrenaline or even relief – just the sense that something important and right and true is happening. Something is starting and something is finishing. It’s done. I’m done,” Barty wrote.
