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Scott Morrison savaged over detail in message to Ash Barty

Ash Barty, pictured here after winning the Australian Open in January.
Scott Morrison has been criticised for his message to Ash Barty after her retirement. Image: Getty

Scott Morrison has been brutally trolled online after sending a congratulatory message to Ash Barty following her shock decision to retire from tennis.

The Prime Minister was among the many to send messages of support to Barty on Wednesday after the Aussie star announced she's hanging up her racquet at age 25.

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Mr Morrison took to Twitter to praise Barty, writing: "Great to speak with Ash Barty today and simply say, ‘Thank you Ash’.

"Thank you for inspiring a nation. You are all class. Your achievements will be celebrated for all time.

"On behalf of all Australians, all the best to you and your fiancé Garry for your wedding and new life together."

While seemingly innocuous on the surface, many Australians took the opportunity to savage the Prime Minister.

ABC News reported on Wednesday afternoon that Barty hadn't actually picked up Mr Morrison's call and that he left her a voicemail.

Former Labor MP Cherly Kernot was among the many to point out that Mr Morrison claimed he spoke to Barty despite the reports he only left her a message.

"ABC News reported that she didn’t answer so you left a message?? Is that actually 'speaking' with her?? Slippery if true," Kernot tweeted.

Others accused the Prime Minister of trying to deflect the controversy surrounding him on a number of issues, while some wished he'd responded to the flood crisis as quickly as he responded to Barty's retirement.

Ash Barty's shock retirement from tennis at 25

Barty hasn't played since winning the Australian Open in January and said she feels the time is right to go out on top.

"I know that I am spent, physically. I don't have anything more to give," she said in a video with Casey Dellacqua.

"I have given everything I can to this beautiful sport and I'm really happy with that. For me, that is my success."

Barty, who previously stepped away from tennis in 2014, said this time is different.

"I’m so happy and I’m so ready and I just know at the moment, in my heart for me as a person this is right," she added.

Ash Barty, pictured here speaking to the media after winning the Australian Open in January.
Ash Barty speaks to the media after winning the Australian Open in January. (Photo by Andy Cheung/Getty Images)

“I know I’ve done this before, but in a very different feeling.

"I’m so grateful to everything that tennis has given me. It’s given me all of my dreams, plus more.

"But I know the time is right now for me to step away and chase other dreams and to put the racquets down.”

Barty's farewell ranks as Australian sport's most unexpected retirement since Mark Ella - also then 25 - quit rugby union after captaining the Wallabies on their famous grand slam-winning tour of the UK in 1984.

Two weeks after winning the French Open in 2019, Barty became the first Australian woman to reach World No.1 since her mentor and Indigenous idol Evonne Goolagong Cawley 43 years earlier.

She followed that up with victory at the 2019 WTA Finals in Shenzhen, pocketing $6.4 million - the biggest cheque in tennis history.

Her crowning glory came last year at Wimbledon before Barty defied intense pressure and expectation from home fans to win the Australian Open in January.

with AAP

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