'I got lost': Devastating reason Ash Barty quit tennis career

World No.1 Ash Barty has revealed she felt ‘lost’ playing tennis, during the early part of her career and stepped away for personal reasons.

Barty was a rising star of tennis when she chose to step away from the game in 2014.

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The Aussie then showcased her sporting talent when she turned to cricket where she went on to sign a contract for the Brisbane Heat in the WBBL.

But Barty returned to tennis in 2016 and her rise to the pinnacle of tennis is nothing short of extraordinary.

Returning as World No.325, Barty climbed the ladder and grabbed the World No.1 ranking in June 2019, also winning the French Open that year.

Her humility and honesty has won the hearts of Australians, but the 24-year-old Queenslander has revealed the toll her rise in tennis as a youngster took on her.

“I think I just needed to find myself a little bit. I felt like I got twisted and maybe a little bit lost along the way in the first part of my career, just within myself mentally and what I wanted to do,” Barty told Kurt Fearnley on ABC’s One Plus One series.

“I was very luck to have a lot of success but I’m still very much a homebody and I kind of lost my way a little bit with not being able to connect with my family. I even think kind of disconnected with my family in a way.

“We didn’t have the same conversation, we didn’t have the same depth of conversation. We didn’t lose that love or that care but for me I just kind of felt like there was a bit of a split and it was a bit of a fork.”

Barty admits she wanted to regain what she had lost, which resulted in her absence from tennis.

Barty withdraws from US Open

Barty was applauded for her ‘difficult decision’ to skip the US Open over coronavirus fears, but unfortunately she was met with some derision over the move.

The Aussie, along with Nick Kyrgios, opted to miss the US Open due to Covid-19 still ravaging America and said it was best for her team to stay put.

"My team and I have decided that we won't be travelling to the US, and (the) Western and Southern Open and the US Open this year," Barty said in a statement.

"I love both events, so it was a difficult decision, but there are still significant risks involved due to COVID-19 and I don't feel comfortable putting my team and I in that position.”