‘Maybe She Had No Motivation’ – Karolina Pliskova Asserts That Ashleigh Barty’s Retirement Decision Was Not Understandable to Her

23rd March 2022, former World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty gave the tennis community one of its biggest shocks by announcing her sudden retirement from the sport. The Australian sensation confessed that she doesn’t have the physical drive and emotional want to compete at the professional level left in her now.

The decision came in as a shock for everyone as, not even 2 months complete, Barty had won the Australian Open. Learning about the decision, the whole tennis community reacted to Barty’s call. While a part of the community criticized the 25-year-old for her decision, another section of the community came out in support of her. Recently, former World No. 1 Karolina Pliskova gave her opinion on Barty’s decision.

Karolina Pliskova reacts to the retirement decision of Ashleigh Barty

Last year, Karolina Pliskova and Ashleigh Barty gave the tennis community one of its biggest matches to cherish for a lifetime. The two competed at the 2021 Wimbledon Women’s Singles Finals. Going neck-to-neck against each other, neither of the players leaves any blank space for the other player to score. However, after a hard-fought battle, it was Barty who finally came out victorious in 3 sets.

The Czech player has often been quoted saying that Ashleigh Barty is one of her biggest competitors on the tour. Learning about the reason for Barty’s retirement decision, Piskova said, “I understand everybody’s different.” She further went on to assert that she understands the different reasons why someone may take up such a call.
“For me, it’s not understandable at all because I just like the game so much. But I understand somebody maybe suffers, somebody doesn’t like to travel.” 

Pliskova gets critical of Barty’s decision

Pliskova said, “She basically won everything that she wanted to win, I suppose maybe she had no motivation.” Getting critical of Barty’s decision, the Czech player further said, “If you hate this tennis life and it’s not what you always wanted to do, I think it’s good to stop.”

Coming back to the basics, Pliskova ended by going all heart for the Australian. She said,

Karolina Pliskova on the tour

Karolina Pliskova has been having a not-so-pleasant 2022 to date. The Czech player was scheduled to kick off her year at the Australian Open. However, she was forced to withdraw from the slam after suffering from a broken arm. Having played no match in 2022, Pliskova finally made a comeback on tour at the Sunshine Doubles. However, having the arm still affect her game, she suffered first-round losses in both the tournaments.

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Not losing hope, she kicked off her clay-court season at the Charleston Open. Even though she moved ahead of the first round, her run didn’t last long as she suffered a straight-set loss to Ekaterina Alexandrova in the fourth round.