Ashleigh Barty, earlier this year, made a shocking decision to retire from the sport at the age of 25. However, the former tennis player is also a well-known author and her new memoir is out for the audience. Nevertheless, while promoting her new book, the tennis star opened up about her own body image issue and talks about comforting people about themselves.

Before retiring from the sport, the Australian tennis star won three Grand Slam titles at such a young age. Barty this year itself won the Australian Open and called it off after that. However, her retirement at a young age came as a shock to the tennis world.

Ashleigh Barty once hated her body

In a recent interview, the tennis pro Barty discussed how she overcame her early, severe body insecurities. And she said that she despised the changes training had made to her physique. Due to her attractive body, the tennis star would hide in the locker room to change. The tennis player, however, discussed her struggles with detention in her new book and her desire to assist others in finding solace in themselves.

She said, “I went through that like a lot of people do and a big part of my passion now is to encourage girls and boys to be comfortable in themselves. It helped me realise that imperfections are part of all of us and they are ok. By sharing some of my insecurities, hopefully it can help them realise a lot of people go through it.”

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The three-time Grand Slam champion believed that by assisting other young people in accepting their own flaws as a part of life, she may help them deal with their own shortcomings.

The actual reason behind Barty’s retirement

The former world number one mentioned seeing a red flag ahead of her during the same conversation. She discussed how she had only ever dreamed of winning the Wimbledon and how, following her triumph, she had lost her motivation to continue playing.

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The Australian tennis player was aware that her motivation was the cause of her stopping. Bratty also said she would return to sports as soon as she had a reason to play.