Do we like Ash Barty?
Our score: 8 out of 10. A clean record and steady work for First Nations kids, held back from the top only because she rarely speaks on wider causes.
Barty is the rare superstar who walked away on her own terms. In March 2022 she announced her retirement from tennis at 25 while still world number one, saying she no longer had the drive to keep going. She said she wanted dreams that didn't involve constant travel and time away from home.
Her story has a few detours. She has called herself a very proud Indigenous woman, and she became Tennis Australia's Indigenous tennis ambassador, a role she has described as very close to her heart. She also took a break from the tour to play cricket, and said her teammates accepted her and got to know her as a person rather than a star.
On the harm test, there's honestly not much to chew on. Nothing came up in the reporting about her demeaning anyone, pushing conspiracy theories, or working with people who do. She also hasn't made much noise on LGBTQ+ rights or climate in what we found, so that part of the record is thin rather than glowing.
What she does say is usually about lifting others up. During Wimbledon 2021 she said she'd love to see as many young boys and girls, Indigenous included, playing tennis, and she talked up education alongside sport. In late 2021 she also publicly backed Peng Shuai, calling her part of the tennis family and saying the main thing was that she be safe.
The recent news is her work with the National Indigenous Tennis Carnival in Darwin, where she presented the Ash Barty Cup and helped trial a ball-kid role. She called it a week she earmarks on the calendar every year. In January 2026 she also said she is very happy living a boring and content life, with no plans to come back to the tour.
The verdict: she's a good egg who has quietly kept her name behind First Nations kids for years, with no scandal on file. The only reason she isn't a perfect ten is that we found little on her wider politics, and we can't score what we can't read.