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Priority was Barty's happiness, top-ranked star's dad says
Top-ranked star's father tells parents he backed her choice to leave tennis in 2014
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Nicole Chia
When Rob Barty's wife told him six years ago that their 18-year-old daughter would quit tennis after the 2014 US Open, he was not surprised.
The US Open that year was the first time Ashleigh Barty had qualified to compete in a Grand Slam, yet her father "knew it was coming" because his daughter had been "sad all the time" and was not herself on the court.
