Three-time Grand Slam winner, former No. 1 tennis star Ash Barty to make cricket comeback

Former World No. 1 tennis star Ash Barty is preparing to pick up a cricket bat once more, nearly a decade after her last competitive appearance in the sport. He is a three-time Grand Slam winner, at the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon, and also had a stunning doubles career, winning the US Open title and reaching the finals of the other three majors. 

Barty’s last competitive match was in tennis when she won her home-soil major in Australia in 2022 before she announced her retirement. The Australian is now ready for her return and will feature in the T20 Cairns Gold Clash on 22 November 2026 at Cazalys Stadium in Cairns. She will represent Team Cricket against Team Footy in the celebrity match, which has previously proved popular in New Zealand and is now being staged in Australia.

Three-time Grand Slam winner, former No. 1 tennis star Ash Barty to make cricket comeback

Barty will share the field with a host of well-known sporting figures, including West Indies legend Brian Lara, Australian Test stars Usman Khawaja, Matt Hayden and Mike Hussey, and rugby league great Johnathan Thurston.

Barty’s earlier cricket chapter came during an 18-month break from tennis after the 2014 US Open. She trained with Queensland’s women’s side, played club cricket and earned a contract with the Brisbane Heat for the inaugural Women’s Big Bash League season in 2015-16. She played nine matches for the Heat, scoring 68 runs, before returning full-time to tennis in early 2016. 

Barty went on to win three Grand Slam singles titles and spent 121 weeks as world No. 1 before retiring from professional tennis in March 2022 while still ranked top of the rankings. Her appearance in Cairns marks a one-off return to the game that once helped her rediscover her love of sport.
 

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