The Barty Party is over. Sadly, earlier than anyone had hoped. And especially because most had only just jumped on board in the past two or three years.
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Ash Barty, the best tennis player in the world, shocked fans and rivals when she announced her retirement from the sport on Wednesday despite being just 25 years old.
What we love about Barty is what she represents: a superstar athlete and an even better person. She was the country's golden child - winning the Australian Open in Melbourne two months ago to end a 44-year wait for an Australian to win a home grand slam.
A few images come to mind when you think of her career. There's Barty with her grand slam trophies at the French Open, Wimbledon and the Australian Open, but there's another that captured Australia's heart.
It was of a six-year-old Barty posing with her first tennis trophy and her signature closed-mouth smirk. A humble smirk. A lovable smirk. Australia's smirk.
She came into the sport as a 14-year-old, earmarked as a future great even though she never really appeared to be comfortable with that tag.
Perhaps that's why she quit tennis as an 18-year-old to play cricket before eventually returning to conquer almost everything before her.
Australia fell in love with her because she was the antidote the country needed when tennis was being consumed by a bad-boy image. Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios made headlines for everything but their tennis. Barty was the complete opposite.
She ticked every box; she was a proud Ngaragu woman, a humble champion with an unassuming smile and a cheeky charm.
This is what makes it so hard to come to terms with her retirement less than two months after the country was reminded why we loved her. She cracked open a beer during an interview on live television to celebrate her Australian Open triumph.
Australia swooned again. Barty was the best in the world at her chosen craft, but she was Aussie through and through.
She played cricket and golf - both at a high level - and when she wasn't training or playing around the world, she was in the stands at the AFL, beer in one hand, fist-pumping with the other when her team kicked a goal.
So why retire now? She says she is emotionally and physically exhausted from years on the WTA tour.
It's a surprise when you see the likes of Serena Williams and Roger Federer still playing into their early 40s.
But should we really have been surprised about Barty? She leaves her sport on top and got a fairytale ending.
The Queenslander achieved her dream of winning Wimbledon and realising another; the Australian Open. Barty admitted she had "given absolutely everything" she could to tennis, and now it was time to focus on her goals off the court and being closer to home.
Her break through came in 2013 when she became a regular on the WTA Tour in doubles and reached the Australian Open finals, before she took indefinite leave in search of a "normal" teenage experience.
The WTA Tour runs for the majority of the year, beginning mere days into the New Year and keeping players away from home through until October. And it was this that first pushed Barty to leave the sport, and ultimately it seems it played a prominent role in her retirement decision.
When she returned to the tennis court in 2016, there was no looking back. Doubles titles, the French Open, Wimbledon, the Australian Open, and 114 consecutive weeks as world number one.
Although Australia will not see her take to the tennis court again in the same capacity, it is unlikely to be the last we see of her.
As she chases her dreams as "Ash Barty the person not Ash Barty the athlete" a month out from her 26th birthday.
The question remains as to what those dreams are.