In March 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court voted to strike down the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PAPSA), ending the federal ban on sports betting in every state except Nevada. This allowed states to decide if they wanted to legalize sports gambling. Today, 38 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico have done so.

For many years, the major sports leagues’ concerns with gambling were primarily to do with the integrity of their product. The leagues felt that allowing gambling could compromise their sports and pose as a destructive force. Eventually, they began to realize that gambling could actually increases interest and revenue tremendously. In the 2010’s, the league’s began to change their tune by investing in casinos and gambling companies, putting teams in Las Vegas, and joining the push to end PAPSA. The league’s and the government realized legal gambling would create jobs, generate tax revenue, and lower the rate of crime involved with illegal gambling.

Now that we are five years since legalization, we can look at how sports betting impacted the U.S. economy. According to the American Gaming Association, The legal U.S. sports betting market generated$7.56 billion of total revenue in 2022, an increase of about 75% from 2021. Americans legally wagered $93.73 billion, compared to $57.53 billion in 2021. New York accounted for $1.37 billion of the national revenue total, as their launch of online sports betting in January 2022 saw it become the largest legal sports betting market in the country by a long shot. New York imposes a 51% state tax on gross gaming revenue. Tax rates vary across states, but in 2022, 27 of those states combined for $1.5 billion tax revenue from sports betting.

It’s not just the tax revenue that has positively impacted the economy. According to a report published this May by IBISworld, there are more than 24,000 businesses employing over 200,000 workers related to sports betting. The leagues are also making more money, not just from partnering with the sportsbooks and casinos, but also selling their data to technology companies that work with the casinos, as well as increased viewership and interest. Specifically, the NFL has increased viewership every year since 2018.

Another interesting financial aspect about gambling is that even when the Casinos are on a losing end of a wager, tax is still being paid. If you, as a gambler, made more than $600 for the year, you have to pay income tax on that. What this means is that nearly every wager placed, whether won or lost by the casinos, generates tax revenue.

It’s no secret that gambling has supplied a boost to the U.S. economy in the form of tax revenue, job creation, and consumer spending. However, everything comes with a cost. Gambling addiction has been on the rise each year since legalization. The lack of regulation in the beginning allowed for extremally predatory and misleading ads that lured in people to start betting with promotions described as “risk-free bets” when in fact, you had to risk money in order to get credits that were in the form of bonus bets. While there is very limited data on this subject because it is all so new and hard to quantify, there are probably plenty of people that would never have placed a sports bet prior to 2018 who now have an addiction. It will be interesting to see how regulation evolves over the years and whether or not the monetary gains for the economy are worth the social costs.

The NFL has found it’s way to remain in the headlines despite it being the middle of the offseason large in part due to the unique contract discussions surrounding prominent quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson.

While Rodgers figured out he would like to continue his career for a tune of $50 million while he was meditating in a cave or whatever, Lamar Jackson has been trying to negotiate a new deal with the Baltimore Ravens despite not having an agent.

There’s no doubt amongst the football community that Jackson has a remarkable talent. Like many others, I was instantly awed the first time I saw him play, back when he was in college with the Louisville Cardinals. He was up against my lowly Syracuse Orange and he straight up hurdled a guy without even touching him on his way to a touchdown. He went on to win the coveted Heisman Trophy that year, and later went on to be selected by the Baltimore Ravens with the last pick in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft.

Despite the concerns about his throwing accuracy, Jackson quickly made the teams who passed on him regret it. That year we saw quite quarterbacks drafted in front of him (Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, and Josh Rosen were all selected in the top 10, yikes.)

In just his second season and first as a fulltime starter, Jackson won the league’s MVP award after throwing for over 3000 yards and rushing over 1200. But despite his regular season success, Jackson has disappointed in the playoffs and has suffered a few injuries the past couple seasons that sidelined him from some crucial games. Even so, there is no denying that Jackson is one of the league’s best at the key position and is due a big pay day entering his 6th season.

However, the negotiations have been taking very long, as Jackson is seeking a fully guaranteed contract (meaning he gets paid even if he gets hurt and can’t play). Personally, I believe that should be the case regardless, but that’s not how it works in the NFL today. There have been some players to successfully negotiate fully guaranteed deals, the most recent one being Deshaun Watson when he signed with the Cleveland Browns for $230 Million last year.

Many people, and perhaps Lamar, are pointing to Watson’s deal as a main reason he deserves a fully guarantied deal. Especially when you consider the fact that Watson was coming off an ACL injury. Oh and numerous allegations that he sexually harassed many of his massage therapists.

But just because the Browns do something, doesn’t mean everyone else will do the same. In fact, it would probably make sense for them to do the opposite since the Browns haven’t won a playoff game since I’ve been alive, but that’s besides the point.

Lamar and the Ravens have yet to finalize a deal, but the most interesting factor that may be holding this all up is that Jackson does not have an agent. Sure, there have been players to successfully negotiate deals by themselves, but those have all been long tenured veterans playing less vital positions. Lamar is the first quarterback in the prime of his career to attempt a record-breaking deal on his own. And perhaps this is the most important reason why he has failed to make a deal so far.

It may have nothing at all to do with his talent, injury history, or even his asking price. Agent’s have relationships with teams and have a variety of negotiating tools and their disposal that a player, who’s main focus is football, simply not might be aware of. I mean if you were trying to run a business, just like Lamar is essentially doing, you wouldn’t spend you entire day trying to balance your books, create budgets and forecasts, and file you own taxes would you? Of course not, you’d hire Skyview CFO to take care of that so you can focus on what you do best to help your business grow.

But perhaps it goes even deeper. Think about what would happen to the agent industry if Lamar did indeed sign a record breaking, fully guaranteed contract… It would set a remarkable precedent. Players like Lamar in the future would look at him and think, “Lamar was able to do it, why would I hire an agent so he can take a hefty percentage?”

I’m not saying the agents are colluding with the owners to make sure this doesn’t happen, but I’m not not saying it either.

So, what would you do if you were Lamar? Would you saddle up with an agent at this point to try to get a deal done, or would you continue and try to break precedent?

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Jim Boeheim has become synonymous with Syracuse Basketball due to the fact that he has been the University’s head coach for 47 years. He is undoubtedly one of the greatest coaches in the history of the college game, establishing Syracuse as one of the country’s most successful programs that doesn’t wear the color blue. In his half-century long career, Boeheim won his and the program’s sole championship in 2003, and has reached the Final Four 4 times (2 of which happened to be while I was a student) in 37 NCAA tournament appearances.

The team has had a shaky 2022-2023 season, and Boeheim has become increasingly irritated and disrespectful to the media and other schools in his conference, recently whining about how they “bought” their teams with NIL deals. Many people though Boeheim would finally step down after his sons graduated last season, but he is still hinting at a return next year in spite of the team’s woes. His lack of self-awareness is setting himself up as a grumpy old man with a big ego who does not believe anybody can do the job better than him.

Many Syracuse fans may disagree, and I embrace it, however let’s look at the facts. The team is underperforming, he is not recruiting top tier talent, and he does not produce NBA talent.

Recruiting

Even if you agree that Boeheim isn’t the best coach, a common counterpoint would be that he has consistently been able to recruit big names to come to the bitter cold north and play for the Orange. However, that is simply not the case anymore. In the last 4 recruiting classes, the Orange have only had a single Top 100 recruit in each class, and 2 of them have since transferred. This notion that he is this juggernaut recruiter has simply not been true since the early 2010’s when he was able to get names like Dion Waiters, Fab Melo (RIP), Jerami Grant, and Michael Carter-Williams. He has not had a single Five Star recruit since Chris McCollough in 2014, who only ended up playing in 16 games before a season ending injury.

NBA Production

Since the championship run 20 season ago, led by future NBA Hall-of-Famer Carmelo Anthony, Syracuse has had just 4 alums last more than 4 seasons in the NBA. The best player of the crop has been Jerami Grant, which says enough. Compared to the other CBB powerhouses who pump out NBA talent year in and year out, Syracuse doesn’t even come close. If you cannot produce NBA talent, how can you expect to convince a top recruit to endure the Syracuse winters and play in his stubborn 2-3 zone which is rarely, if ever, used in the NBA?

The Team Stinks

Over his career, Boeheim has a winning percentage of roughly 72%, but in the last 4 seasons he is barely above .500. The team has failed to win 20 games in 7 of the 10 seasons since leaving the Big East for the ACC. The 10 seasons prior, the team never failed to capture 20 wins and averaged over 26 wins per season.

He’s a grumpy old man

While Boeheim, has never been known for his warm personality, he has been getting into bitter interactions with the media and is even whining about other teams “buying” players with NIL deals (which is allowed now). He’s almost 80 years old, and I can’t imagine he is able to connect with players on a way they can trust, considering he is almost a century older than them.

It’s time.

Boeheim’s entire identity is being Syracuse’s head coach, which is probably why he refuses to leave and pass the torch. The team has plenty of young assistant coaches who have earned a shot. I believer they could do just as good of a job recruiting, if not better, and won’t have that high of a bar to reach in terms of recent regular season success.

Listen Jimmy, I know it’s hard to step aside and recognize that your time is up. I get that it’s hard to accept the notion that someone younger than you could be better at the job you’ve been doing twice as long as they’ve been alive. But sometimes it takes a bigger man to recognize that a young mind with fresh energy and ideas could revitalize a stagnant program and bring them back to their winning ways.

He also picks his nose on the sidelines every game as he watches his team lose and it’s pretty gross.

Please Jim, just say goodbye, walk off into the sunset. I’d say we would name the court after you but it already is. It’s time for someone new.

Sometimes, it is in the darkest times where we can see human kindness shine the brightest.

At least, that is how I am choosing to look at the horrible situation that unfolded Sunday night in Cincinnati, when Bill’s safety, Damar Hamlin collapsed after making a routine tackle where he took a sharp blow straight to his heart. As of this writing, there has been no further update since his family reported that he is still in critical condition under sedation at the hospital.

It is no secret that football is a violent sport. It is also no secret that the NFL has had a rough history in terms of how they handle players’ safety. They covered up the repeated head trauma effects for years, but the simple fact here is that this particular injury was a very unique and rare occurrence. Seeing something like this unfold on live television was traumatic for everyone involved, whether it be the players on the field or the fans watching at home.

Often, we see that when people experience trauma they confuse their emotions with anger and need to blame. With the exceptions of a few people on Twitter, I am happy to see how the sporting world and beyond have reacted and come together during this moment. Despite something so terrible happening we have seen some of the best sides of human kindness.

Since the moment Hamlin collapsed, everyone involved did the very best they could do to manage a difficult situation. From the medical staff getting to him right away to administer CPR, to the players surrounding Hamlin on the field to give him much deserved privacy during a moment of life and death, to the NFL eventually making the right decision to postpone the game, everyone who had to make a decision in an unprecedent time acted as human as possible. It is easy to criticize decision making when you are not the one in the moment faced with a very difficult dilemma.

It feels that when terrible things like this happen, it is often to a really good person, and from what I’ve been able to read so far, that’s exactly what Hamlin is. Right after Hamlin was drafted into the NFL in 2020, he started a toy drive in his hometown, Pittsburgh. During the summer of 2020 he was able to raise $5,000 in toys for his community. In just hours following his injury, more than $4 Million had been donated and the current total is now north of $6 million.

I know there will be people that say “it shouldn’t take something like this for people to be nice”. Which is true to some extent, but what is the alternative here? Would we rather nobody donate because it’s only because he was injured. Here’s the thing: most charities are created because something awful is happening. While it is devastating what Hamlin and his family are going through, it is amazing to see that outpouring of love, sympathy, and money in his honor.

I hope that people can take a look at this situation and just process. I hope they keep whatever anger they may have to themselves, not try to blame anyone, and give what they can, whether it just be a prayer or a dollar to his amazing Toy drive. Those are the best actions to take right now collectively as human beings.

Below is a link to donate to Hamlin’s Toy Drive.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/mxksc-the-chasing-ms-foundation-community-toy-drive

If you were hoping to purchase a new official #10 Argentina jersey you may be out of luck. Lionel Messi put the ultimate cherry on top of what was already incredible legacy, when he and his countrymen defeated France to win the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Full disclosure: I am not the biggest soccer, fan in the world. However, any sports fan can appreciate the majesty that is the World Cup, and what it represents to over a billion people across the globe.

After watching Messi display a master class of unprecedented talent on the largest stage, while earning his country the most coveted prize in the sport, there’s no wonder why demand for his jersey is surging at extraordinary rates.

While I may not be the world’s biggest soccer fan, I do love jerseys, and there’s no doubt that Argentina has some of the freshest kits in the game. Adidas has understandably been unable to meet this historical surge in demand, as they have sold out of his official Argentina World Cup jersey worldwide.

In case you wanted to purchase one on the secondary market, be prepared to pay a lot, prices on popular websites such as StockX and Ebay have reached upwards of $1,000 (they retail for about $100).

His club jersey from PSG is still available though, and I must say those are pretty fire as well.

It’s world cup season, which means were talking some soccer dollars at Skyview this month.

Cristiano Ronaldo returned to Manchester United in 2021, when he signed a 2-year/£53.6 Million (Approx. $65 USD), following his tenures with Real Madrid and Juventus. However, his return to the storied English Club that he played for earlier in his career was not all he hoped it would be. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

Last month, in an interview with Piers Morgan, Ronaldo expressed his extreme discontent with Manchester United. He discussed his displeasure with the organization following the firing of manager, Sir Alex Fegurson. ‘The progress was zero. Since Sir Alex left, I saw no evolution in the club. Nothing had changed,’ he said.

 The superstar held nothing back as he went on to criticize the club’s management, facilities, and even the effort of his teammates. However, he went on to clarify that it wasn’t just a Man U problem when it come to players’ motivation by saying, ‘I don’t mean only a few in Manchester United, but all the teams in all leagues in the world, the youngsters are not the same of my generation. But you cannot blame them, because it’s part of the life and the new generation, the new technologies that distract them. They don’t care’

Ronaldo also opened up about the tragic death of his newborn son who passed during child birth. Him and his partner were expecting twins, the newborn girl did survive. He explained how hard it was to go through something so tragic and that the football (soccer) doesn’t stop.

Not long after the interview, Man U and Ronaldo mutually agreed to part ways making him a short-lived free agent. However it wasn’t an EPL rival or even a team in Europe that shelled out the money for the 37-year-old, but Saudi Arabian club, Al-Nassir FC.

The parties agreed to sign a 2-year deal this coming January for roughly €200million/year (approx. $211 USD). This deal sets the world-wide record for average annual value (AAV) in history, surpassing Lionel Messi’s deal with FC Barcelona from 2017-2021 which was for approximately $168.5 million per year.

Saudi Arabia has made headlines in the Sports world for most of 2022 with the formation of their new golf tour, LIV golf. Many human right’s-activists have accused the Saudi’s of sportswashing, a political strategy that utilizes sport to cleanse their global image. It’s hard to argue that this move to sign Ronaldo isn’t a similar attempt.

The whole situation is very intriguing, as one of the world’s biggest stars is leaving a historic club to play in the middle east. Nonetheless, Ronaldo is moving on and will earn an extraordinary amount of money doing so.

Brooklyn Nets star, Kyrie Irving, became the second celebrity endorser to be dropped by a major shoe brand in the last week, following in the steps of Kanye West.

Since his arrival in Brooklyn over two years ago, Kyrie has been nothing but a cancer for the team and his teammates. Before Brooklyn, he ruffled feathers in Boston during his short tenure as a Celtic, where he insisted that the world may be flat. Prior to Boston, Kyrie won a championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers, before demanding to be traded away from Lebron James on the heels of four straight NBA Finals appearances.

Irving has seemingly always prided himself on utilizing his platform to spread his views with his followers, but the problem is that he continuously talks out of both sides of his mouth. He thinks he is smarter than everyone, and it takes endless begging to get an apology out of him. In 2017, when he made headlines after claiming the earth is flat, Kyrie defended himself by saying, “I do research on both sides. I’m not against anyone that thinks the Earth is round. I’m not against anyone that thinks it’s flat. I just love hearing the debate.” Oh really, Kyrie? You’re not against anyone who thinks the earth is round?! Good for you! Because, well the earth is indeed round.

Many months later, Irving apologized for offending the science community and even said that it was a good lesson of how words that come from influential people can have enormous power. Hmmm.

Kyrie saying the earth is flat, albeit hilariously dumb, is not the main point here. Kyrie explicitly noted at that time that debating conspiracy theories can have a large impact on his followers, given the magnitude and influence of his platforms. Clearly, like the earth being round, Kyrie did not actually believe that either.

Suffice it to say things did not go well for Irving in Boston, and his weird conspiracy rhetoric did not stop there. As a Brooklyn Net, Kyrie again began to make headlines for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. It’s not simply the fact he refused to take it, it’s why. Many notable people have refused to take the vaccine for various religious and political beliefs, but Kyrie? Well he started following and liking Instagram posts from a conspiracy theorist who claims that “secret societies” are implanting vaccines in a plot to connect Black people to a master computer for ‘a plan of Satan.’ Kyrie was unable to play in any Brooklyn Nets home games for the 2021 season due to a NY mandate, and the Nets went on to get swept by his former team, Boston, in the first round of the playoffs.

Now, less than a year later, Kyrie finds himself back on the hot seat after posting a link to a documentary that is anti-Semitic propaganda including the notion that the Holocaust never happened. When questioned by the media originally, Kyrie actually said that him posting it on his platform is not promoting it, and that the media should treat him like a human being. But I thought he understood the lesson on the impact of his words when it comes to political theories? Guess not.

The Nets are the gold standard when it comes to handling PR crisis’s in the absolute worst way possible. They did not suspend him immediately, nor did they mention him in their original press release apologizing to those who were offended. Brooklyn Nets owner, Joseph Tsai, actually tried to educate Kyrie on the offensiveness of the documentary and that the Holocaust did indeed happen. But apparently Tsai’s efforts were futile, as the Nets finally suspended Kyrie saying that he is currently “unfit to be associated” with the Brooklyn Nets.

But let’s get one thing straight here, Nets. Kyries is not just currently unfit to be associated with a basketball franchise located in the most Jewish populated city in THE WORLD outside of Israel, he will always be unfit. This incident is not just a one time mistake, it is a pattern. A pattern that suggests giving Kyrie a large platform to spread his wildly inaccurate theories that pose a threat to people is not a good idea.

Not long after the Nets announced their suspension, Nike announced that they too were suspending their relationship with Irving, and that they would not be releasing his upcoming signature shoe.

Kyrie has been able to remain on the court despite his controversial views in the past, but it is looking like this may be the straw that breaks the camels back. The guy is extremally talented at basketball, but he can’t be worth all the drama he brings with him. The Nets should permanently cut ties with him showing their fans that they will not let people who put out such threatening propaganda deserve to represent their team. Hopefully the NBA will step in, who is run by Adam Silver (Jewish), if the Nets don’t penalize Irving any further.

While it has been terrible seeing anti-Semitic propaganda take over the headlines there is a nice silver lining that it will cost you millions, your reputation, and possibly your career. Tsai and the Nets have allegedly given Irving a “to do” list of myriad apologies and donations before he can resume playing, but Kyrie has hinted that he may just consider retiring.

The NFL has consistently been inconsistent with the way they handle disciplining their star athletes. Their continuous mismanagement has been a PR nightmare on top the myriad issues they have been faced with over the last several years.

On Monday, a judge that was jointly appointed by the NFL and the NFL Player’s Association ruled that Deshaun Watson, quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, will be suspended for 6 games without pay amid (a lot) of sexual misconduct allegations against him.

Watson has been on of leagues biggest stars since he was drafted in 2017 by the Houston Texans, after he won the NCAA Championship at Clemson the year before. During his first 4 years in the league, Watson has emerged as one of the best quarterbacks in the league, throwing for more than 14,000 yards and 104 touchdowns. He has also rushed for more than 1,600 yards and 17 touchdowns, proving to be one of the best duel-threat playmakers.

Despite his prowess, Watson did not play a single game in 2021 due to the allegations against him. The Texans traded him to Cleveland this past march, wanting to move away from the drama. Watson was sued by a total of 24 women who worked as massage therapists for the quarterback. All but one of those cases has been settled according to the plaintiffs’ attorney.

The latest lawsuit was filed against Watson in May, where the massage therapist said she had two encounters with the Football star. According to her, the first session was professional, but during the second she alleged that Watson exposed himself and engaged her in unwanted sexual conduct.

Since this is his first offense with the league, the ruling of a 6 game suspension is the maximum penalty for this type of misconduct, which is classified as “conduct detrimental to the league”.

While this is the most significant punishment for an NFL player for a allegations of a non-violent sexual conduct, the league’s punishment system does not seem to follow any consistency or logic, and has led to the public questioning how seriously they take important issues like sexual misconduct and abuse.

The ruling is being compared to the suspension of another star, Calvin Ridley, a prominent wide receiver for the Atlanta Falcons. In March, Ridley was suspended for the entire 2022 season for gambling on NFL games, including games his own team played. Ridley wagered a total of $1,500 and it took place when he was not playing with the team. This is not to say that players should gamble on games as it can compromise the integrity of the game, and possibly lead fans to believe certain games are fixed if players are able to make wagers on the game. Ridley should have not done what he did, as the consequences for such an action have been in place for a while and the risk is not worth the reward.

It is also important to note that the NFL was pushing for a more severe punishment for Watson and can still appeal the ruling which came from the independent judge appointed by both sides. Watson has already stated that he will not appeal the ruling.

There have been numerous incidents involving NFL players and misconduct and physical abuse in the past which the NFL has repeatedly mismanaged. The most notorious being the Ray Rice incident, when the Running Back was caught on video punching is wife in the face. The NFL apparently had seen the videos before they were made public and were only going to suspend Rice for two games. After the public backlash following the release of those videos the Rice never played in the NFL again.

While the league went through their protocols in determining the appropriate sentence for Watson, the 6 game suspension pales in comparison to the punishment of Ridley who’s crimes are wayyyyyy less egregious and does not involve sexual misconduct of TWO DOZEN WOMEN!

The NFL’s consistent mismanagement has proven to be a PR nightmare, and puts their integrity at stake in the public eye. Viewers are forced to ask themself if the NFL only cares about the money, or they truly care about serious issues like sexual misconduct and abuse. Ridley’s offense could have a serious impact on the league’s bottom line, and his punishment serves as a huge deterrence for other players in the future. Watson on the other hand comes out with a mere slap on the wrist because he makes the league a lot of money by performing on the field, but what message is the NFL trying to send out?

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/01/sport/deshaun-watson-latest-civil-suit-23rd-intl-spt/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/01/sport/deshaun-watson-nfl-suspension-decision-spt-intl/index.html

Ashleigh Barty won her 3rd grand-slam title when she captured her home-country trophy at the Australian Open this past January. At just 25-years-old, it may seem foolish for such a dominate player to retire at a young age, in the height of their prime, with so much more potential earnings and championships left on the court. But as Ash put it, she was simply “spent’, and is fulfilled with what she has been able to accomplish as a tennis player.

It’s very hard for us common-folk to pity celebrity athletes, especially those that dominate their sports and rake in millions of dollars on an annual basis. Barty herself has made approximately $30 Million in her short career, placing her in the top-15 females to ever play the sport. But when you think of the work and time spent to reach such extraordinary levels of magnitude and dominance, it is truly hard to empathize with the toll that takes on any human’s psyche and mental health.

Tennis is also pretty unique from most sports in the sense that it’s season is essentially 10 months long and takes place all over the world. Constant training, traveling, and performance can leave anyone, celebrity or not, feeling very alone and constantly exhausted. I played tennis for 45 minutes the other week and I’m still sore..

When discussing her retirement in an interview, Barty said she had other life goals that she wanted to chase and they “don’t necessarily involve traveling the world, being away from my family, being away from my home which is where I’ve always wanted to be.”

Barty is not unlike most people currently in there mid-twenties, questioning their career path, in what some may like to dub as a “quarter-life crisis”. Personally, I don’t like that terminology because realizing you dislike your job or want to try something new is not really a “crisis”. It would be a crisis to solely rely on the career opinion of your17-year-old self to never reevaluate your happiness as you mature and gain more experience, just to stay miserable in your field because you don’t feel like your “allowed” to try something else. For Barty, she knew that what it took to achieve her goals on the court no longer provided the happiness she sought. She won a few of the most coveted trophies the sport has to offer and understood what it took to earn them. “This is not how I want to continue spending the next phase of my life,” she said.

Barty also clarified, “There was this perspective shift in me in this second phase of my career that my happiness wasn’t dependent on the results, and success for me is knowing that I’ve given absolutely everything I can.” If you think of winning Wimbledon or the Australian Open as pursuing a job title or promotion, while you may think that once you achieve it your life will be fulfilled, once you reach it you just may feel that it’s not entirely as you envisioned it. It’s okay to have been wrong in your thought process, but it’s also okay to admit that you want to pursue something else. For Barty, she was no longer gaining happiness from winning tournaments, she measured her success by putting in her maximum effort and now she wants to apply that same mentality towards something that can allow her to be around her home and the people she loves.

Barty was fortunate enough to reach extreme heights in her career at such a young age and we probably don’t have that same possibility, but that doesn’t mean you can’t stop to ask yourself along your pursuit if your goal is something that will truly make you happy, or if it is just something your younger self convinced you it will.

You can take it from me too. While I wasn’t winning Wimbledon in my early twenties I bounced around 4 different jobs before finding something that truly made me happy. But happiness doesn’t just have to come from your career. It can be a hobby or simply spending more time with your loved ones, but if your career prevents you from doing those things, perhaps it is time for a change.

As a Barty fan, I am sad to see her and her beautiful backhand leave the sport early, but I am happy for her: for not caring what the world would think of her, but for teaching us all a lesson when it comes to evaluating how you truly want to be spending the only life you have to live.

Cheers, Ash! Congratulations on an amazing career, and good luck in your future endeavors. Sky’s the limit!

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/23/careers-lessons-from-ash-bartys-retirement-from-tennis.html