"Just the essentials" - Ashleigh Barty and son Hayden get ready in adorable fashion for her Wimbledon legends doubles appearance

Ashleigh Barty recently gave fans a glimpse into her preparations as she gears up to feature in the invitational doubles at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. Her little son, Hayden, made an adorable appearance.

On Thursday (June 20), the official handle of Wimbledon made a post on Instagram, announcing that Barty will be partnering with her compatriot Casey Dellacqua in the Legends Invitational Doubles category at this year's edition.

Barty had an illustrious career, winning 15 WTA singles titles and 12 doubles titles before retiring at the young age of 25 in March 2022. Barty’s last appearance at the grass-court major was in 2021, where she defeated Czech’s Karolína Plíšková 6–3, 6–7(4–7), 6–3 in the final, to clinch the title.

The 28-year-old Barty shared a photo and a video on her Instagram story on Tuesday, showcasing the "essentials" she had packed for the forthcoming competition. In one of the photos, her 11-month-old son Hayden was shown sitting in her bag with her tennis racket, sneakers, and athletic clothes also present. She captioned it:

“We will just keep it to the essentials.... @timtam”

The video featured her pet dog in the same bag along with her tennis gear, and here's what she captioned it:

“Been a while since I've tried this packing business....”

Ashleigh Barty's Instagram story

Barty retired as World No. 1 and champion of the 2021 Wimbledon Championships and the 2022 Australian Open. The Australian also spent a total of 121 weeks as World No. 1 in the WTA singles rankings, with 114 weeks being consecutive.

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A brief look at Ashleigh Barty’s best Doubles performance at Grand Slams

Getty Images: Ashleigh Barty at the 2020 Australian Open - Day 4

Ashleigh Barty excelled in both the doubles and singles categories during her active years. In the doubles category, she reached a career-high ranking of No. 5.

Barty's best performance in Grand Slam doubles came at the U.S. Open in 2018, when she partnered with Coco Vandeweghe. Barty and Vandeweghe won all their matches without dropping even a single set to make it to the summit clash. In the final, they faced Hungary’s Tímea Babos and France’s Kristina Mladenovic and won 3–6, 7–6(7–2), 7–6(8–6) to lift the trophy. It was her only Grand Slam doubles title.

Barty had strong performances in other Grand Slam doubles events as well. In 2013, she and Casey Dellacqua were awarded wild cards and reached the finals of the U.S. Open. Sadly, they were beaten 6–2, 3–6, 6–2 by Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, an Italian duo.

In the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, Barty and Dellacqua played exceptional tennis once again, but they were defeated 7–6 (7–1), 6–1 in the final by Hsieh Su-wei and Peng Shuai. Barty and Dellacqua also made it to the final of the 2017 French Open, their third attempt at the tournament. They faced another summit clash defeat as Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Šafářová defeated them 6-2, 6-1.