‘I got to live my dreams’ – Former WTA world number four announces retirement
A former WTA top five talent and national trailblazer has announced her retirement from the sport after prolonged injury troubles.
Former British number one Johanna Konta has announced her retirement from tennis at the age of 30.
Despite adding a fourth WTA title to her collection this season from the Viking Open Nottingham, Konta has struggled with injury, recording a season win-loss record of 10-8.
Five of those wins came during her title run in Nottingham. Now ranked 113th in the world, the Brit has decided to end her career.
“My playing career has come to an end,” she said on Twitter. “And I am so incredibly grateful for the career that it turned out to be.
“Through my own resilience and through the guidance of others, I got to live my dreams.
“I got to become what I wanted and said as a child.”
A little update from me 👋 pic.twitter.com/L1tpjDHW1o
— Johanna Konta (@JohannaKonta) December 1, 2021
While Konta did not cite specifically her reasons for retiring, she has struggled with injury in the past two years, as well as heart palpitations. Furthermore, she was forced to mis this year’s Wimbledon after testing positive for Covid-19.
Konta reached the semi-finals of three Slams over her career. She did so at the Australian Open in 2016, the French Open in 2019 and Wimbledon in 2017.
At Wimbledon that year, she became the first British woman to reach the last four for 39 years, since Virginia Wade did so in 1978.
Her biggest career title came at the 2017 Miami Open, a then Premier Mandatory event, now a WTA 1000.
Konta peaked at number four in the WTA rankings on 17th July 2017, immediately after her run to the semi-finals of Wimbledon.
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