Anett Kontaveit announces retirement at the age of 27 as struggles on Tour continue

Anett Kontaveit stuns the world with her retirement announcement just at the age of 27 as the former World No. 2 is forced out due to injuries.

Anett Kontaveit announces retirement at the age of 27 as struggles on Tour continue

Anett Kontaveit (Credits: Yahoo Sports)

For fans of Anett Kontaveit, it is certainly a sad day. The 27-year-old Estonian took to social media to announce her retirement from professional tennis. A former World No. 2, she earned her wings during the three seasons from 2020 to 2022. That included her becoming the highest-ranked Estonian ever along with a runner-up finish in the WTA Finals.

Taking to her Instagram handle, Kontaveit announced her retirement with the 2023 Wimbledon being her final professional tournament. In a heartfelt note, she revealed how the doctors advised her to give up playing in order to keep her healthy. The biggest obstacle for her remained her back injury which has been diagnosed into a disc degeneration forcing her to hang up her racket.

YouTube video

Ever since her glory in the 2021 season where she won four titles before losing the WTA Finals. The success saw her rise to the World No. 2 in the rankings. However, it was a short lived glory as the injuries started haunting her. With deep runs in events consistently, the physical toll became too much for her.

FS Video

The 2023 season saw her spend majority of the time on the sidelines. She has played only 10 matches so far, losing seven of those. She lost in the second round of the Australian Open this year and the first round in the French Open. With no way out of her injury, she finally chose the All-England Club as the destination of her farewell match.

Keep Exploring: Emma Raducanu SADLY reveals she sometimes wishes she had not won US Open amid constant media pressure

Anett Kontaveit’s trophy cabinet

Anett Kontaveit
Anett Kontaveit (Credits: Reuters)

Over the course of her career, Anett Kontaveit reached 17 finals. Of which, 11 she ended up as the runner-up while winning six of them. Her biggest title remains a three-way tie between the tournaments in Ostrava, Moscow and St. Petersburg, all WTA-500 events. Her other three titles came at the WTA-250 category in Rosmalen, Cleveland and Transylvania.

The 2021 WTA Finals was the bigegst career final she reached. At the Grand Slam events, her quarter-final finish at the 2020 Australian Open remains her best ever. That remains her only last-eight apperance at a Major. Her other best finishes at Major were fourth round at the 2018 French Open, third round finish in Wimbledon from 2017 to 2019 and fourth round finish at the US Open in 2015 and 2020.

She held a 12-match winning streak in the 2021 season, starting at the Kremlin Cup and ending in the finals of the WTA Finals. Garbine Muguruza finally stopped her winning run having earlier lost to her during the streak. Kontaveit defeated three Top-5 players during the run.

She also held a 22-match indoor courts winning streak from the 2021 Stuttgart Open to the 2022 Stuttgart Open. The Estonian won five titles during the run before losing to Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals. She defeated four Top-10 players during her remarkable run.

In case you missed it: