”The time has come to say goodbye. It’s been a long and successful career, but I feel the time has come to retire”, declared the 30-year-old player, ten times singles winner, during a press conference. “Now I am ready to start a new chapter in my life, which will surely be linked in one way or another to tennis and sports,” added the one who will remain the only one to have beaten the two Williams sisters in the Grand Slam final (Serena at Roland Garros and Venus at Wimbledon).
Absent from the courts since January 2023 and a break started for “catch your breath and reflect on your career after a series of bad results but also some injuries”the player born to a Basque father and a Venezuelan mother never found the energy to relaunch her career as she explained to the daily AS: “I no longer felt the same spark. I didn't want to train anymore. I have been playing tennis for twelve months, but not with the desire to push my body into the red. With this announcement I feel happiness, sadness, pain, nervousness, but overall I am happy. I’m happy and I think it’s a well-considered decision.”
And when she looks back, the winner of the 2021 Masters is not overcome by regrets: “I don't want to cry, I don't want drama. I want people to remember how beautiful my journey was. I achieved almost all my dreams by winning at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, tournaments I dreamed of when I was a child.”
And to the famous question of what she would like people to remember about her as a player, the Spaniard is quite humble: “A courageous player. And all the positive adjectives you can use that come to mind (laughs). I know 30 is young to retire but don't forget I've been playing tennis since I was five. So it’s been a quarter of a century. Not bad…”
