FILE – Three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber introduced Thursday, July 25, 2024 that she’s going to retire after the Paris Olympics. (AP Photograph/Mark J. Terrill, File)
PARIS — Three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber introduced Thursday that she’s going to retire after the Paris Olympics.
The 36-year-old German participant received majors at each match apart from the French Open at Roland Garros — on the identical clay courts the place she’s going to bid farewell to tennis after the Paris Video games. She faces four-time main winner Naomi Osaka of Japan within the first spherical.
“Earlier than the Olympics start, l can already say that I’ll always remember Paris 2024, as a result of it will likely be my final skilled match as a tennis participant,” Kerber posted on Instagram. “And whereas this would possibly truly be the suitable choice, it’ll by no means really feel that manner. Just because I really like the game with all my coronary heart and l’m grateful for the reminiscences and alternatives it has given me.”
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Kerber later confirmed her retirement when talking briefly on stage after the Olympic tennis draw. Males’s and ladies’s first-round play begins Saturday.
Kerber received the Australian Open and the U.S. Open in 2016 — the yr she reached No. 1 within the rankings and obtained a silver in singles on the Rio de Janeiro Video games. She received Wimbledon two years later.
“Paris 2024 will mark the end line of probably the most unimaginable journey I might have ever dreamed of rising up with a racket in my hand,” Kerber stated. “There are a lot of extra issues I wish to say and folks to thank, which I’ll do as soon as I accomplished my final match. However for now, I’ll take the time and absorb each second of this closing episode on court docket.”
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Worldwide Tennis Federation president David Haggerty praised Kerber’s “stellar profession” and her general contribution to the sport.
“Her particular person file speaks for itself and her 18 Billie Jean King Cup group nominations present simply how priceless an asset she has been to Germany through the years,” Haggerty stated. “She made her Olympic debut at London 2012, and I do know that profitable silver at Rio 2016 was a dream come true for her. So it’s becoming that she’s going to deliver the curtain down on her profession carrying her nation’s colours at Paris 2024.”
Observe Inquirer Sports activities’ particular protection of the Paris Olympics 2024.
