Former singles No.5 and doubles No.1 Lucie Safarova was supposed to retire at the 2019 Australian Open, but having to skip the Grand Slam due to wrist tendinitis, her career has been extended for several more months. Today, the Czech has announced that her last event will probably be Roland Garros.
The 32-year-old Safarova, winner of 7 singles and 15 doubles titles, played her first tournament of the season at last week’s Porsche Tennis Grand Prix and went all the way to the final, partnered with Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, with whom she had won her first doubles title, back in Charleston in 2012.
Safarova then entered her home tournament of the J&T Banka Prague Open, teamed up with Barbora Stefkova, but the pair lost to Makoto Ninomiya and Yana Sizikova in the first round after missing two match points. Safarova and Stefkova once won a runner-up trophy together, last year in Mallorca.
At the post-match press conference in Prague, as the WTA reports, Safarova revealed: “I’ll probably play Paris.” Remember, Safarova finished runner-up to Serena Williams in 2015 in singles, while alongside Bethanie Mattek-Sands she won the Roland Garros doubles title that same year and in 2017.
