Lucie Safarova, 32, has officially ended her tennis career today at Roland Garros, having played her final match in the doubles draw with Dominika Cibulkova, a 6-4 6-0 loss to Sofia Kenin and Andrea Petkovic in the first round.
The Czech’s tennis career was full of achievements, especially in doubles competition, while an even greater success is her much-loved character, as can be evidenced by Martina Navratilova‘s recent quote:
It’s possible to be a sweet person and still succeed in this gladiatorial sport of ours. Just look at Lucie Safarova.
Partnered with Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Safarova won five Grand Slam doubles titles, including the 2015 and 2017 French Open. Her best Grand Slam result in singles also happened in Paris, when she challenged Serena Williams in the 2015 final. Besides these cherished memories at majors, Safarova’s special career moments include her 2016 Olympic bronze medal alongside Barbora Strycova and Fed Cup appearances, as she enjoyed winning on home soil in front of passionate home crowd.
Safarova won seven WTA singles titles and climbed to No.5 in singles ranking, while she was doubles champion a total of 15 times and topped the doubles rankings two years ago.
