Former world No.4 and Grand Slam semifinalist Johanna Konta has ended her professional tennis career.
In a short online letter, the 30-year-old Briton of Hungarian descent announced her retirement and explained that the word “grateful” best describes her tennis days:
This is the word that I’ve probably used the most during my career, and is the word that I feel explains it best at the end.
My playing career has come to an end, and I am so incredibly grateful for the career that it turned out to be.
Konta won four WTA titles, her latest one coming earlier this year on home soil, at the Viking Open Nottingham. When it comes to Grand Slams, Konta reached the semifinals at the Australian Open in 2016, Wimbledon in 2017, and Roland Garros in 2019. At the US Open, her best performance was a quarterfinal appearance in 2019.
The last match Konta played was a first-round loss to Czech Karolina Muchova at the 2021 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati in August.
The 2021 Viking Open Nottingham grass court title was expected to be Konta’s springboard for a deep run at Wimbledon, but the Brit was ruled out of her home Grand Slam as a contact of a COVID-19 positive person. Later she contracted the coronavirus herself and was forced to skip the Tokyo Olympics. Since then, she has played only two tournaments.
At the time of retirement, Konta is ranked No.113 in singles. She dropped out of the Top 100 last month for the first time since 2015. (photo: Jimmie48)
