Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig has announced her retirement from tennis, which is a result of a recent string of injuries and surgeries that followed.
“After a tough three-year fight with injuries and four surgeries, my body had enough,” explained the 28-year-old, who has been mostly sidelined from competition since the start of the 2020 season. “This decision isn’t an easy one because I would’ve loved to retire on my own terms, but sometimes life has other plans and we have to open new doors that lead to exciting possibilities.”
The former WTA world No.27 from Puerto Rico will not compete any longer, but she’ll very much stay involved with tennis. First of all, Puig is a new full-time member of the ESPN team. Moreover, she will branch out into many other sports that she is passionate about, as well as explore consulting roles for young, up-and-coming tennis players.
Puig won one WTA title, at Strasbourg, France, in 2014, and finished runner-up twice (Sydney in 2016 and Luxembourg in 2017). Her best Grand Slam showing was the fourth round at Wimbledon 2013. The highlight of her career was definitely the Olympic gold medal at the Rio Games in 2016, where she defeated former major champions Garbine Muguruza, Petra Kvitova and Angelique Kerber.
In October 2021, Puig got engaged to fellow athlete Nathan Rakitt.
