A month ago, Alize Cornet announced that Roland Garros would be her final tournament. The Frenchwoman’s professional tennis career came to an end on Tuesday when she lost in the first round to Zheng Qinwen in Paris.
The former world No.11 Cornet required a wildcard to enter the main draw of Roland Garros 2024, the same tournament where she made her Grand Slam main-draw debut at 15 years old in 2005. Two decades later, she has concluded her career on Court Philippe Chatrier, holding an impressive Open Era record of competing in 69 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, a streak that began at the 2007 Australian Open.
Following a 6-2 6-1 loss to China’s seventh seed Zheng Qinwen in the first round, Cornet was honored with a ceremony. A montage of her career played on the videoboard as Cornet wiped away tears. “Roland Garros represents 20 years of my life,” Cornet said in her on-court speech. Zheng stayed there during the entire ceremony and the two exchanged several hugs afterwards.
Lovely gesture from Qinwen Zheng, who stayed on court for the whole duration of Alize’s ceremony as the two exchanged several hugs. pic.twitter.com/oORAJy3JE0
— Jimmie48 Photography (@JJlovesTennis) May 28, 2024
The 34-year-old won six WTA titles in her career, with her first title in Budapest in 2008 and her last at the Ladies Championship Gstaad in 2018. Throughout her career, she played in 15 finals, most recently at the Jasmin Open Monastir in 2022. Among her other career highlights are reaching the quarterfinals of the 2022 Australian Open and advancing to the second week of all four major tournaments.
Known as a giant-killer, Cornet has amassed a total of 25 wins against Top 10 players. Most notably, the Frenchwoman defeated Serena Williams three times in 2014, all while the American held the world No.1 ranking. Another significant victory came at Wimbledon in 2022 when she halted Iga Swiatek’s 37-match winning streak, the longest of the century, in the third round.
