With the hugely surprising announcement of Marion Bartoli’s
retirement overnight, its worth taking a look at other retirements that have
surprised the world of tennis and sport in recent times.
But not only shock retirements it is also
worth considering players who were big stars and major winners but kind of
disappeared from the limelight almost overnight.
In looking at players who retired suddenly, certain
themes keep re-occurring. They started
their career at the top at a very early age, they suffered a lot of stress due
to constant traveling, they found it hard to deal with tough losses, and they
often failed to sparkle in their comebacks.
Gabriela
Sabatini
Sabatini retired in 1996 at the age of 26 which is a
crazily young age. But by the time of
her retirement, she had already been a professional for 11 years having turned
professional in the mid 1980s. Sabatini
won the US Open in 1990 defeating Steffi Graf in straight sets. She then had the opportunity to win Wimbledon
in 1991, having served for the match against Graf but was unable to see it through
and lost 8-6 in the third set. Sabatini
had a successful career, including a couple of Italian Opens, WTA masters victory
and 27 tiles overall.
The big problem as far as I can see is that Sabatini was
playing French Open semifinals at the age of 15 when most girls are still at
school. And by the age of 26, the stress
of continual playing, travelling combined with some incredible losses at the
French Open when she was in incredibly strong positions meant that Sabatini had
nothing left to give at an age when players should be coming into their prime.
Mats
Wilander
Mats Wilander retired in 1996, but was literally off the
tennis radar by 1990 at the age of 25. By
this stage, Mats had won seven major titles including three majors in one year
in 1988 and grabbing the number 1 ranking.
Wilander was also the youngest winner of the French Open in 1982 at 17
years and 9 months (Chang took that distinction in 1989 when he won aged 17
years and 3 months). Mats won majors on
grass and rebound ace at the Australian Open, clay at the French Open and
hardcourts at the US Open.
Wilander played a style that relied on defence, patience,
counterpunching and athleticism. He
wouldn’t blow an opponent away with a barrage of aces and winners but could
play all day and wear his opponents down, hence his great French Open record
with three titles and four finals there.
Interestingly, Wilander is hardly ever mentioned in the British media
when it comes to the great players from that era like Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg,
John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl. One reason
for that could be he never made a big impression at Wimbledon, which would be
unfair but that’s reality.
Justine
Henin
Justine Henin retired unexpectedly in 2008 after having her
best year to date in 2007 winning two major titles, defending her end year WTA title
and consolidating her position as clear number 1 in the world. One of Henin's most impressive feats of
2007 was to beat Serena Williams in the quarterfinal of the French Open,
Wimbledon and the US Open back to back. However, after a very surprising defeat to Sharapova at
the Australian Open in 2008, where she got “bagelled” in the second set, and then
struggles in the hardcourt and clay season.
Henin announced her retirement before
the French Open at the age of 25 years and 11 months, even though she was three time defending champion and red hot
favourite.
Henin came back for a brief period in 2010 but despite
getting to the final of the Australian Open (losing to Serena Williams), never
looked the same player and was forced to retire again after sustaining a freak
elbow injury against Kim Clijsters at Wimbledon.
Martina
Hingis
Martina Hingis retired in 2002 at the age of 22 after
losing three Australian Open finals in a row, two to Jennifer Capriati. Hingis won her last major title in January
1999 when she beat Amelie Mauresmo in the final of the Australian Open.
Hingis was good enough to beat the lesser players but was
continually frustrated at the latter stages of major tournaments by Venus and
Serena Williams, Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati and Mary Pierce. Martina retired citing a chronic condition in
her both of her ankles, but the memo is that the decision was also hastened
somewhat by continual defeats at the hands of the “big hitters”.
Hingis returned in 2006 and was doing ok, winning the Italian
Open and Tokyo, but was forced into retirement for a second time in 2007 in
equally dramatic fashion after failing a drugs test for cocaine metabolites; the
sample was miniscule but enough to cause a worldwide sensation. Hingis’ last grand slam tournament was a
defeat to Victoria Azrenka at the US Open.
Bjorn
Borg
Bjorn Borg won six French Open titles and five Wimbledons
at the age of 26 which is a phenomenal record.
Borg also played in four US Open finals but lost all four of them, two
of those to John McEnroe in 1980 and 1981.
The 1981 US Open final defeat seemed to be the last
straw, having relinquished his Wimbledon title to the same player two months
earlier. After the final, Borg left the
stadium through the back door, before the ceremonies and press conference took
place, as paparazzi sought to track him down.
Borg retired in early 1982 at the age of 26 although he
did play a couple of matches in 1982 and 1983 in Monte Carlo. As with so many names mentioned here, his
retirement was a huge surprise at the time.
And with so many other players mentioned, Borg staged a comeback ten
years later in 1992, still sporting a wooden racquet. However, times had moved on and it would have
been impossible to win a match with such old technology when so many players were
capable of serving 130 mph with graphite racquets!
