By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday November 12, 2019
Former World No.4 and Grand Slam finalist Dominika Cibulkova announced her retirement, and the release of her memoir.
Photo Source: AP
Former World No.4 and Australian runner-up Dominika Cibulkova has announced her retirement from tennis.
The 30-year-old Slovakian star has been away from the sport since Roland Garros, but did not make her retirement official until this week when she posted a statement on Instagram.
“After a lot of thinking, talks, and support from my family, friends, and my team, I have finally decided that I will not be returning to the courts as a competitive player,” Cibulkova wrote. “It is a moment filled with so many feelings—sadness, fear of the unknown, but also excitement of what life will bring in the future.”
Today, with mixed feelings, I have special news to share with you all. As you know I haven’t been playing tournaments for several months. What started as a recurring Achilles injury, developed into one of the most difficult moments in my life – deciding on what to do with my tennis career. After a lot of thinking, talks, and support from my family, friends, and my team, I have finally decided that I will not be returning to the courts as a competitive player. It is a moment filled with so many feelings - saddness, fear of the unknown, but also excitement of what life will bring in the future. I was one of the luckiest kids to stumble upon the road of a tennis player thanks to my wonderful parents and I will be forever grateful for their unconditional support. They did everything possible to keep me moving forward no matter how big the obstacles that stood in the way. I was also very fortunate to have a whole « village » of wonderful people around me who helped shape my career and help me achieve goals and dreams that children dream about. I am chosing today as the day I announce my retirement from tennis because this is also a day on which my biography is being launched with all of the details about my career. Writing the book was a journey on its own because it also brought lots of emotions and took a significant effort to open up about my personal life. I am honored to share this special book with all my fans. I am looking forward to step into the next part of my life and take on new challenges, spend happy times with my family, friends, making new friends, visiting new places, and making new memories. I will miss the support of my fans on the tennis court but will never forget you because tennis will always be a part of me. Pomeeee ;) New chapter begins now…. ❤️
A post shared by Dominika Cibulkova (@domicibulkova) on
The fiery Slovakian was one of the fiercest competitors on the WTA Tour and she made a habit of routinely punching above her weight. In 2009 she reached her first major semifinal by demolishing Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-2.
It was a vintage, dominant performance by the Slovakian against a woman nearly a foot taller than her. And it was one of a seemingly never-ending stream of impassioned thumpings handed out by Cibulkova.
In total, Cibulkova notched five wins over reigning World No.1 players and 20 Top five wins. She won the WTA Finals title in 2016, just a year over undergoing achilles surgery. Cibulkova notched a career-best 55 wins in 2016, but it was 2014 when she had her best performance at a major in Australia.
Cibulkova defeated four Top 20 players in a row before falling to Li Na in the finals.
She won 80 Grand Slam main draw matches and reached the last eight at a Slam on eight different occasions.
Cibulkova owns eight WTA titles, won 450 WTA matches and earned over $13 million in prize money.
At 5’3” tall Cibulkova may have been at a size disadvantage but what she lacked in stature she made up for with her passion for competition and her indomitable will. On a week-to-week, match-to-match basis, there aren’t many players on tour that gave as much or fought as hard as Cibulkova.
“I was never a person who wanted to prove people wrong,” Cibulkova told David Kane of WTATennis.com in an interview this week. “I knew I was good, so I wasn’t trying to play for strangers. Singapore was the moment where I could say, ‘This is why I was playing tennis my whole life.’”
Cibulkova’s memoir, “Tennis is My Life,” was released in Slovakia on Tuesday.
“I am choosing today as the day I announce my retirement from tennis because this is also a day on which my biography is being launched with all of the details about my career,” she wrote. “Writing the book was a journey on its own because it also brought lots of emotions and took a significant effort to open up about my personal life.”