Dominika Cibulkova retires at 30

Cape Town - Slovakian tennis player Dominika Cibulkova has announced her retirement at the age of 30.

She was ranked as high as No 4 in the world and claimed eight career WTA titles.

Other highlights included making the 2014 Australian Open final and the 2009 French Open semi-finals.

Cibulkova has not played tennis since this year’s French Open due to an Achilles injury which prompted her retirement.

"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 - sadness, fear of the unknown, but also excitement of what life will bring in the future," she wrote on Instagram.

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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 Nov 12, 2019 at 8:13am PST