Kontaveit to retire after Wimbledon due to back injury

[June 20, 2023]   (Reuters) - Estonian Anett Kontaveit, who reached a career high of number two in the world last year, said she is retiring at the age of 27 due to a degenerative back injury and will play her final tournament at Wimbledon next month.

Tennis - Italian Open - Foro Italico, Rome, Italy - May 9, 2023 Estonia's Anett Kontaveit celebrates winning her round of 128 match against Alycia Parks of the U.S. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane/File Photo

Kontaveit cut her 2022 season short in October and took another two-month break in February to focus on the issue.

"After several doctor's visits and consultations with my medical team, I have been advised that I have lumbar disc degeneration in my back," she wrote on Instagram on Tuesday.

"This does not allow for full-scale training or continued competition. Therefore, it is impossible to continue at the top level in such a highly competitive field.

"I am ready for new challenges after my last effort as a professional tennis player - to enjoy the game and compete as hard as I can at Wimbledon."

Kontaveit, now ranked 79th in the world, exited the Australian Open in the second round and has not played since a first-round defeat at the French Open in May.

A quarter-final run at Melbourne Park in 2020 is her best Grand Slam result to date.

Kontaveit won four titles and reached the WTA Finals in a breakthrough 2021 season and was ranked world number two last September at the U.S. Open, where she lost to Serena Williams in the second round.

(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Hyderabad; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

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