Two-time French Open doubles champion Anabel Medina Garrigues will play her final competitive match at the US Open later this year before retiring from the sport.
The 36-year-old made the announcement during a press conference on Friday morning. Medina Garrigues has been troubled by a shoulder injury in recent years and hasn’t played a match on the tour since the Mallorca Open. During her career, she has reached the top 20 in both singles and doubles. Winning a total of 39 WTA titles since 2001, of which 11 of those have happened in the singles.
“After the elimination of the Federation Cup in April, I played again (with Arantxa Parra) in the Mutua Madrid Open. We played in Rome, Roland Garros and Mallorca.” She said at the start of her announcement.
“It is true that I would to have liked to be able to play more, but my shoulder, although it is much better, it is not 100 per cent and I have to respect my partner because it would be selfish to continue this way. So I have decided to end my career at the US Open.”
Medina Garrigues is expected to still be involved in tennis beyond her retirement. At the end of 2017 she was named the captain of the Spanish Fed Cup team. During her injury absence last year, the Spaniard was briefly the coach of Jelena Ostapenko. The two shared the same agent and it was Ostapenko that made the offer to work together. Their collaboration only lasted six months, but during that time Medina Garrigues guided the Latvian to her first grand slam title at the French Open.
“What she did was something unbelievable,” she told The New York Times about Ostapenko’s triumph in Paris. “It was a big surprise for everybody, because she came here as No. 46 in the world. She was not in anyone’s plans of who wins the tournament — that’s true, we’re realistic about that.”
Wanting to resume her career, the Spaniard end her work with Ostapenko last October. Only for the Spanish Tennis Association to present her the Fed Cup role with the flexibility to allow her to continue playing on the tour.
Medina Garrigues’ decision to end her career after the US Open will coincide with the 20th anniversary of when she made her professional debut on the ITF Tour.
