Philipp Kohlschreiber to retire after 2022 Wimbledon
ATP
Philipp Kohlschreiber has announced that he will retire from professional tennis after the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, ending his 21-year career in the sport.
Kohlschreiber's professional tennis journey began in 2001 when he started playing regularly on the ATP Tour. It wasn't long before the German player started to make an impact, and he won his first-ever title at the BMW Open in Munich during the 2007 season.
He performed at the top level for most of his career and reached an ATP ranking high of 16th in the 2012 season. Moreover, the 38-year-old won eight ATP titles in total, with five coming in his homeland of Germany.
Kohlschreiber's last title came in 2017 when he won at the Kitzbuhel Open in Austria. Despite a strong and lengthy career on the ATP Tour, Kohlschreiber has struggled to maintain his high levels of performance in recent seasons.
In 2021, he only played 16 matches and won seven, while he has only featured in four matches so far during the 2022 campaign and lost three. Following his first qualifying round match at Wimbledon, Kohlschreiber officially announced that he would retire after the grass-court Grand Slam.
It seems a fitting end as the German achieved his best finish at a major during the 2012 Wimbledon. He made the quarter-finals before losing to fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who also retired earlier in 2022.
"Funny story. It’s the first time for me in Roehampton. It’s been a great and wonderful career. It’s gonna to be my last tournament. I’m gonna stop after Wimbledon 2022 and so I’m pretty happy that I have another match here. Maybe I’ll make it to the main draw."
Few players maintain a career in professional sports like Kohlschreiber's, and he can reflect on a journey with many highlights. However, while some players know immediately that they want to move into coaching or punditry after retirement, Kohlschreiber admitted that he has no such plans for the future.
Instead, the experienced German play is just aiming to make the most of each match at Wimbledon and he will try to go as far as possible in his final Grand Slam appearance.
"I don’t really yet have a plan. I just want to finish. For sure it's going to be special moment. I didn't want to say it's going to be my last season. I just try to enjoy every match. It’s been a very long journey. I have great memories."
