Anett Kontaveit didn't bow out of tennis in round one of Wimbledon but rather round two against Marie Bouzkova who was just too strong to overcome.
Ending your career at 27 rarely happens willingly and in the case of Anett Kontaveit, it certainly didn't. The Estonian player is only about two years removed from some of her best tennis ever as she was ranked number two following a superb run late in the season.
She won multiple trophies that year and booked a spot at the WTA Finals where she played well and reached the semi-final. In an interesting coincidence, Kontaveit faced Garbine Muguruza, a player who is also away from tennis right now, with the Spaniard winning the match and the trophy.
She's been in the sport for years after turning professional in 2010 posting some solid and consistent results. Since then Kontaveit won six trophies, five of which came in the last two years. She played in 17 finals in total including two WTA 1000 ones but only won six trophies.
Her best result on the Grand Slam level came in 2020 when she made it to the Australian Open quarter-final. In many ways, Kontaveit was seemingly entering the prime of her career ready to return to former glory after dealing with injuries last year.
She was excited about coming back to the sport but it was very short-lived. Ahead of Wimbledon, Kontaveit made the shocking announcement that she would be retiring from tennis after the event. A back injury which is degenerative simply makes it impossible for her to continue playing the sport at the level that she wants to.
Her final match came against Marie Bouzkova, a Czech player who had a really strong showing at the event last year. Beating her with a tight back was always going to be a tall order and she really didn't have any chance. The Czech player won the opening set 6-1 as Kontaveit was all over the place struggling with control.
Bouzkova plays somewhat defensively opting to absorb the power of her opponents and it worked out well against Kontaveit who was very aggressive by choice. She generally is but it was obvious that long rallies weren't an option for her making her play even more aggressive than usual.
She hit 8 winners in the first set but also had 18 unforced errors in only 7 games of play (2,5 per game). The second set was a bit more competitive but she once again struggled with control. Bouzkova calmly let her opponent take the initiative knowing that it was going to lead to a quick loss and ultimately it did.
In the end, the final score was 6-1 6-2 for Bouzkova who sent Kontaveit into retirement behind a 7 winner and 17 unforced errors effort. Kontaveit herself had 11 winners and 36 unforced errors never finding any control of the ball. She averaged 2.4 unforced errors per game (36 in 15 games of play).
An unfortunate and premature ending for Kontaveit just as her career was starting to blossom properly. She leaves tennis with 388 wins in her career, a career-high ranking of 2 held until last year and six trophies in total. Luckily, she got a chance to say goodbye on a seated court which was packed with fans after the scheduling controversy from earlier in the week.
She will compete with Emil Ruusuvuori in mixed doubles.
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