WATCH: Kontaveit Tears Up In Press Conference After Retiring At 27
WTAThursday, 06 July 2023 at 22:03
Updated at Saturday, 10 May 2025 at 13:16
Anett Kontaveit played her final singles match at Wimbledon on Thursday, July 6th, and she was tearful at the press conference after the match.
Kontaveit's last match at Wimbledon proved why she can't keep playing with the condition that she has. Severely hampered by her back pain, the Estonian wasn't able to do much in her final career match on the WTA Tour, but she hit the ball as hard as she could, hoping it would stay in the court.
It didn't, as she made 36 unforced errors in a match that had 15 games in total. A quick match that she won't remember that fondly outside of the fan reception, and also a very teary press conference, particularly towards the end.
Luckily, the organizers gave her a chance to say goodbye on one of the better outer courts with fans in attendance as opposed to the previous decisions. She called the experience amazing, to have so many people cheer for her, even though the match didn't go her way.
"Yeah, it was incredible to have Court 18 full of people, so many people cheering for me. Yeah, it was incredible to have Court 18 full of people, so many people cheering for me."
Kontaveit is not done with tennis entirely as of now, as she has yet to play mixed doubles with Emil Ruusuvuori, and that might likely be her final match in tennis altogether.
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"Yeah, when I stand up for too long or sit down for too long in the same position, it starts bothering me. So also."
The degenerative disc disease that she has is causing her problems in her life already, let alone if she kept playing and possibly made it worse. She once again talked about the impact it has on her life, hoping that things will be better without tennis.
"I do hope that if I don't give it that much load with the exercises -- not exercises, but with tennis and the movement that is involved with tennis, it will feel better in everyday life. I hope so. I don't actually know."
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