Maria Jose Martinez Announces Retirement from Professional Tennis

Spain's Maria Jose Martinez has announced her retirement from professional tennis at the age of 37. The Spaniard, who played for 22 seasons on the tour, is best known for her stellar doubles career - she has won 21 WTA doubles titles including the season-ending WTA Finals in 2009 with Nuria Llagostera, according to Marca.

She also did well in singles, where she has won 5 titles, including Bogota and Bastad in 2009, Rome in 2010 and Bad Gastein and Seoul in 2011. She peaked at No. 4 in the WTA doubles rankings and No. 19 in singles. She also won 11 singles and 4 doubles titles on the ITF circuit. In singles, she reached the third round of all the four Grand Slam events at least once in her career.

In doubles, she reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2010 and 2012; and the US Open in 2012. She also reached the quarter-finals at both the other Grand Slam tournaments - twice at the Australian Open and thrice at Wimbledon.

Martinez, who became a mother in 2014, also represented Spain in the Olympics in Beijing 2008 and London 2012 and at the Hopman Cup. She ended 2019 with a ranking of No. 34 and also won 2 titles this season - Rabat (with Sara Sorribes Tormo), Bronx (with Darija Jurak).

Martinez announced her decision with the following statement - "I announce that I have made the decision to complete my career. They have been many years dedicated to something that I love and I can only thank everyone who has accompanied me to along the way. Glad to close a stage and start a new one. Satisfied with what was achieved and eager to undertake new adventures. Thanks for everything, and good luck."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/364EzVy