{"id":333076,"date":"2025-12-07T16:08:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T16:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/333076\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T16:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T16:08:10","slug":"sorana-cirstea-wants-to-end-career-in-2026-on-her-own-terms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/333076\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorana Cirstea wants to end career in 2026 on her own terms"},"content":{"rendered":"

After nearly two decades on the WTA Tour, Sorana C\u00eerstea has made peace with something that once felt impossible: closing the chapter on her tennis career. Speaking candidly on the Tennis Insider Club<\/a> podcast with hosts Borja Duran and Caroline Garcia, the 34-year-old Romanian revealed why 2026 will be her final season \u2014 and how she wants to walk away not defeated, but fulfilled.A career stalled by pain: \u201cIt\u2019s very hard to find joy when you\u2019re constantly in pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

C\u00eerstea recalls the moment the warning signs became impossible to ignore. During a strong run in Dubai in early 2024, she first felt a familiar but worrying sensation in her foot. What seemed like routine inflammation turned out to be a stubborn case of plantar fasciitis. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t getting better. It was getting worse and worse,\u201d she explained. \u201cBy the time I got to clay, it was constant pain every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, she underwent surgery and stepped away for six months \u2014 time she hoped would answer whether she could still find joy in the sport.<\/p>\n

But the break also offered clarity. She still wanted to compete. She still wanted to feel adrenaline. And she wanted to finish her way. \u201cI want to end it with dignity, walking out the front door of the sport with my head held high,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t want tennis kicking me out and saying, \u2018You\u2019re not useful anymore.\u2019\u201d 2026, she decided, will be her last year.<\/p>\n

Unfinished dreams and new perspective<\/p>\n

When asked whether she thinks about the dreams she had at 20 \u2014 being No.1, winning Grand Slams \u2014 C\u00eerstea didn\u2019t hesitate. \u201cThis is the toughest question,\u201d she admitted. \u201cAnything less than No.1 or winning Slams felt like failure.\u201d<\/p>\n

For years, she carried that weight. The belief that anything she didn\u2019t achieve at 20 or 25 was a permanent mark against her. Now, she sees that pressure differently. “I\u2019ve had a beautiful career, but I didn\u2019t win Grand Slams and I wasn\u2019t No.1. I\u2019ve made peace with that,\u201d she said. \u201cI cannot change the past \u2014 but I can change today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her regrets aren\u2019t dramatic turning points or missed strategic decisions. It\u2019s the small things: being too hard on herself, isolating after losses, letting perfectionism drown out joy. \u201cIf I had done everything perfectly, maybe I would have been No.1,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve made plenty of mistakes. But I cannot live my life thinking only about what I didn\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finding gratitude without losing passion<\/p>\n

C\u00eerstea spent much of her career in an environment where praise was withheld in favor of relentless improvement. Match wins were analyzed for what went wrong, not what went right. Success was something to be immediately pushed aside in search of the next goal.<\/p>\n

But that mindset has changed.\u201cYou don\u2019t need to say, \u2018I\u2019m a piece of shit\u2019 to improve,\u201d she joked. \u201cYou can work very hard and still be proud and happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her gratitude is grounded in perspective. \u201cMy best ranking was 21. People would give anything for that,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat you’re complaining about is someone else’s dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team behind the player and why a psychologist changed everything<\/p>\n

One of the defining features of C\u00eerstea\u2019s late-career stability has been her long-term relationship with her psychologist \u2014 a woman now in her 80s. \u201cI always tell her, \u2018I\u2019m 35, I\u2019m so old,\u2019\u201d C\u00eerstea laughed. \u201cAnd she says, \u2018Sorana, you are a baby. You haven\u2019t even started living.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Those sessions helped remove the shame C\u00eerstea once attached to being \u201cover 30\u201d on tour. They helped her understand why she\u2019s still here \u2014 not because she has no life, but because she loves the life tennis has given her. \u201cPeople ask, \u2018Why are you still playing?\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cBecause it makes me happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 20-year career built on balance, not burnout<\/p>\n

C\u00eerstea\u2019s longevity \u2014 she will enter her 20th season in 2026 \u2014 is something she takes deep pride in. She credits, in part, her childhood: staying in school, playing other sports, and having space to grow as a person before becoming a professional.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom made me stay in school and I\u2019m so grateful,\u201d she said. \u201cSchool teaches structure, discipline, and to use your brain. Tennis ends one day \u2014 school prepares you for life.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s passionate about parents avoiding early specialization, pointing to players like Iga \u015awi\u0105tek, Petra Kvitov\u00e1, and Jannik Sinner as examples that there is no single path to greatness.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has their own timing,\u201d she said. \u201cDon\u2019t compare. Don\u2019t make your kid live like a little adult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Choosing her exit \u2014 and what comes next<\/p>\n

C\u00eerstea is remarkably at peace with her decision. Not because she\u2019s slowed down \u2014 she insists she still has goals for 2026 \u2014 but because she wants to leave with intention, clarity, and pride.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not tennis leaving me,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s me choosing to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

She wants fans to remember her not for rankings or trophies, but for something more intimate: her resilience, her honesty, her love of the game, and the joy she rediscovered after years of pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still want to give back something to the sport and to the fans,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I finish, I want to feel proud of the person I became.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After nearly two decades on the WTA Tour, Sorana C\u00eerstea has made peace with something that once felt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,64471,85,747,2637],"class_list":{"0":"post-333076","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sorana-cirstea","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tennis","13":"tag-wta"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}