Kvitova triumphed at the All England Club in 2011 and 2014, claimed a total of 31 WTA Tour titles and reached a career-high of second in the world rankings.<\/p>\n
“I wanted to put out a better performance but it was tough to know that maybe it was my last one – [I’m] emotional,” Kvitova said on court afterwards.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
“It’s been a long and amazing journey.”<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, French former world number four Caroline Garcia also brought her career to an end after a 6-4 4-6 6-3 defeat by Kamila Rakhimova at Flushing Meadows.<\/p>\n
Kvitova has been a fan favourite for many years thanks to her huge groundstrokes and booming left-handed serve.<\/p>\n
There were fears her career would end prematurely after she was stabbed in her left hand by an intruder at her home in 2016.<\/p>\n
The attack damaged tendons and nerves in her playing hand but she returned to playing in June 2017 and went on to reach the Australian Open final two years later.<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
In recent years she has fallen down the rankings and last made the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam in 2020.<\/p>\n
Kvitova missed the entire 2024 season to have her son, Petr, and only returned to action in February.<\/p>\n
It took her five tournaments to register her first victory – which came against Irina-Camelia Begu on clay in Rome in May – but that was her only win since becoming a mother.<\/p>\n
Almost two months on from bidding a tearful goodbye to Wimbledon<\/a> – which she called her “special place” – Kvitova called time on her career at the tournament where she twice reached the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n After quickly going down a break against world number 107 Parry, she rallied to reach 40-0 on serve then saved a break point to get her first game on the board.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n But that proved to be her only success in a one-sided first set that Parry wrapped up in just 25 minutes.<\/p>\n Kvitova exited the court between sets to regroup – already visibly emotional at the prospect of this being her last match – but the second followed a similar pattern.<\/p>\n Winning just four points behind her own serve, Kvitova suffered a second-set bagel as Parry saw out a clinical victory.<\/p>\n “Since I wake up this morning, I felt it. I felt it would be not good,” Kvitova added.<\/p>\n “I couldn’t eat. I was really nervous. couldn’t move, I couldn’t swing, I couldn’t do anything.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n “It was really difficult but I’m glad I did it.”<\/p>\n ‘Time to move on’ for Garcia Garcia won the French Open doubles title twice alongside partner Kristina Mladenovic [Getty Images]<\/p>\n Garcia, who had her best Grand Slam singles result in New York with a semi-final showing in 2022, announced in May that it was “time to move on” from tennis.<\/p>\n The 31-year-old has spoken openly about her mental health struggles, ending her 2024 season early after being left “exhausted” by anxiety and panic attacks<\/a>.<\/p>\n As well as managing a shoulder injury, Garcia said she had been suffering from the mental toll of life on the tennis tour.<\/p>\n Despite winning 11 WTA Tour singles titles and two Grand Slam doubles trophies in her career, Garcia said she was fixated on her failures, rather than her successes.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n![\"Caroline](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/060051b5de158f9de538aa8f0f527822.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n