{"id":547996,"date":"2026-04-24T09:17:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T09:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/547996\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T09:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T09:17:13","slug":"tennis-star-who-quit-to-become-lingerie-model-announces-shock-return-to-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/547996\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennis star who ‘quit to become lingerie model’ announces shock return to sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Italian tennis star has confirmed she will return to the WTA Tour in 2027 more than a year after the former world No. 26 suddenly retiredYasmin Syed Senior Tennis Correspondent and Ben Crawford<\/a> Senior Sports Writer<\/p>\n

08:51, 23 Apr 2026Updated 07:14, 24 Apr 2026<\/p>\n

\"Camila<\/p>\n

Camila Giorgi has announced her return to tennis(Image: Getty)<\/p>\n

Camila Giorgi has confirmed her comeback to professional tennis following an abrupt retirement.<\/p>\n

The Italian left the sport in 2024 and focused partly on a career in modelling. The former world No. 26 was unexpectedly listed as a retired player<\/a> on the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) website in May 2024, withdrawing herself from anti-doping testing protocols necessary to compete in professional tennis. However, she had not declared her retirement personally.<\/p>\n

Matters became complicated when the WTA revealed they had been unable to contact Giorgi, and during this period, Italian media reported that she had escaped her homeland of Italy for the United States<\/a>, as financial authorities attempted to question her regarding discrepancies in her tax returns. She subsequently rejected allegations of tax fraud.<\/p>\n

\"Camila<\/p>\n

The Italian began modelling while she was playing(Image: Instagram\/@camila_giorgi_official)<\/p>\n

JOIN US ON FB! Get all the best sports news and much more on our Facebook page<\/a><\/p>\n

Several days later, the former Wimbledon quarter-finalist issued a statement confirming her retirement and denouncing “inaccurate rumours about [her] future plans.” Giorgi and her father Sergio were also charged with stealing furniture from an Italian villa and departing without settling six months of rent.<\/p>\n

In October 2024, she featured on Italian TV programme Verissimo, refuting all claims of tax fraud and theft. Giorgi said: “The problems with the tax authorities? My family did not know about them, they were created by outside people who managed me and did this as a job.”<\/p>\n

Giorgi has been relishing life in retirement and no longer calls Italy home. Reports from when she initially hung up her racket suggested she wished to focus on her burgeoning career as a lingerie model<\/a>. Giorgi still uploads snaps from modelling shoots on her social media.<\/p>\n

\"Camilla<\/p>\n

Camilla Giorgi has nearly 700,000 followers on Instagram(Image: Instagram \/ @camila_giorgi_official)<\/p>\n

\"Camila<\/p>\n

Giorgi made the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2018(Image: Getty)<\/p>\n

She stayed connected to tennis and conducted interviews with tennis players on behalf of IEB+ at last year’s ATP 250 tournament in Buenos Aires. The 34-year-old has also recently revealed the launch of her own tennis camps.<\/p>\n

The former Canadian Open winner also wed former Argentine tennis player and coach Andrea Pasutti and they are expecting their first child, a boy. According to her Instagram bio, Giorgi and her husband are based in Mallorca.<\/p>\n

However, the 34-year-old is now plotting a return to the WTA Tour in 2027, confirming the news during an Instagram Q&A on Tuesday. One supporter asked: “Will you come back to tournament tennis in the future?” Giorgi responded: “Yes in 2027.”<\/p>\n

\"Camila<\/p>\n

Camila Giorgi poses on the beach(Image: Instagram\/@camila_giorgi_official)<\/p>\n

\"Camilla<\/p>\n

Camilla Giorgi has pursued a modelling career(Image: Instagram \/ @camila_giorgi_official)<\/p>\n

She went on to field questions about her planned comeback during the Q&A. Asked if she was staging a return, Giorgi said: “Yes, next year.” She also wrote: “Now I’m a coach, but I’m training for 2027.”<\/p>\n

When pressed about which tournaments she would compete in during 2027, the former world No. 26 replied saying: “I still don’t know.”<\/p>\n

Giorgi’s final match took place in March 2024, when she was defeated by Iga Swiatek at the Miami Open. A few weeks later, her retirement was confirmed on the ITIA’s website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This Italian tennis star has confirmed she will return to the WTA Tour in 2027 more than a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55,116],"class_list":{"0":"post-547996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom","13":"tag-wimbledon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}