Not every tennis player has the luxury of choosing when to end their career.
Retirement is a big topic of conversation at the moment, with there currently many questions about when Djokovic will choose to end his career.
However, this is something that some players never had the choice to do, including Juan Martin del Potro who faced many years of struggle before retiring last year.
While they are very different situations, this draws similar parallels to a history-making WTA player who retired at just 27 years old.
Photo by Robert Prange/Getty ImagesAnett Kontaveit: The highest ranked Estonian player in tennis history
Anett Kontaveit is the greatest tennis player in Estonian history, reaching a career-high ranking of world number two.
Estonia did have previous success on the WTA Tour with Kaia Kanepi, who reached a career-high of world number 15, but Kontaveit took things to another level.
Born in 1995, Kontaveit would become a professional tennis player at just 14 years old.
Showcasing her great potential from a young age, Kontaveit became the first Estonian in history to reach the US Open girls final in 2012.
Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images for USTA
Kontaveit would continue this form onto the senior WTA Tour, winning her first title on the grass of ‘s-Hertogenbosch when she was 21 years old.
It was four years until she would win her next title, but in this time Kontaveit would enjoy runs to the final of the WTA 1000 tournament in Wuhan, as well as her best Grand Slam result when she reached the Australian Open quarterfinals in 2020.
As she began to find more consistency in her aggressive game style, Kontaveit would go on to enjoy her best year in 2021.
Kontaveit would go on an incredible run in the second half of the 2021 season, winning 29 of her last 33 matches that year.
This would include winning four titles, with her victory at the Transylvania Open securing her place in both the top 10 and the year-end WTA Finals.
YearTitlePlayer Kontaveit beat in the final2017Rosmalen Open (WTA 250 – Grass)Natalia Vikhlyantseva2021Tennis in the Land (WTA 250 – Outdoor Hard)Irina-Camelia Begu2021Ostrava Open (WTA 500 – Indoor Hard)Maria Sakkari2021Kremlin Cup (WTA 500 – Indoor Hard)Ekaterina Alexandrova2021Transylvania Open (WTA 250 – Indoor Hard)Simona Halep2022St. Petersburg Trophy (WTA 500 – Indoor Hard)Maria Sakkari
Qualifying for the WTA Finals was another historic moment for Estonia, as Kontaveit was the first woman or man to achieve this feat for the Baltic nation.
Despite making her debut at the prestigious event, Kontaveit was not prepared to just make up the numbers and continued her incredible run to reach the final in Guadalajara.
Kontaveit would lose to Garbine Muguruza in the final of the WTA Finals, but it was certainly a year to be celebrated.
Where Kontaveit particularly excelled was on indoor courts, and shortly after going on a 22-match winning streak with a roof over her head she would reach her career-high ranking of world number two.
However, this was one of the last career highlights for Kontaveit, who would subsequently go through a very challenging year that she was unable to come back from.
Why did Anett Kontaveit retire at 27 years old?
Kontaveit would struggle due to both illness and injury in 2022, and would be unable to surpass the second round of any of the Grand Slam tournaments.
This included a second round defeat at the US Open to the retiring Serena Williams, who would knock out the second seed on a raucous Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Things would go from bad to worse for Kontaveit, who would retire from her match at the Ostrava Open due to a back injury and call a premature end to her season.
Kontaveit would return to the WTA Tour for the start of 2023, but her back problem was still causing her issues and she subsequently released a statement after her first round loss at Roland Garros confirming her retirement at just 27 years old.
In this Instagram post, Kontaveit confirmed that it was the back problem that was forcing this decision and she would be playing her final tournament at Wimbledon.
She wrote at the time, “Today I am announcing that I am ending my career as a competitive athlete. After several doctor’s visits and consultations with my medical team, I have been advised that I have lumbar disc degeneration in my back.
“This does not allow for full-scale training or continued competition. Therefore, it is impossible to continue at the top level in such a highly competitive field.
“Tennis has given and taught me a lot, and I am very grateful for that. It has been important for me to bring the Estonian flag to the tennis courts and to be able to play in front of my supporters and fans all over the world.
“I am ready for new challenges after my last effort as a professional tennis player – to enjoy the game and compete as hard as I can at Wimbledon.”
Kontaveit would win one match at Wimbledon, before officially waving goodbye from the sport after losing to Marie Bouzkova.
Since retiring from professional tennis, Kontaveit has given birth to a son, Leon, and it appears that she has not completely turned her back on tennis.
At Roland Garros this year, Kontaveit played as part of the legends doubles tournament and she has also been announced to play the Luxembourg Masters event later this year.
Despite the way that her career came to an end, Kontaveit remains as the highest ranked player in Estonian tennis history and that does not appear to be changing anytime soon.