This morning Esther Vergeer announced on Twitter she is retiring from tennis with immediate effect. She will hold a press conference at 1pm at the ABN AMRO WTT tournament. At this mens tournament she's is the tournament director of the wheelchair event. She'll also be launching her official biography today.
It's sad that she's leaving the sport. She can be very proud of her run of 470 matches during a 10 year time span. Olympic gold at four Olympic games and 27 grand slam victories.
I pretty much knew this for a while - she spoke about her doubts very openly at an interviewsession I was at and in a documentary on Dutch tv. But to actually take the decision was very tough for her. Guess she just needed time.
What she has meant for Paralympic sport can not be underestimated. And she will continue to work for the visibility and acceptation of Paralympic athletes. Through Team Parastars, through the Esther Vergeer Foundation and in other ways. We'll see a lot more of her! At least in the Netherlands we will.
Esther also said she will do some basketball (which she did at a high level until she had to choose between that and tennis) and athletics, "for fun, and if it goes well, we'll see." :lol: