6 notable tennis retirements in 2020: Maria Sharapova, Caroline Wozniacki, the Bryans & others bid goodbye
With the 2020 season having come to an end, it's a good time to recap some of the notable ATP & WTA players who called time on their careers this year. And while some players have come out of retirement in the past, it remains to be seen if any of this year's retirees will be seen back in competitive action in the future.
1. Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova announced her retirement from the sport at the age of 32 following her first round loss at the 2020 Australian Open.
During her glittering 19-year-long career, the Russian won five Grand Slam singles titles (one of just 10 women to complete the career Grand Slam) and 39 titles overall (36 in singles and three in doubles). Ranked No. 1 in the world for a total of 21 weeks, Sharapova she also won the silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics and was part of the Russian Fed Cup winning squad in 2008.
Sharapova is widely regarded as one of the most gritty competitors ever seen on the women's tour. She never threw in the towel no matter how adverse the situation, and made a habit of turning around seemingly hopeless situations.
The Russian was also a true marketing behemoth. Her metamorphosis - from giggly 17-year-old Wimbledon champion, to glamour girl, to the highest-paid female athlete in the world and finally to entrepreneur and businesswoman, has been nothing short of remarkable.
Some will always mark an asterisk on her career achievements due to her doping ban for 15 months between 2016-2017. But not many would have served out their ban and pursued a comeback with the same dogged determination like the Russian did.
Sharapova continues to be a top draw among fans, sponsors and business partners, even after her retirement. And that is perhaps the best reflection of her on and off-court legacy, which she continues to write in her post-tennis career.
2. Caroline Wozniacki
In an era of big-babe tennis, Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki showed the world that there was still space for counter-punchers at the top of the game. Wozniacki was the year-end No. 1 in 2010 and 2011, and she held the top spot for a total of 71 weeks.
She won her only Grand Slam singles title at the 2018 Australian Open, becoming the first Dane to ever do so. Having also reached two US Open finals (2009 and 2014) and clinched the season-ending WTA Finals once (in 2017), Wozniacki ended her career with 30 singles titles and two doubles titles.
In October 2018, Wozniacki announced that she had been diagnosed with the auto-immune disease rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Although her results were never the same after the diagnosis, she continued her career in hopes of becoming a role model for people with RA.
Unlike Sharapova, Wozniacki had announced much earlier that the 2020 Australian Open would be her final tournament. She got a chance to bid farewell to her fans on the court after her third-round loss to Ons Jabeur in Melbourne.
No one can deny that Wozniacki maximized her potential on the court; the Dane always gave her best, and always punched above her weight. And as seen by her public appearances in recent months - she has also partnered with UCB on Advantage Hers - Wozniacki is going about her post-retirement life with the same determination and gusto as she did her pro career.
3. Julia Goerges
Julia Goerges announced her retirement from the sport in October, after a 15-year career during which she peaked at No. 9 in singles and No. 12 in doubles.
A winner of seven singles and five doubles titles on the WTA tour (including the year-end 2017 WTA Elite Trophy), Goerges also reached the Wimbledon 2018 singles semifinal and the French Open 2014 mixed doubles final. Besides that, she made the fourth round at all the other Majors in singles, and the doubles semifinals at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
The German didn't quite scale the heights of her more accomplished countrywomen such as Angelique Kerber. But the outpouring of affection for the 32-year-old when she announced her retirement was strong evidence of her friendly nature and remarkable professionalism.
4. The Bryan brothers
No team has done as much for the doubles game in recent times as the chest-bumping Bryan Brothers. Mike and Bob Bryan are the most successful team of all time in men's doubles, with more match wins, ATP titles, Masters trophies, year-end triumphs and Grand Slams than any other men's duo.
As a team, the Bryans have won a record 119 tour titles (the second team on the list are Mark Woodforde / Todd Woodbridge with 61) and 16 men's doubles Majors (Mike has 18 Slams as Bob Bryan missed the second half of the 2018 season due to a hip surgery). Between them, Mike and Bob have also won 11 mixed doubles Slams.
The Bryans have also held the World No. 1 doubles ranking jointly for 438 weeks (Mike has been ranked No. 1 for a total of 506 weeks). They also finished as the ATP year-end No. 1 doubles team a record 10 times (for comparison's sake, the singles record is six - jointly held by Novak Djokovic and Pete Sampras).
Mike and Bob are incredibly decorated Olympians too. They won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics and the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and were part of the American team that won the Davis Cup in 2007.
Although they had originally planned to end their career in front of their home fans at the 2020 US Open, the pandemic and the tour shutdown led to a change in their plans. The Bryans announced their retirement just a few days before the US Open in August, bringing to an end a glorious epoch in men's tennis.
5. Ekaterina Makarova
Ekaterina Makarova announced her retirement in January this year, at the age of 31. It is pertinent to note, however, that she hadn't competed on the tour since February 2019.
Despite the considerable success that she achieved in both singles and doubles, Makarova remained fairly under the radar among the Russian women on the tour.
She peaked at No. 8 in singles, having reached the semifinals at the US Open and the Australian Open and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. But it was in doubles that Makarova excelled, reaching the World No. 1 spot and winning three Grand Slams in women's doubles and one in mixed doubles.
The southpaw won the women's doubles gold medal at the 2016 Rio Games with countrywoman Elena Vesnina, before adding the WTA Finals title to her collection that same year. Makarova was also part of the Russian squad that won the Fed Cup title in 2008.
6. Steve Darcis
The 2020 Australian Open also marked the last event for Belgium's Steve Darcis, who won two ATP singles titles in his career. Darcis achieved his career-high ranking of No. 38 in May 2017 at the age of 33, which made him the third-oldest player to debut in the top 40 since 1975.
Darcis' biggest moments have come playing for his country in the Davis Cup. He played a crucial role in Belgium reaching the finals in 2015 and 2017, clinching semifinals wins in both years.
However, Darcis is perhaps best known for his shock win over Rafael Nadal in the first round of the 2013 Wimbledon Championships. That marked Nadal's first-ever opening round Slam exit, and it also made Darcis the lowest-ranked player ever to beat the Spaniard at a Major.
Darcis' best Slam performances were third-round appearances at the Australian Open and the French Open in singles, and reaching the quarterfinals of the French Open in doubles.
Some of the others who announced their retirement in 2020 include Australia's Jessica Moore, Sweden's Johanna Larsson, Japan's Rika Fujiwara, Georgian-American Anna Tatishvili, Americans Jamie Hampton and Vania King, Spain's Silvia Soler-Espinosa, Brazil's Teliana Pereira, France's Pauline Parmentier, Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova and Colombia's Santiago Giraldo.
2020 was also supposed to to be the final season for Leander Paes. However, the pandemic-caused shutdown has led the Indian to leave the door ajar for 2021, especially since he has a chance to play in another edition of the Olympics.
Carla Saurez Navarro was also due to end her career this year, before the pandemic and then her illness struck. The Spaniard was recently seen practicing even as she continues her treatment for cancer, and in a recent interview she expressed hope of bidding farewell on the court.