With emotional words addressed to her sport, former wimbledon semi-finalist julia gorges has ended her career.
"Dear tennis," wrote the 31-year-old longtime german number two next to a photo from childhood tennis hits: "i’ve always known i’d feel it when the right time came to say tschuss to you – the moment is here."She is ready to "close the chapter on tennis and open a new one", which she is very much looking forward to.
In the midst of the coronavirus crisis, julia gorges, who lives in regensburg, decided to retire from tennis. Ten years after winning her first of seven titles on the WTA tour and a good two years after reaching the semifinals at wimbledon, she has decided to retire from tennis. After the months-long tournament break, gorges only played in rome and at the french open, but lost early in the first and second rounds. The second-round loss in paris to her swabian opponent laura siegemund was her final match.
German tennis loses a player from the golden generation around three-time grand slam winner angelique kerber, former wimbledon finalist sabine lisicki and former top ten player andrea petkovic. Former world number one kerber congratulated her longtime companion "on a great career" and said "something you can be proud of forever."They wish her "all the best for the exciting time that begins now."
Among the greatest moments of gorges’ career is the 2011 tournament win in stuttgart, germany. In 2014, she was part of the fed cup team that reached the final but lost to host czech republic in prague. In the summer of 2018, she entered the top ten as number nine in the world. She won her last title in auckland in 2019. The 1.80 meter tall athlete is currently ranked 45th in the world, and recently she has been in the news for a change of coach.
"In the fed cup, jule was an absolutely reliable and valuable team player," said former longtime fed cup team boss barbara rittner. Of course, the decision "causes her a certain melancholy," the german women’s tennis champion explained: "but i can very well understand that in these difficult times you think more intensively about the end of your career and then also take the step."Last december, doubles specialist anna-lena gronefeld had already quit.
When she started at five, she "never thought we would go such a long way together," gorges wrote to tennis. She is grateful that she has learned to "handle the toughest defeats" and "enjoy the toughest victories". "You will always be in my heart," she said.