SerpApi.Org
Right before the start of the 2017 tennis season, 29-year-old Ana Ivanovic stunned the sports world when she announced her abrupt retirement.
Ivanovic was the French Open winner in 2008, and when she decided to call it quits, she was still in her prime and regarded as one of the best tennis players in the sport, making things even more shocking.
Almost a decade later, Ivanovic has now opened up on her decision to retire, and she said she dealt with health issues, specifically panic attacks.
Ivanovic appeared on Neuspjeh prvaka, a popular Croatian show, and she detailed what went into her retirement decision.
The quotes were also translated and shared on the Tennis Photos X page.
“During the last years of my career, I experienced very severe panic attacks whenever I had to walk onto the court. I never talked about it, but the panic attacks were incredibly intense,” Ivanovic said.
“People would wonder what suddenly happened in the middle of a match, why my game would fall apart but the truth is that I’d be overcome by panic and simply couldn’t go on. Then I’d be overwhelmed by the fear of having to go out and play in front of people again the next day.”
Ivanovic was grateful for the opportunity as well to tell her story after such a long time.
“Thank you. It’s an honor to be here today. I haven’t had much opportunity to talk about everything, so it’s a pleasure to share my story.”
It was quite a shock to everybody at the time, but she has now revealed what led the decision to walk away from the sport. At one point after the French Open win, she was the top-ranked player in the world.
Ivanovic also won 12 WTA Tour singles titles, and she was still playing well before announcing her retirement in December 2016. She also admitted that injuries prevented her from getting back to the top ranking, and she also said that she knew beforehand she wouldn’t have that ling of a career.
“It had been building for a long time. I remember that when I was in my twenties, I said I wasn’t the kind of person who would play until I was 40. That never appealed to me because I knew there were other things I wanted to do in life,” Ivanovic added.
Still, the tennis career for Ana Ivanovic is a strong one, and one can only imagine what she would’ve accomplished if she continued to play instead of retiring at the age of 29.
