Dominika Cibulkova Announces Retirement From Professional Tennis

Former World Number four, Dominika Cibulkova announced her retirement from professional tennis. The Slovakian star lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the opening round of Roland Garros 2019, since then she did not play a professional match. She broke the news at the debut signing of her book “Tennis Is My Life”.

“My last match was at Roland Garros. I wanted to take time to find out how I feel about it, and I feel that today is the perfect day to do it. I’ve thought about it for a long time and I’m excited about my new life,” she announced.

Cibulkova’s first of eight Tour titles came in Moscow (2011), where she defeated Kaia Kanepi in the finals. She has reached the finals of the Melbourne major and semifinals of French Open. Thrice she made it to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon and in 2010 she reached the last eight round at the US Open. 

The 2014 Australian Open finalist, Dominika Cibulkova collected only two victories in the 2019 season. In 2014, her career was peaking. She defeated Maria Sharapova, Simona Halep and Agnieszka Radwanska and set up an Australian Open final against Li Na.

In the midst of her Aussie Open success, she was featured on the cover of The Washington Post that week. That year, she won the Mexican Open title in Acapulco. Later, her quarterfinal victory over Agnieszka Radwanska at Sony Open in Miami opened her doors to the top-ten rankings on the WTA’s ladder.

Post that, Dominika Cibulkova dealt with injuries and she underwent an Achilles surgery in 2015. However, the Slovakian resurged as a champion in Katowice Open 2016 and Eastbourne International 2016.

She continued to be victorious at WTA Finals 2019 in Singapore.  She beat the then World Number one, Angelique Kerber in straight sets to claim the WTA Finals 2016 title in her first appearance at the tournament and became the fourth player (after Serena Williams in 2001, Maria Sharapova in 2004 and Petra Kvitova in 2011) to win the tournament on debut.