Former US Open finalist Roberta Vinci (Italy) will end her career as a tennis pro after her home tournament in Rome starting Monday.
This was confirmed by the 35-year-old on Saturday. Vinci’s biggest individual success was her participation in the 2015 Flushing Meadows final, in which she lost the Italian duel against Flavia Pennetta. In doubles she managed the career grand slam with countrywoman Sara Errani.
“The time has come to stop,” said Vinci, who will meet qualifier Aleksandra Krunic in Rome on Monday: “There is no particular reason. You get older. It is more difficult to train and find new challenges. “It takes more and more time to recover from a match.” Vinci wants to stay in the tennis world as a coach.
So far she has won ten individual tournaments on the WTA Tour. With Errani, she also celebrated triumphs at all four Grand Slam tournaments in Melbourne (2013 and 2014), Paris (2012), Wimbledon (2014) and New York (2012). Currently Vinco is only 168th in the world. She reached her highest position two years ago with seventh place, in doubles she was even world number one.