Conchita Martinez retires from professional tennis

The long shadow of Conchita Martinez

I'm a bit late with this: Martinez officially announced her retirement in Valencia on April 15, and unofficially announced it the week before. I remember hearing her say that she considered retiring a couple of years ago, but when she saw the women playing at the academy in Spain, she realized she wanted to keep playing. Now she is the victim of a serious foot injury, and is awaiting surgery, so she decided it was time to call it quits.

Though she won only one Grand Slam (Wimbledon, 1994, on the surface on which she was expected to have the least success), Martinez's career has been an outstanding one. The holder of 33 singles titles and 13 doubles titles, Martinez also won 174 matches at Grand Slam events. She was the finalist at the 1998 Australian Open and the 2000 French Open, and she reached Grand Slam semifinals nine times. She was an integral part of Spain's Fed Cup team for many years, leading Spain to ten finals. She also won three Olympic medals, and reached a career high of world number two in 1995.

Also in 1995, Martinez won the most singles matches of any player on the WTA tour, and played a 26-match clay streak. That year, she won four straight tournaments, then made it all the way to the French Open semifinals.

Martinez says that, pending the outcome of her surgery, she may return to the tour to play doubles only.