WTA celebrates Angelique Kerber as she retires from professional tennis

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Germany’s Angelique Kerber, a three-time Grand Slam champion and former WTA World No.1, played the last match of her professional tennis career Wednesday in Paris. Having announced last week that the Olympic Games would be her final tournament, the 36-year-old bowed out in the quarterfinals against China’s Zheng Qinwen, the No.7 seed. Partnering Laura Siegemund, her doubles campaign ended Tuesday in the first round, at the hands of Great Britain’s Katie Boulter and Heather Watson.

Born in Bremen, Germany on Jan. 18, 1988, Kerber made her professional debut in qualifying at Berlin in 2003. Her WTA main-draw debut followed in 2006 at Hasselt, and she contested her first Grand Slam main draw at Roland Garros in 2007 — the year she broke into the Top 100 for the first time.

While Kerber reached her first WTA singles final at Bogotá in 2010, her career really kicked into gear at the US Open in 2011 when, ranked No.92, she broke through to the semifinals having never previously been past the third round of a major. Keeping her momentum into 2012, the lefthander won her first WTA title at Paris [Indoors] and a second trophy at Copenhagen, while also reaching finals at Eastbourne and Cincinnati to secure the first of three Top 5 season finishes.

From then on, consistency became the hallmark of Kerber’s career. Between 2012 and 2018, she won more matches than any other WTA player and finished in the Top 10 six of seven years.

During that period, highlights included winning her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in 2016, where she saved a match point against Misaki Doi in the first round and ultimately defeated No.1-ranked Serena Williams in a thrilling three-set final.

The first German to win a major since Stefanie Graf at Roland Garros in 1999, Kerber maintained her trajectory through the summer of 2016. She reached her first Wimbledon final, falling to Serena Williams, and collected a silver medal at the Rio Olympics, where Monica Puig took home the gold. Three weeks after losing to Karolina Pliskova in the final at Cincinnati, Kerber turned the tables on the Czech in the final at the US Open for her second Grand Slam title.

Just the second woman, after Li Na, to win her first two Grand Slam titles after turning 28, Kerber duly became (on Sept. 12, 2016) the oldest player to make her debut as WTA World No.1 — a position she held for 34 weeks. She rounded out her banner season by reaching the championship match at the WTA Finals in Singapore, and although she was edged by Dominika Cibulkova for the title, Kerber finished the year as No.1 with a tour-leading 63 match-wins, including 12 of her eventual career total of 43 wins over Top 10 opponents.

All up, seven of Kerber’s 14 titles (from 32 finals) came on hard courts, four on clay and three on grass — including a cherished Wimbledon triumph in 2018, where she became just the second player (after Venus Williams) to defeat Serena in two Grand Slam finals. On the Hologic WTA Tour she enjoyed success on home soil, twice capturing the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart (2015-16) as well as the 2021 Bad Homburg Open, a tournament she helped create. Her last title win came at Strasbourg, on clay, in 2022.

“Angie’s dedication to the sport of tennis produced results that define her as one of the great players of a highly competitive era,” said Steve Simon, Executive Chairman of the WTA. “Alongside her many memorable performances on court, she has been an outstanding role model for young people and fans around the world, all while making significant contributions to growing the sport. On behalf of the WTA family, I wish her only great happiness and success as she embarks on the exciting new journey ahead of her.”

Named both WTA Singles Player of the Year and ITF World Champion in 2016, Kerber is a four-time Olympian. In Billie Jean King Cup play she competed in 17 ties and was a member of the German side that reached the final against Czech Republic in 2014. After giving birth to her daughter, Liana, in February 2023 Kerber returned to action as part of Germany’s victorious United Cup team at Sydney in January 2024.

She leaves the game with a win-loss record of 683-378 (.644). Among active players, only Venus Williams has won more matches. Kerber is one of nine women to take home more than $30 million in prize money ($32,519,180).