Philipp Kohlschreiber has won eight tournaments during his career. Now he will play his last tournament in Wimbledon – if he qualifies. He has no plans for the time after his active career.
The German tennis routine Philipp Kohlschreiber will end his long career at Wimbledon at the latest. The 38-year-old native of Augsburg announced this on Monday after winning the first round of qualifying for the grass classic. Kohlschreiber is currently only 230th in the world rankings and therefore has to qualify for the Wimbledon tournament in London. In the past few weeks he had already thought publicly about his imminent departure.
“It’s been a great and wonderful career. It will be my last tournament,” said Kohlschreiber, who is playing for a place in the main draw for the first time in Roehampton. “I’m happy that I still have a match here and maybe I’ll make it into the main draw,” said the former world number 16. after the 6:2, 6:2 against the French Grégoire Barrère. The next opponent is the also very experienced Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin. The matches in the main draw will start next Monday.
Kohlschreiber wants to “enjoy every match”
He doesn’t really have a plan for the time after his career, said Kohlschreiber. “I want to retire, and then for sure it will be a special moment in some way. I’m more of a quiet guy and I didn’t want to say that it will be my last season.” Now some people already know that it will be his last tournament. “I’ll try to enjoy every match. It’s been a very long journey, I have great memories, especially here,” said Kohlschreiber. “Maybe the last breath will be particularly long, we’ll see.”
The long-time German Davis Cup player has won eight tournaments in his career, winning the title three times on clay in Munich and once on grass in Halle. In Wimbledon he was in the quarterfinals in 2012, in the other three Grand Slam tournaments he made it to the round of 16.