She celebrated the greatest success of her career six years ago in Rio against Angelique Kerber. A golden future awaited her. But now Monica Puig is surprisingly ending her career because her body is on strike.
Rio Olympic champion Monica Puig ended her tennis career at the age of 28. The Puerto Rican, who gave her country the first ever gold medal in the final against Angelique Kerber in 2016, announced this on Instagram on Monday. “After three tough years with injuries and four surgeries, my body has had enough,” Puig wrote.
“For the past 28 years of my life, tennis has meant everything to me,” Puig continued: “It has given me some of the most exciting and memorable experiences. But sometimes good things come to an end. Today I announce my retirement from tennis.”
A few weeks after her Olympic victory, Puig had reached her best ranking of 27th in the world rankings. Most recently, however, she had dropped to 1171st place after not winning a game on the tour since October 2019. Puig played her last game in early May when she had to retire due to injury in the first round of Saint Malo.