The German tennis veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber will end his long career at Wimbledon at the latest, announced the 38-year-old native of Augsburg 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 weeks before he had publicly thought about his imminent departure.
“Maybe I’ll make it to the main draw”
“It was 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 neighboring 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.
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 will try to enjoy every match. It was 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.