Monica Puig from Puerto Rico, the 2016 Olympic singles champion in Rio, announced Monday via social media that she was ending her 28-year-old career due to injuries and “enough” in her body.
Tennis has been my life for the past 28 years. It has provided me with some of my most memorable and thrilling experiences. Sometimes, however, good things must come to an end. Today I am announcing my retirement from tennis. She shared her feelings on social media, “After three years of fighting injuries and four surgeries,”
Puig won the final of Rio’s ladies’ singles at the expense German Angelique Kerber (then 2nd in the world), giving Puerto Rico its first Olympic gold medal in any sport.
She rose to 27th in WTA’s September 2016 ranking just a few weeks later.
She was ranked 1,171st, having not won any matches on the circuit since October 2019, when she reached the quarter-final at WTA 250 in Luxembourg.
In April, she attempted a comeback in Madrid where she lost to Danielle Collins (7-5 and 6-0). Then she was in Saint-Malo in France, where she lost in her first round to Fiona Ferro in the fourth. She was a consultant to the ESPN television channel at Roland-Garros.
