Nicole Pratt retires from tennis
AN EMOTIONAL Nicole Pratt broke down last night after announcing her immediate retirement from tennis.Pratt, 34, made the snap decision to retire after suffering a crushing 6-1 6-3 loss to big-hitting Russian 14th seed Nadia Petrova in the first round.
After wrestling with the decision for more than a month, Pratt, who was contesting her 18th Open, finally pulled the pin on her career.
“Yep, this is it. Yep, last Australian Open, last match,” Pratt said.
“It’s an emotional day. I basically have no regrets. I pretty much did all I could. I gave it everything I had.”
Pratt said injury battles — she had knee surgery in October — had left her with no choice.
“I can’t compete against those players with one and a half legs,” said Pratt, who plans to take on a coaching role on the WTA Tour.
“I always said to myself if I can’t go out there and compete against the best players in the world, and feel like I can win, then I’m not interested in continuing to play. Today, that (loss) told me it was time.” Herald Sun