In those last moments, as she prepared to step off Wimbledon’s Court 18 and away from the only life she has ever known, Anett Kontaveit paused.
“Thank you,” she mouthed, hands clasped to her chest, as she soaked up the crowd’s applause, turning to gaze wistfully at all four sides of the court. Then, with a final glance back over her shoulder – as much, perhaps, at the past 27 years of her life as her immediate surroundings – she turned on her heel and was gone.
“There’s sadness, there’s happiness, there’s a bit of everything,” said Kontaveit, who is retiring because of a chronic back injury, after her 6-1, 6-2 defeat to the Czech Republic’s Marie Bouzkova.
“It was incredible to have Court 18 full of people, so many people cheering for me.
“Of course, the match didn’t go the way I wanted it to, but I was so happy to be able to play in front of so many people, that so many people that love me were able to see me play for the last times in singles.”
Although she remains in the mixed doubles alongside Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori, it felt like a fitting farewell for Kontaveit, an understated Estonian who was ranked No 2 in the world this time last year.
For all her success, Kontaveit has never craved the limelight. Even when she was scheduled on Court 6 in the opening round, raising the possibility that she would play the final match of her career on a stage with just a few scattered benches for spectators, her reaction barely ranged beyond mild disappointment.
“I do hope to get a bigger court next time,” she said. “I was not expecting to play on Centre Court or a huge court anyway. It’s their decision and [there’s] nothing I can do about it.”
That kind of humility is one of the qualities that has made Kontaveit a firm favourite in the locker room. First to congratulate her on a career that reached its zenith with a remarkable late-season flourish in 2021, when she won titles in Cleveland, Ostrava, Moscow and Cluj-Napoca to break into the top eight and qualify for the season-ending WTA finals, was Bouzkova, who embraced her warmly at the net.
“Congratulations for your incredible career, Anett,” Bouzkova, the 32nd seed, later wrote on Instagram. “You will be missed and we all wish to see you come back.”
Those sentiments were widely echoed.
“Congratulations on your career and thank you for every memory,” wrote Iga Swiatek, the world No 1.
“Anett, my friend, your joy, your warmth and energy will be missed,” said Ons Jabeur, the sixth seed, in a Twitter post. “Congratulations on an amazing career. Thank you for all the memories. Lots of love.”
Kontaveit, who is studying psychology at Indiana University, said she hoped to remain connected to tennis in her native Estonia, although she has no specific plans at this stage. Given the emotional nature of her final singles match, which ended with both Kontaveit and her mother Ülle in tears, that seems entirely understandable.
Kontaveit’s most notable results came at the 2020 Australian Open, where she was a quarter-finalist, and at the WTA Finals the following year, where she was beaten in the final by Garbiñe Muguruza. However, Kontaveit, who won the last of her six titles in St Petersburg on Valentine’s Day 2022, said her maiden title, which came in s’Hertogenbosch in 2017, would remain her most cherished memory.
“I think nothing beats winning a tournament, so I’d say winning my first WTA tournament,” said Kontaveit.
The Estonian’s retirement comes after a degenerative condition in her lower spine left her unable to train or compete without pain. Unable to sit or stand in the same position for long periods, she is hopeful that her decision to stop will afford her greater comfort in everyday life.
“Now I feel at peace with it, but it was definitely difficult before, especially right before the announcement,” Kontaveit told the WTA. “It was very hard. I was just sad and upset. It’s been my whole life. This is what I’ve done for most of the 27 years that I’ve lived.
“It was a difficult thing to process. But one day I woke up, and I was feeling happy again. I think time sort of helped me come to terms with it.”