Johanna Konta: British former Wimbledon semi-finalist and world number four retires



Johanna Konta, a former world number four, has decided to retire.

Konta is the first British woman in 39 years to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals.

She made the last four at the Australian Open in 2016 and the French Open in the same year, and her best result at the US Open was a quarter-final run in 2019.

She made the announcement on social media, saying she was grateful for her career.

Konta was born in Australia to Hungarian parents and moved to the UK at the age of 14 to become the most successful British female player of her generation.

Konta was the only woman from the nation who had achieved a number of accomplishments for more than 30 years.

She won four titles on the WTA Tour and represented Britain in the Fed Cup, as well as her Grand Slam performances and ranking among the world's best.

Konta's future had been up in the air for a little while, as he struggled for form and fitness.

Konta lost in the quarter-finals of the US Open to Elina Svitolina, her only win in five majors.

At the Cincinnati Open in August, she lost to Czech Karolina Muchova in the first round.

She said in June that she would have to manage her knee issues for the rest of her career.

The coronaviruses have disrupted her career.

Konta was only able to play nine tournaments last season because of the tour being stopped in early 2020.

Konta showed some of her best form when she won theNottingham Open, leading to hopes that she could have another deep run at Wimbledon in July.

She got more bad luck. She was ruled out of the home Grand Slam on the eve of the tournament because one of her team tested positive for Covid, and she was also ruled out of the Olympics because she contracted the virus herself.

She has played in Montreal and Cincinnati.

Konta dropped out of the world's top 100 last month for the first time since 2015, as she was replaced by Emma Raducanu as British number one on the teenager's way to winning the US Open.

She posted that she had to live her dreams through her resilience and guidance. As a child, I had to become what I wanted. I count myself to be incredibly lucky.

More to come.