WTA celebrates Yanina Wickmayer as she retires from professional tennis

A US Open semifinalist and five-time singles champion, Yanina Wickmayer closes out a 20-year career with over 500 wins and a Billie Jean King Cup record for Belgium.

ST. PETERSBURG -- Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer, a five-time WTA singles champion and former World No.12, played the last singles match of her professional tennis career Monday at Wimbledon. After announcing in May that The Championships would be her final tournament, the 35-year-old bowed out in the first round against Renata Zarazua of Mexico. She remains in doubles contention, alongside Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova.

Wickmayer made her WTA qualifying debut on home soil at Hasselt in 2004. She rose to prominence in 2009, the year she captured her first two singles titles (Estoril, Linz) and advanced to the semifinals of the US Open, where Caroline Wozniacki ended her run. She was the recipient of that season's WTA Most Improved Player award and went on to attain her career-high ranking on April 19, 2010.

Contesting 11 Tour-level singles finals overall -- across all surfaces -- Wickmayer's subsequent titles came at Auckland in 2010, Tokyo [Japan Open] in 2015 and Washington, DC in 2016. She also won three doubles titles, most recently at Warsaw in 2023, partnering Heather Watson -- and as the mother of a daughter, Luana, who was born in April, 2021.

Among other highlights, Wickmayer posted nine successive Top 100 seasons (2008-16), registered five wins over Top 10 opponents (including Grand Slam winners Li Na, Petra Kvitova and Marion Bartoli) and holds the Belgian record (jointly with Sabine Appelmans) for most singles wins in Billie Jean King Cup play (25-10).

She leaves the game with a singles win-loss record of 535-373 (all levels) and career prize of more than $6 million.

Click here for more on Wickmayer’s distinguished career.

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