Former US Open champion Jordanne Whiley announced her retirement from wheelchair tennis on Wednesday, bringing a professional career that lasted more than 15 years to a close.
Having not played since the conclusion of the US Open Wheelchair Compeition presented by Deloitte in September, the 29-year-old announced her decision on social media.
"There comes a time in everyone’s life where we must close the current chapter and move on to another. Wheelchair tennis has been the biggest chapter of my life, with a professional career spanning 16 years... I leave the sport with no regrets and a heart filled with pride," Whiley wrote.
"I have lifted many titles and received many honors, but nothing compares to the people I have shared it all with and the experiences I have had along the way. Although it feels weird to be leaving such a huge chapter of my life in the past, I know this is the right time to move on to other great things."
In her career, Whiley won 13 Grand Slam titles in singles and doubles and four Paralympic medals. She won the wheelchair women's singles title at the 2015 US Open and partnered Yui Kamiji to the 2014 and 2020 doubles titles in New York. They were also the runners-up at this year's tournament, where an emotional Whiley revealed that she'd likely played her last match in Queens during the trophy presentation.
Notably, Kamiji and Whiley completed the Grand Slam—the winning of all four major tournaments in a calendar year—with their 2014 title, and the pair's 2020 victory was one of three majors Whiley won after giving birth to her son, Jackson, in 2018.
She ends her career ranked world No. 4 in singles and world No. 3 in doubles, having reached world No. 1 in the latter in 2015.
To date, Whiley is the only British woman to have won a Grand Slam, and she also made national history this summer in Tokyo by winning a bronze in singles. She and Lucy Shuker won three medals together: bronze in 2012 and 2016, and a silver in Tokyo this summer.
"My career would never have been so successful without the help and support of so many people," she added, "so thank you to every person who has been there, no matter how small."
Born with osteogenesis imperfecta, Whiley first picked up a racquet at age 3 and is the daughter of former Paralympian Keith Whiley, a bronze medalist in the 100m L3 at the 1984 Paralympics.
