2016 US Open champion Angelique Kerber will play the last tournament of her career at the Paris Olympics, she announced Thursday.
The 36-year-old German, who returned to competition in 2024 after the birth of her first child last year, made the announcement on social media ahead of the draw ceremony for the Paris Games, where she's set to make her third and final Olympic appearance. A silver medalist in 2016 in Rio, Kerber was drawn against fellow former world No. 1 and Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in the opening round.
Kerber chose the Olympics as her final tournament, she said, because her three apperances are symbolic of "the climb, the peak and ... the finish line" of her tennis career. She made her debut at the Games in 2012, less than a year after she broke through at WTA by reaching the semifinals of the US Open as an unseeded 23-year-old ranked No. 92, and finished runner-up to Monica Puig in Brazil the year she won two of her three career Grand Slam titles, and eventually ascended to world No. 1.
"Paris will mark the finish line of the most incredible journey I could have ever dreamed of growing up with a racquet in my hand," Kerber wrote. "There are many more things I want to say and people to thank, which I will do once I completed my last match ... but for now, I will take the time and soak up every second of this final episode on court."
Kerber captured 14 WTA singles titles in her career, including the Australian Open and US Open titles in 2016, and added a Wimbledon crown to her haul in 2018. The Polish-born left-hander turned professional in 2003, first cracked the Top 5 in the WTA rankings in 2012, and ascended to the top spot after beating Karolina Pliskova to win the title in Flushing Meadows in 2016. She spent a total of 34 weeks at the top of the rankings in three separate stints, and was named the WTA Player of the Year in 2016 and 2018.
Three months after winning what turned out to be her final career tour-level singles title on the clay courts of Strasbourg, France in the spring of 2022, Kerber announced her pregnancy shortly before the start of that year's US Open. She gave birth to her daughter, Liana, in February of last year.
In her return from maternity leave, Kerber posted a 7-14 record through the first seven months of 2024. She helped lead Germany to the United Cup title in January, and reached the fourth round of both the WTA 1000 events in Indian Wells and Rome.
"[T]his might actually be the right decision, it will never feel that way," Kerber wrote, "simply because I love the sport with all my heart and I’m thankful for the memories and opportunities it has given me."
Kerber's last US Open match was a 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2 loss to eventual finalist Leylah Fernandez in the fourth round of the 2021 tournament.
