Former World No. 3 Raonic retires from tennis

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Former top-three player Milos Raonic announced on Monday his retirement from professional tennis.

“The time has come, I am retiring from tennis,” the 35-year-old Canadian said on X. "This is a moment you know will come one day, but somehow you never feel ready for it. This is as ready as I will ever be. Tennis has been my love and obsession for most of my life,” Raonic said.

Big-serving Raonic has won eight ATP titles since became a professional in 2011. In 2016, he beat Roger Federer 6-3 6-7 (3), 4-6 7-5 6-3 in the Wimbledon semifinal to become the first Canadian man to reach a Grand Slam final. In this most successful year of his career, he also reached the semifinals of the Australian Open and qualified for the ATP Finals to finish the year at the career-high World No. 3.

“I have been the luckiest person to get to live out and fulfill my dreams,” he said. “I got to show up every day and focus on just getting better, seeing where that will take me, and playing a game I was introduced to at 8 years old by complete luck. Somehow, this became my entire obsession and childhood, and then became my profession and life.”

His last career game was a 7-6 (2), 6-7 (5), 6-7 (1) defeat to Dominik Koepfer at the first round of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis