France’s Alizé Cornet announced on Saturday in an interview with French TV station CANAL+ that she will retire from the WTA Tour after next month’s French Open at Roland Garros, which will take place in Paris from Sunday 26 May to Sunday 9 June, 2024.
It’s the right time because it’s the result of a long journey… I just feel, like, it’s time. I don’t want to be pushed out, I want to choose. And it’s the right time for me to say goodbye to tennis. Alizé Cornet
The 34-year-old, who has entertained fans for nearly two decades, will hang up her rackets, saying ‘the good moment for me to say goodbye to tennis’ is after her home clay-court Grand Slam.
“I have a very special announcement to make to you,” she said. “I will play my last Roland-Garros in a month and I will retire immediately.
“It’s the right time because it’s the result of a long journey… I just feel, like, it’s time. I don’t want to be pushed out, I want to choose. And it’s the right time for me to say goodbye to tennis.”
Cornet is a former World No 11, who owns the Open Era record for most consecutive Grand Slam tournaments played, with 68, and she will depart on her 69th appearance in a major main draw.
With longevity as her hallmark, Cornet made her Grand Slam main-draw debut as a 15-year-old in Paris in 2005, and has not missed a major main draw since her run first began at the 2007 Australian Open.
Currently ranked 107 in the world, Cornet will be a likely wild-card recipient to feature in the main draw in Paris for a 20th time.
Alizé Cornet brought an end to Iga Swiatek’s record breaking 37 match winning streak at The Championships Wimbledon 2022
© Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
A winner of 6 career WTA singles titles, Cornet famously defeated Serena Williams 3 times in 2014, all while the American was ranked No 1 in the world.
The Frenchwoman has won the titles in Budapest, Bad Gastein, Strasbourg, Katowice, Hobart and the last in Gstaad in 2018 on the WTA Tour, and she reached the biggest final of her career on the clay courts of Rome in 2008, losing to Jelena Jankovic, 6-2 6-2, as an 18-year-old.
Her other career win against a World No 1 was also one for the record books, when, in the 3rd-round of Wimbledon in 2022, she ended Iga Swiatek’s 37-match winning streak, the longest of this century.
Cornet has 25 career wins against Top 10 players to her name, while her other career highlights include a quarter-final appearance at the 2020 Australian Open, second-week showings at all 4 majors, and 4 Olympic appearances for France.
In fact, the tenacious Frenchwoman has at least reached the round of 16 at each of the 4 majors.
She also played on France’s Billie Jean King Cup team for 14 years, and, in 2019, she helped Les Bleues beat Australia at home, 3-2, to become world champions.
The win marked the 3rd time in its history that Team France won the women’s team competition, formerly called the Federation Cup, and then the Fed Cup before being rebranded as the Billie Jean King Cup.
World champions France, represented by Caroline Garcia, Alizé Cornet, Kristina Mladenovic, Pauline Parmentier and Fiona Ferro of France won the Fed Cup in 2019, beating Australia at home in Perth
© Paul Kane/Getty Images
After a highly-touted junior career, Cornet reached her career-high WTA ranking of 11 as a 19-year-old in 2009, and saw her streak of 15 consecutive seasons inside the WTA’s year-end Top 100 come to an endonlylast year.
After Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2022, Cornet’s departure represents another monument of French tennis to bow out at Roland-Garros.
Together, Cornet and Tsonga won the Hopman Cup for France, defeating Agnieszka Radwanska and Grzegorz Panfil of Poland in the final in 2014.
Cornet will finish her career having made the Last 16 or better at all 4 Grand Slams, with her best major result coming just 2 years ago in an emotional run to her first major quarter-final at the Australian Open.
Alizé Cornet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won the the Hopman Cup for France in 2014, defeating Agnieszka Radwanska and Grzegorz Panfil of Poland in the final at Perth Arena, Western Australia
© Paul Kane/Getty Images
