Retirements

Which criteria have I adapted for this stats? All retired players whose I have included to the ‘Biographies’ page due to their singles achievements.  Beside names there’s the highest ranking (singles),  in parenthesis – age  at the retirement and the last tournament they played at the main level (alternatively a Davis Cup tie – all levels). I have counted a calendar year, so for example if a player born on November 1970 played the last tournament on February 2000 instead of ’29 years 3 months’ I count ’30 years’ for him. If a player came back to the circuit, although had announced his retirement a few years earlier (Bjorn Borg, Thomas Muster e.g.), I counted a year in which he’d played the last tournament before his first retirement.
Basically, there are four different ways of retirement. The most common I’d say is a tiredness after years spending on constant traveling, practicing, playing, and dealing with different – more or less serious – injuries. It usually happens in cases of players, who turned 30 years. They drop in the ranking, lose with bigger frequency than usually throughout career, and suddenly decide to play the last tournament or play somewhere and never return. Sometimes they play the last tournaments at the lower levels of the professional tour, occasionally they continue career at the main level only in  doubles (Martin Damm, Max Mirnyi e.g.)…
The other way, which attracts more attention, is a retirement announced ahead, so-called “farewell tour”. It’s a privilege of Grand Slam champions (Stefan Edberg, Marat Safin e.g.) They announce their will to play the last season and their appearance everywhere is honored by officials and fans.
There’s a way to retire in blaze. A player still competes on the highest level, but in a consequence of a great achievement doesn’t come back (Pete Sampras – after the US Open triumph, Michael Stich – after the Wimbledon semifinal e.g.)
The saddest way of retirement is a illusive trying to come back to a former brilliance (Gustavo Kuerten, Pat Cash e.g.). A player struggling with injuries, plays only a couple tournaments each season still hoping for a full recovery, but it doesn’t occur and he finally says “I’m done”, sometimes it happens in an elegiac atmosphere – Kuerten at Roland Garros.
“The Ice-Man” Borg was a phenomenon throughout his short but amazingly successful career, and his retirement is phenomenal as well, not comparable to any other retirement. The Swede pulled out of the circuit just as the 25-year-old man due to muddy reasons, being the 4th best player in the world at the time! Nevertheless he played one tournament the following three seasons, disappeared for six years, and after a comeback, played three more seasons to finish his career with 14 defeats in a row between years 1983 and 1993! Despite such an awful losing streak, Borg still leads a list of the best win/loss ratio with a 608–127 record (.827, second Rafael Nadal with .822)!

1978
9 – Alex Metreveli (34, Calcutta)

1979
2 – Arthur Ashe (36, Kitzbuhel), 3 – Rod Laver (41, las Vegas), 16 – Cliff Richey (33, Baltimore)

1980
13 – Cliff Drysdale (39, Wimbledon), 8 – Tony Roche (35, Sydney), 2 – Ken Rosewall (46, Melbourne), 10 – Tom Gorman (34, Sydney), 63 – John Marks (28, Melbourne), 11 – Roger Taylor (39, Wembley)

1981
13 – Mar Cox (38, Paris), 36 – Dick Crealy (37, Auckland), 1 – John Newcombe (37, Las Vegas), 3 – Tom Okker (37, Stockholm), 23 – Patrick Proisy (32, Paris), 11 – Marty Riessen (40, Memphis)

1982
39 – Frew McMillan (40, Gstaad), 19 – Onny Parun (35, Davis Cup)

1983
15 – Victor Amaya (29, Hong Kong), 12 – Paolo Bertolucci (32, Venice), 17 – Phil Dent (33, Australian Open), 14 – Jaime Fillol (37, Bahia), 5 – Jan Kodes (37, Hilversum), 33 – Zeljko Franulovic (36, Kitzbuhel), 4 – Adriano Panatta (33, Kitzbuhel), 4 – Raul Ramirez (30, Wimbledon)

1984
7 – Corrado Barazzutti (31, Bologna), 1 – Bjorn Borg (28, Stuttgart), 20 – Jeff Borowiak (34, Kitzbuhel), 5 – Eddie Dibbs (33, Washington), 3 – Brian Gottfried (32, US Open), 2 – Manuel Orantes (35, Kitzbuhel), 32 – Butch Walts (31, Stuttgart), 8 – Dick Stockton (33, US Open)

1985
8 – John Alexander (34, Sydney), 15 – Kim Warwick (33, Sydney), 1 – Ilie Nastase (39, Toulouse), 3 – Stan Smith (39, La Quinta), 4 – Roscoe Tanner (34, Memphis), 15 – Robert Lutz (38, La Quinta), 7 – Sandy Mayer (33, Stuttgart)

1986
3 – Vitas Gerulaitis (32, Brussels), 6 – Jose Higueras (33, La Quinta), 15 – Tim Gullikson (35, US Open),  19 – Chris Lewis (29, Davis Cup), 21 – John Lloyd (32, Wimbledon), 13 – Balazs Taroczy (32, Kitzbuhel), 7 – Brian Teacher (32, Tokyo), 4 – Gene Mayer (30, Stuttgart), 5 – Harold Solomon (34, Cincinnati)

1987
12 – Steve Denton (31, Australian Open), 15 – Mark Edmondson (33, Australian Open), 8 – Peter Fleming (32, Wembley), 9 – Victor Pecci (32, Madrid), 34 – Tom Gullikson (36, Key Biscayne), 12 – Hans Gildemeister (31, Indianapolis), 22 – Heinz Gunthardt (28, Basel), 7 – Paul McNamara (32, Australian Open), 14 – John Sadri (31, Newport) 

1988
10 – Wojtek Fibak (36, Rotterdam), 24 – Paul McNamee (34, Australian Open), 19 – Hank Pfister (35, Australian Open)

1989
6 – Kent Carlsson (21, Kitzbuhel), 4 – Jose-Luis Clerc (31, St. Vincent), 2 – Guillermo Vilas (37, Roland Garros), 21 – Mel Purcel (30, Key Biscayne), 9 – Bill Scanlon (33, Cincinnati), 11 – Tomas Smid (33, Palermo), 6 – Henrik Sundstrom (25, Monte Carlo)

1990
16 – Vijay Amritraj (37, Wimbledon), 4 – Miloslav Mecir (26, Wimbledon), 23 – Tim Wilkison (31, Itaparica), 6 – Eliot Teltscher (30, New Haven)

1991
7 – Juan Aguilera (29, Prague), 7 – Jay Berger (25, Philadelphia), 3 – Yannick Noah (31, Paris), 10 – Thierry Tulasne (28, Geneva)

1992
7 – Johan Kriek (34, Memphis), 7 – Tim Mayotte (32, Philadelphia), 1 – John McEnroe (33, Munich-GSC), 19 – Slobodan Zivojinovic (29, Stuttgart)

1993
12 – Paul Annacone (30, Beijing), 5 – Kevin Curren (35, Durban), 4 – Andres Gomez (33, Coral Springs), 10 – Martin Jaite (29, San Marino), 23 – Ramesh Krishnan (32, Davis Cup)

1994
5 – Jimmy Arias (30, Schenectady), 22 – Darren Cahill (29, Wimbledon), 11 – Scott Davis (32, Tokyo), 31 – Horacio de la Pena (28, Bastad), 8 – Alberto Mancini (25, Pinehurst), 18 – Amos Mansdorf (29, Antwerp), 34 – Marian Vajda (29, Kitzbuhel), 1 – Ivan Lendl (34, US Open)

1995
26 – Paolo Cane (30, Bologna), 26 – John Fitzgerald (35, Dubai), 4 – Brad Gilbert (34, Key Biscayne), 25 – Peter Lundgren (30, Copenhagen), 15 – Wally Masur (32, Washington), 29 – Luiz Mattar (32, Key Biscayne), 18 – Horst Skoff (27, San Marino), 10 – Jonas Svensson (29, Munich)

1996
23 – Jordi Arrese (32, Bologna), 54 – Jeremy Bates (34, Wimbledon), 32 – Christian Bergstrom (29, Bastad), 1 – Jimmy Connors (44, Atlanta), 30 – Franco Davin (26, Bermuda), 1 – Stefan Edberg (30, Davis Cup), 7 – Jakob Hlasek (32, Munich-GSC), 5 – Anders Jarryd (35, Bastad), 6 –  Aaron Krickstein (29, Key Biscayne), 6 – Henri Leconte (33, Rosmalen), 8 – Karel Novacek (31, Bermuda), 1 – Mats Wilander (32, Beijing), 18 – Jaime Yzaga (29, Davis Cup), 13 – Guillermo Perez-Roldan (30, Marbella), 10 – Mikael Pernfors (33, Bermuda), 16 – Goran Prpic (32, Umag), 13 – Derrick Rostagno (31, Newport), 14 – Carl-Uwe Steeb (29, Stuttgart)

1997
4 – Pat Cash (32, Stuttgart), 44 – Thierry Champion (31, Tashkent), 19 – Jacco Eltingh (27, Rosmalen), 4 – Guy Forget (32, Key Biscayne), 7 – Emilio Sanchez (32, Marbella), 2 – Michael Stich (29, Wimbledon), 14 – Alexander Volkov (30, Moscow)

1998
18 – Omar Camporese (30, San Marino), 46 – Shuzo Matsuoka (31, Tokyo), 28 – Patrick McEnroe (32, New Haven)

1999
1 – Boris Becker (32, Wimbledon), 12 – Arnaud Boetsch (30, Roland Garros), 9 – Andrei Chesnokov (33, St. Petersburg), 10 – Carlos Costa (31, Mallorca), 18 – Paul Haarhuis (33, US Open), 2 – Petr Korda (31, Queens Club), 1 – Thomas Muster (32, Roland Garros), 11 – MaliVai Washington (30, Cincinnati), 32 – Brett Steven (30, Davis Cup)

2000
13 – Andrei Cherkasov (30, St. Petersburg), 1 – Jim Courier (30, Miami), 39 – Filip Dewulf (28, Munich), 30 – Marcelo Filippini (33, Kitzbuhel), 20 – Richey Reneberg (35, Memphis), 23 – Javier Sanchez (32, Doha), 12 – David Wheaton (31, Indianapolis), 19 – Mark Woodforde (35, Wimbledon), 22 – Bernd Karbacher (32, Stuttgart), 32 – Nicklas Kulti (29, Bastad), 39 – Mikael Tillstrom (28, Toulouse)

2001
22 – Ronald Agenor (37, Montreal), 7 – Alberto Berasategui (28, Barcelona), 26 – Slava Dosedel (31, US Open), 10 – Magnus Gustafsson (34, Stockholm), 4 – Andrei Medvedev (27, St. Petersburg), 1 – Patrick Rafter (29, Davis Cup), 19 – Jason Stoltenberg (31, Wimbledon), 19 – Todd Woodbridge (30, Hong Kong), 39 – Christian Ruud (29, Roland Garros)

2002
25 – Karim Alami (29, Doha), 22 – Byron Black (32, Scottsdale), 3 – Sergi Bruguera (31, Barcelona), 42 – Martin Damm (30, Memphis), 24 – Richard Fromberg (32, Australian Open), 5 – Cedric Pioline (33, Basel), 1 – Pete Sampras (31, US Open), 14 – Jan Siemerink (32, Amersfoort), 26 – Daniel Vacek (31, Australian Open), 42 – Jeff Tarango (34, Marseille), 29 – Chris Woodruff (29, Delray Beach)

2003
2 – Michael Chang (31, US Open), 18 – Francisco Clavet (35, Amersfoort), 19 – Renzo Furlan (33, Stuttgart), 1 – Yevgeny Kafelnikov (29, St. Petersburg), 4 – Richard Krajicek (32, s’Hertogenbosch), 10 – Magnus Larsson (33, Copenhagen), 25 – Fernando Meligeni (32, Houston), 2 – Magnus Norman (27, Shanghai), 1 – Marcelo Rios (28, Davis Cup), 18 – Andrea Gaudenzi (30, Rome), 26 – Marc-Kevin Goellner (33, Sopot), 36 – Adrian Voinea (29, Sopot)

2004
39 – Arnaud Di Pasquale (25, Palermo), 17 – Nicolas Escude (28, Toronto), 2 – Goran Ivanisevic (33, Wimbledon), 4 – Todd Martin (34, US Open), 28 – David Prinosil (31, Halle), 9 – Marc Rosset (34, St. Petersburg), 11 – Franco Squillari (29, Bucharest), 22 – Jerome Golmard (31, Delray Beach)

2005
22 – Hicham Arazi (32, Casablanca), 2 – Alex Corretja (31, Estoril), 42 – Scott Draper (31, Wimbledon), 4 – Thomas Enqvist (31, Lyon), 6 – Wayne Ferreira (34, Davis Cup), 6 – Karol Kucera (31, Davis Cup), 9 – Mariano Puerta (27, Shanghai/Masters), 11 – Sjeng Schalken (29, Indianapolis)

2006
1 – Andre Agassi (36, US Open), 6 – Albert Costa (31, Barcelona), 5 – Jiri Novak (31, Basel), 8 – Mark Philippoussis (30, Davis Cup), 4 – Greg Rusedski (33, Davis Cup), 38 – Sargis Sargsian (33, Delray Beach)

2007
44 – Wayne Arthurs (36, Wimbledon), 41 – Kenneth Carlsen (34, Stockholm), 14 – Jan-Michael Gambill (30, Houston), 4 – Tim Henman (33, Davis Cup), 10 – Felix Mantilla (33, Umag), 19 – Albert Portas (34, Monte Carlo), 43 – Davide Sanguinetti (35, Mumbai), 9 – Paradorn Srichaphan (27, Miami), 22 – Bohdan Ulihrach (32, Wimbledon)

2008
4 – Jonas Bjorkman (36, Stockholm), 3 – Guillermo Coria (26, Kitzbuhel), 1 – Gustavo Kuerten (32, Roland Garros), 18 – Max Mirnyi (31, Beijing/Olympics), 14 – Martin Verkerk (30, Amersfoort), 21 – Mariano Zabaleta (30, Vina del Mar), 25 – Vladimir Voltchkov (30, Davis Cup)

2009
16 – Agustin Calleri (33, Wimbledon), 8 – Guillermo Canas (32, Bastad), 33 – Luis Horna (29, Davis Cup), 7 – Thomas Johansson (34, Davis Cup), 36 – Hyung-Taik Lee (33, Chennai), 17 – Andrei Pavel (35, Bucharest), 1 – Marat Safin (29, Paris)

2010
7 – Mario Ancic (26, Munich), 21 – Taylor Dent (29, Montpellier), 14 – Younes El Aynaoui (39, Doha), 5 – Gaston Gaudio (32, Buenos Aires), 4 – Sebastien Grosjean (32, Delray Beach), 12 – Dominik Hrbaty (32, Johannesburg), 4 – Nicolas Kiefer (32, Wimbledon), 6 – Nicolas Lapentti (34, Roland Garros), 34 – Alberto Martin (32, Estoril), 1 – Carlos Moya (34, Madrid), 17 – Fabrice Santoro (38, Australian Open), 18 – Vincent Spadea (36, Delray Beach)

2011
9 – Joachim Johansson (29, Davis Cup), 20 – Stefan Koubek (34, Zagreb), 20 – Jose Acasuso (29, Buenos Aires) , 6 – Rainer Schuettler (35, Wimbledon)

2012
5 – Fernando Gonzalez (31, Miami), 3 – Ivan Ljubicic (33, Monte Carlo), 10 – Arnaud Clement (34, Roland Garros), 1 – Andy Roddick (30, US Open), 1 – Juan Carlos Ferrero (32, Valencia), 15 – Juan Ignacio Chela (33, Wimbledon)

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