Britain´s Konta retires from tennis

LONDON: Former British number one Johanna Konta announced her retirement from tennis on Wednesday.

The 30-year-old has struggled with persistent knee trouble over the past couple of seasons and has slipped to 113 in the world rankings — a far cry from her career high of number four.

Konta, who reached the semi-finals of three of the four majors, plus the quarter-finals of the US Open, made her announcement on social media with a post headlined ´Grateful´.

She wrote: “This is the word that I´ve probably used the most during my career and is the word that I feel explains it best in the end.

In June, Konta won the Nottingham Open, becoming the first British woman to lift a WTA title on home soil since Sue Barker in 1981.

But that victory was soon overshadowed by the astounding success of then 18-year-old compatriot Emma Raducanu in becoming the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam when she took the women´s singles title at the US Open in September.