Patty Schnyder: Good bye and good luck! (by PJ)

When I entered The World of Roger Federer’s Pants, I made it a point to find out everything Swiss-tennis related, and that was how I got to know about Patty Schnyder, who was more often than not overshadowed by The Other Swiss Great besides Roger Federer, Martina Hingis. But after Hingis’ retirement in 2002, she has shouldered the responsibility of being the Swiss no.1 female player.

Up until now.

Yesterday, Patty Schnyder emotionally announced her retirement, after a whopping 17 years on tour.

It’s time to close this amazing chapter of my life. This very emotional decision makes me thankful and proud of all the moments I have been able to share on and off the court with fans from all over the world and with the champions and legends from many decades.

Source: WTA News

As a tennis player, she has had a good career, able to crack the top 10 and winning 11 WTA tour titles. But after a first-round loss to Sorana Cirstea in Paris, she decided that maybe it was time to call it a day on her fuzzy-yellow ball smacking days.

I felt I had some more years in tennis but the last five weeks on clay I have not been able to push away the desire of wanting to do other things in my life. That’s the feeling of my heart.

I guess it’s approaching the point where the desire and the passion is ebbing away for Patty. I have to admit I’ve never paid much attention to her career as her male compatriot is constantly hogging all my attention (what a douche, right?) but in her good days, she has had some great wins over the greatest players, including Steffi Graf, Martina Hingis, Justine Henin and Rere Williams. She was in the top 50 for 14 years of her career – which is something that marks her playing power.

The Grand Slam title, however, was one thing that had eluded her – closest she ever came to that was in 2004 when she lost the Australian Open semi-final against Mama Kim Clijsters. Poigantly, she reflected upon that.

When I was a kid, I had so many dreams and some came true. I wanted a Grand Slam title but that will have to remain a dream.

Go forth in achieving your other dreams off the court, Patty. All the best to you in your future endeavours!

– PJ

P.S. photos from daylife.com, quotes from WTA.com