(August 25, 2025) FLUSHING, NY – St Petersburg, FL, USA – The Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova retired from professional tennis today, secure in her status as one of the great players of her generation. Having announced ahead of Wimbledon that the US Open would mark her swansong, the 35-year-old bowed out in the first round on Monday against France’s Diane Parry.
After making her professional debut on the ITF Circuit in 2006, the Czech lefthander came to notice at Roland Garros in 2008, advancing to the fourth round on her Grand Slam main draw debut.
In January, 2009 she captured her maiden WTA title at Hobart. Although it would be two years before her next trophy run, at Brisbane, she went on to match top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki with a Tour-leading six titles for that 2011 season. From this point on, Kvitova managed to win at least one title nine years running through 2019, also winning the most titles (five) in 2018.
The grass courts of Wimbledon, where Kvitova was twice triumphant, proved to be her greatest stage. In 2011 she defeated Maria Sharapova in the final to become the first player born in the 1990s to win a Grand Slam title; three years later, in 2014, she overcame Eugenie Bouchard for the crown.
Including these successes, Kvitova went 31-11 in finals across her career, notching important wins on each of the major surfaces – 20 titles on hard courts (including indoors, where her 79 match wins is the most for an active player), six on grass and five on clay. Among active players, only Venus Williams has been more prolific.
Other notable tournament runs included victory on her event debut at the 2011 WTA Finals Istanbul – the first of seven appearances at the season finale – where she defeated Victoria Azarenka in the title bout; and three titles at the Mutua Madrid Open. In total she won nine tournaments at the WTA 1000 level, most recently at the Miami Open in 2023, and she was also runner-up to Agnieszka Radwanska at the WTA Finals in Singapore in 2015.
It was after her title run at Istanbul that Kvitova first rose to a career-high No.2 on the rankings (October 31, 2011) and posted the first of eight Top 10 seasons (2011-15, 2018-20). She very nearly clinched No.1 on a couple of occasions – at Sydney in 2012 she was two wins from making the final ascent, while at the Australian Open in 2019 she needed to defeat Naomi Osaka in the final but fell in a tight three-setter.
“Throughout her career, Petra has competed with humility and resilience and thrilled tennis audiences with her exciting brand of tennis,” said Portia Archer, CEO of the WTA.
“The fact that her player peers voted for her to receive the prestigious Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award, on eight occasions, says everything about her special place in our sport. She is a true champion, on and off court, who will be greatly missed by the WTA family and fans around the world. We wish her much joy and success in the next chapter.”
In addition to tying with Kim Clijsters for a record number of Krantzcke awards, Kvitova was named the WTA’s Most Impressive Newcomer in 2010. In 2011 she was the WTA Player of the Year and Most Improved Player, and in 2014 she was the recipient of the WTA Diamond ACES Award, which goes to the player who gives the most to promote the game of tennis on and off the court.
All up, Kvitova earned six wins over a reigning World No.1, defeating Dinara Safina (2009 US Open), Wozniacki (2011 WTA Finals), Serena Williams (2015 Madrid), Angelique Kerber (2016 Wuhan), Wozniacki (2018 Doha) and Ashleigh Barty (2020 Doha).
Including a bronze medal won at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016 (Kvitova is a four-time Olympian) and heroic contributions to six Czech Billie Jean King Cup championships, she leaves the sport with a main draw singles win-loss record of 514-258 (128-59 at Grand Slams) and career prize money of more than $37.5 million (seventh on the all-time list).
After playing at the China Open in 2023, Kvitova took maternity leave for 17 months. She gave birth to her son, Petr in July 2024 and returned to action at the ATX Open in Austin, Texas in February this year. She won the last of her titles on grass at Berlin in 2023.
US OPEN
Monday, August 25, 2025
New York, New York, USA
Petra Kvitova
Press Conference
D. PARRY/P. Kvitova
6-1, 6-0
THE MODERATOR: First of all, congratulations on a wonderful career, and on behalf of this room for the past decade, what a pleasure it was to have dealt with you all those years. Thank you for that.
PETRA KVITOVA: Thank you.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. Obviously emotional out there. I didn’t expect to see you emotional, but you were.
PETRA KVITOVA: Yeah, I didn’t expect myself either, but since I wake up this morning, I felt it. I felt it would be not good. I couldn’t eat. I was really nervous. But in different way, I would say.
Yeah, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t swing, I couldn’t do anything (smiling). It was really difficult. I never, you know, have a thing that I will be knowing I’m playing my last match, most probably, like probably, which in the end it was very clear.
But, yeah, it was really difficult to even, like, imagine. It was something new, and it was for the last time as well, so I will now take the experience from it. Yeah, I’m glad I did it. I think it’s just ending everything.
Q. What makes you most emotional now as you think about where you are today and where you have been on this ride?
PETRA KVITOVA: I don’t think about today that much. I think it was the past, those years I have been playing pro, the years I have been small kid, playing in my small city since I been four.
You know, it was long journey to get to the top 100 and to get really up, up. It was many years playing under the pressure as well as being top 10 for a long time. Being Grand Slam champion, it’s great pressure to have, for sure. It was a lot of pressure overall in my tennis career. On and off the court, as well.
But I enjoyed it. I think I did it quite well.
Q. What are you proudest of about your time in tennis as you prepare to leave it? And separately, what do you think you’ll miss the most?
PETRA KVITOVA: I think I would be proudest of many things. I think especially, as I already mentioned, the mental side, I think. All the seasons, pretty long seasons already before, and I was quite okay to handle it even with some injuries and sickness and kind of this stuff.
I’m very proud of how I handled the pressure, how many times I have been in the top 10. It was very, very special for me. Even I never been World No. 1, but I think still those two Grand Slam wins is above the World No. 1. So that’s how I gonna take it, especially the Wimbledon ones. Yeah, I’m proud of many, many things.
What I gonna miss, it will the tennis itself. It’s a beautiful sport. Everything you do on the court, it’s your fault or your win. I think that’s the beauty of the sport, as well. So that’s it.
Some people, as well, of course: opponents, people in the WTA, ATP, all the Grand Slams, who is just taking care of us. They are great. Yeah, I will miss them too. But I will be around at some point.
Q. Congratulations on a wonderful career. Venus, earlier this summer, said that even when she was injured and didn’t know if she would come back, she was always playing and playing a lot. Given how much you love the sport, do you see yourself out there once a week just hitting the ball, and how often you see yourself playing?
PETRA KVITOVA: Not really, to be honest (smiling). But when I decided to come back, I definitely played tennis, for sure, every day. So that’s the mentality change. I probably would never imagine before, like, when I got pregnant that I would come back.
Then, yeah, I missed the sport so much, I just had so much fun to play. I told myself, it would be nice to finish the season, so I’m doing it, so it’s good. Yeah, I did practice, for sure.
Unfortunately, like, three weeks ago I get COVID, so it hits me, like, really badly. Yeah, my physicality wasn’t great. My lungs are not really working yet, but I hope it will be okay when I’m not practicing now.
Q. In the future, now once it’s over…
PETRA KVITOVA: Oh, that’s what you meant? Sorry. It was a waste of your time (smiling).
Yeah, I think so. As I mentioned already, I played tennis, I had fun, I enjoyed it a lot, so I can imagine myself to be playing tennis still, yes.
Q. What will you miss the least? And what are you most looking forward to doing?
PETRA KVITOVA: Those nerves, which I had, for example today, before the match, I said, okay, this is my last tournament, I want to finish at some point. Like, these nerves, it’s something you can’t imagine. I think I did have it for one exam in the school, and then every match (smiling).
So it was, like, okay. Probably I will not miss it. But of course it’s in the good way afterwards that you are putting good tennis afterwards.
And the traveling, for sure. The traveling, it’s the worst.
Q. You got COVID three weeks ago?
PETRA KVITOVA: Yeah.
Q. Did you have thoughts about not even playing here after…
PETRA KVITOVA: I did, yeah.
Q. What made your decision to continue?
PETRA KVITOVA: That I wanted to, to be playing here. That was the — yeah, I wanted to be playing here, to finish the season, like, with a Grand Slam and not because the COVID caught me.
Yeah, I wanted to.
Q. Are you glad you did?
PETRA KVITOVA: Yeah, I’m very glad, yes.
Q. I know you don’t love to travel, but will you stay in New York any longer or heading home straight after this?
PETRA KVITOVA: Petr, our son, is at home, so I miss him. So I think we go tomorrow night, yeah.
Q. Tennis players play on for a long time these days, but what if, in a couple years’ time, you think, oh, I’m bored, I want to come back?
PETRA KVITOVA: When I gonna be 40 or 42? No, I don’t think so. Maybe I will be bored, but maybe you’re going to see me playing some Legends at Wimbledon maybe. Who knows?
I would love to play with Martina. Yeah, that’s another goal (smiling). Yeah, I hope she want to play with me, too. I have to ask her.
