St Petersburg, FL, USA, August 25, 2025 (WTA Press Release)

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.