Somdev Devvarman quits professional tennis, says ‘no fun, passion dying’
Somdev Devvarman, who is the only Indian to have reached the final of the Chennai Open, has announced his retirement from competitive Tennis at the age of 31.
One of India’s most promising singles players in recent time, Somdev Devvarman, has called time on his career, announcing the move via Twitter on Sunday.
Devvarman, currently 909th in the ATP rankings, has been missing from the circuit for a few months now. Recently, he was rumoured to have shown interest in becoming the coach of India’s Davis Cup side in place of Zeeshan Ali.
“I last played a match in Indian Wells in March (2015) and after that I had a chat with my people. I pretty much decided at that time that it was time to stop. I have read people saying I was injury plagued but it was not about that. I wanted to play for right reasons. Playing for me was always super fun and passion, that was dying or slowing down,” Somdev Devvarman said on the sidelines of Chennai Open.
“That is my biggest strength, my fighting spirit and that passion and heart more than forehands and backhands. Second, I knew I would not be able to play my best tennis. I wanted to be in top-100 and started reaching a point through injuries where I felt it will be tough for me to come back to top-100. Once I realised that I decided that it was time to stop,” he said elaborating on his decision.
“The enjoyment in training was not the same, the enjoyment in travelling was not the same. I was not tired I have done it for so long. It was not fresh. Playing and going for tournaments in Asia was not exciting for me,” Somdev, who touched a career-high rank of number 62 in 2011, said.
Rohan Bopanna congratulated Devvarman and wished him well on his future endeavours.
Devvarman, who in 2009 became the only Indian to have reached the final of the Chennai Open singles event, won the singles gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Later that year, he also won singles gold at the Asian Games apart from a doubles gold along with Sanam Singh.
In 2011, he was honoured with the Arjuna Award.