"Giving up was never an option" - Kevin Anderson reflects on his career

After many years on the tour and quie a few successes, Kevin Anderson said goodbye to tennis recently.

Kevin Anderson remembers when his father, Michael, put a tennis racquet in his hand at the age of six in their native South Africa. The elder Anderson instilled a hard-working attitude in his son from the very beginning. He said:

“I really feel like I’ve lived my life that way. I can remember back as a kid in South Africa being away from the tennis scene, away from the tennis world. I’m just proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish.”

The 35-year-old climbed to a career-high No. 5 in the ATP Rankings, won seven ATP Tour titles, reached the final at two Grand Slams and earned respect of the fans and his peers alike. Anderson played more than 600 tour-level matches (354-253), and competed for the final time at this year’s Miami Open presented by Itau. He said:

“It was on my mind that it might have been it. But it was sort of halfway through leaving the court [when I started] thinking, ‘You know what, I may or may not be playing another match’.”

For years, Anderson was one of the most focussed players on the ATP Tour. But recently, he realised that allowing himself to consider whether he wanted to continue his career was not accepting failure. It was an opportunity to open a new chapter for which, like always, he will give everything he has. He explained:

“In order to be the best in the world I needed to live and breathe tennis all the time. You just become so consumed with it that you kind of forget that there is life outside of tennis, so I’ve kind of experienced that for the past four weeks and I’m really excited about what the future may bring.”