Former two time Grand Slam doubles champion King announces early retirement due to Coronavirus

As well as disrupting tournaments; in one case Coronavirus has sent Vania King into early retirement.

King claimed 15 WTA doubles trophies, including back-to-back Grand Slam doubles titles in 2010 at Wimbledon and US Open with a high ranking of number three.

She was due to play her final tournaments at Indian Wells, Miami and Charleston but in the end due to these being rescheduled or cancelled, King’s plans stay and she will retire early.

“Yeah so, I think I’m retired now?” King laughed, speaking to wtatennis.com. “I’m not sure? I don’t know, but like technically I’m retired?”

“I drove to Indian Wells because I’d played the [Oracle Challenger] 125K, but I grew up in Long Beach. So I drove back home, before going back to Indian Wells on Sunday,” King continued. “I found out in a few hours that the tournament was canceled, and at that time it was a huge shock to everybody.

“I drove home and I was like, whoa, that’s one less tournament for me. One less tournament until the end.”

The 31-year old American has been preparing for life away from the court for a while with a visa granted for her to move to Australia.

“I have always loved Australia, ever since I was younger,” she added. “When I thought about moving somewhere, Australia’s the only place where I was like, I could move here. There’s always places that you love to visit on vacation, but you can’t stay there that long. Australia was always a place where I felt like I wanted to stay.

“I played the Hobart tournament this year, and then Melbourne of course, and it just reaffirmed my desire to move there.”

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