Kiki Bertens to quit tennis during 2021 season: "I am more than ready for the chapter that comes next after this"

Kiki Bertens will play her last tournaments as a professional tennis player in the coming months after announcing the end of her career on Wednesday morning.

Bertens has committed to playing the grass court season before potentially the Olympic Games in Tokyo with the US Open a potential end point following that but her participation depends on how her body holds up after the aforementioned tournaments.

After returning in March, she continued to suffer due to her Achilles despite an operation to try and correct previous issues.

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"I want to share with all of you that I have decided this year will be the last season of my tennis career. I have always demanded the maximum of myself, but the tank is quite empty. The balance of the hard work I put in day in and day out and the satisfaction I get out of it at the end of the day is no longer there," said Bertens on social media.

"Also, I am more than ready for the chapter that comes next after this. The next few tournaments to come are Eastbourne, Wimbledon and the Olympics. We will decide after if my body recovers well enough to play the rest of the season. I will do everything I can to end my career in the best way possible."

In her career, the Dutch woman reached a high of No.4 in the world back in 2019 becoming the highest ranked player from her country ever with her best runs seeing a French Open semi-final back in 2016 and a Quarter-Final at Wimbledon back in 2018.

Her title haul includes ten singles and ten doubles titles including the 2018 Cincinnati Open and 2019 Madrid Open.

But the typical clay court specialist went out early at Roland Garros recently before putting a stop to her career during 2021.