Former British No1 Konta retires from tennis aged 30

Former British No1 Johanna Konta has announced her retirement from tennis after a continuous battle with a knee injury.

Konta, a three-time Grand Slam semi-finalist, has not featured on the WTA Tour since August and decided to step away aged 30.

She became the first British woman in 39 years to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2017, while also making the last four at the Australia Open a year earlier and at the French Open in 2019.

Australia-born Konta, a former world No4, collected four titles on the WTA Tour and represented Great Britain in the Fed Cup.

In a statement posted on social media, Konta said: “Grateful. This is the word that I’ve probably been used to the most during my career, and is the word that I feel explains it best at the end.

“My playing career has come to an end, and I am so incredibly grateful for the career that it turned out to be.

“All the evidence pointed towards me not ‘making’ it in this profession. However, my luck materialised in the people that came into my life and impacted my existence in ways that transcended tennis.

“I am so incredibly grateful for these people. You know who you are.”

Konta made her last tour-level appearance at the Cincinnati Open on August 18 when she lost in the first round to Karolina Muchova.

The Briton had only one win in her last five majors since reaching the quarter-finals of the US Open in 2019 and dropped to 113th in the rankings but remains thankful for the opportunities she has been granted.

She added: “Through my own resilience and through the guidance of others, I got to live my dreams. I got to become what I wanted and said as a child.

“How incredibly fortunate I count myself to be. How grateful I am.”