It’s been a long time coming but today former world number seven Mario Ancic will announce his formal retirement from tennis. Ancic has been largely absent from the courts since early 2007 when he was diagnosed with severe mononucleosis. The associated fatigue had a huge impact on the Croat’s ability to play even a few matches.Ancic also struggled with a shoulder injury, and more recently a back injury which would have required radical surgery for him to return to the courts – and even then with no guarantee.
Despite being forced into retirement at 26 years of age by the mono, Ancic has studied to become a lawyer and even did his thesis on a tennis related topic – ATP – yesterday, today and tomorrow.
“It would not be me out there anymore. I knew I would never be 100 per cent fit again, and there was no real answer to it. It would have required a pretty serious operation even for me to have a chance to recover and I would never have been guaranteed a full motion again.
On Wednesday I will do a formal press conference at my home club in Split. I have had to be fair with myself. My mind was fine but my body couldn’t compete and the way tennis is today, well I have to be sensible about it. I tried everything I knew to come back, but I couldn’t do it.” – Mario Ancic
