 |
| Player Search |
| Spotlight On... |
| | Introduction |
| | 2009 |
| | Featured Players |
| | January 2009 |
| | February 2009 |
| | March 2009 |
| | April 2009 |
| | May 2009 |
| | June 2009 |
| | July 2009 |
| | August 2009 |
| | September 2009 |
| | October 2009 |
| | 2008 |
| | Featured Players |
| Flashback |
| | Introduction |
| | 2008 |
| | Daniela Hantuchova |
| | 2009 |
|  | Ai Sugiyama |
|
|
Flashback - Ai Sugiyama - Retires and career review
By Nick Fishpool - September 2009 |
 | | Ai Sugiyama |
Week commencing: 14th September 2009
Subject: Career review following retirement from Professional Tennis
At the age of 34, Ai Sugiyama has decided to call time on her career as a professional tennis player. The Fed Cup veteran, she has competed in all but three years since making her debut in 1995, who is hugely popular both with tennis fans across the globe and among her fellow tennis pros, announced her intention to retire at a press conference on September 11th 2009 at a hotel in Chiba, Japan according to reports in the Japanese daily newspaper Asahi. Her final tournament will take place in Tokyo the week commencing September 28th 2009.
Throughout her career Sugiyama proved to be an expert in doubles play and Sugiyama first took to the courts of a professional tennis tournament 19-years ago at an event in Tokyo towards the end of September 1990, losing in straight sets in the doubles first round with partner Mami Donoshiro. The following year Sugiyama was nominated to represent Japan at the NEC World Youth Cup Finals in Spain where they defeated USA, who included 15-year old Lindsay Davenport in their squad, in a play off to finish 5th. 1994 saw her, aged 18, win her first doubles title, in what was also her first appearance in a final. This win, at an event in Tokyo, would prove to be the first of many doubles titles that Sugiyama would go on to win throughout her career. A first call up to Japan’s Fed Cup squad came in 1995 for a World Group Quarterfinal tie with Germany. Although Japan eventually lost the tie 4-1, Sugiyama’s contribution on her debut was a positive one as she secured Japan’s only rubber success, winning the doubles with Kimiko Date with the loss of just three games. Following her Fed Cup debut, Sugiyama would go on to represent Japan on a regular basis each year for the remainder of her career, only missing ties in 2001, 2002 and 2005.
Despite earning a reputation as a something of a doubles specialist, she appeared in almost 100 career doubles semi finals, Sugiyama was also an accomplished player in singles competition, maintaining a consistently high ranking, and at the age of 21 she won her first professional singles title. Just as with her first doubles title, this singles triumph came at a tournament in her home city of Tokyo in 1997.
By the turn of the century, Sugiyama already had three singles titles, ten doubles titles, was a two time Grand Slam women’s doubles quarterfinalist, US Open mixed doubles champion and had been nominated to represent Japan in Fed Cup for five consecutive years. 1996 also saw her make her first appearance in the Olympics, the first of four successive Olympics she would take part in, a record in women’s tennis held jointly with Tamarine Tanasugarn. A first appearance at the WTA Tour Championships came in November 1998’s doubles event with partner Elena Likhovtseva.
The start of new millennium was to be one of Sugiyama’s most successful eras of her career. Another milestone in her career was reached in January 2000 when Japan made its first appearance in the Hopman Cup since 1983 (due to injury to the Slovak Republic team) and Sugiyama was selected as part of Japan’s squad. Sugiyama was to again make the Japan team for the 2001 Hopman Cup, the last time that Japan qualified for the competition. Following the 2000 Hopman Cup, Sugiyama remained in Australia and claimed the doubles title in Sydney. Further doubles titles were to follow during the course of the year. Sugiyama added to her ever growing haul of doubles titles with successes in America, England, Japan and Russia with the most notable of these coming at the US Open where she became a Grand Slam champion for the first time in women’s doubles. In Grand Slam doubles play in 2000, Sugiyama progressed to improved finishes with each Slam, reaching the quarterfinals in Australia, semi final at Roland Garros, final at Wimbledon where she was runner-up – this was her first Grand Slam final – and then winning the title at the US Open. Sugiyama also recorded her career best singles finish at a Grand Slam with a quarterfinal exit at the Australian Open, a feat she would go on to equal four years later at Wimbledon.
April 2nd 2001 was cause for celebration for Sugiyama as the WTA rankings released on this date showed she had ascended to the No.1 spot in the doubles rankings. 2001 though was to be a rather barren spell with regards to titles as she collected two doubles titles in 2001 and then just the one the following year in 2002. A return to title winning ways came in 2003 in what was to be the most successful period of her career. A total of eight doubles titles came her way, seven coming in the first sixth months and she also won her first two singles titles since 1998. 2003 also saw her earn a recall to match action with the Japanese Fed Cup squad for the first time since April 2000 and become crowned as a back-to-back Grand Slam doubles champion following her wins at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. The Wimbledon title was to be the last Grand Slam titles she would win although she would go on to finish runner-up on another five occasions, the last of which coming in the 2009 Australian Open – the only Slam to elude her.
At the start of 2004, Sugiyama won her sixth career singles title and on 9th February she reached her career high singles ranking of eight. To this singles title, she added a further two doubles titles in August and September. The Athens Olympics of 2004 proved to be her most successful, in singles she reached the quarterfinals and in the doubles event, with partner Shinobu Asagoe, she narrowly missed out on a podium finish following a straight sets loss in the Bronze Medal Play-off match. Three more doubles titles came her way between 2005 and 2006 then in 2007 in Gifu, Japan she won her first doubles title on the ITF Pro Circuit. She added one more doubles title in 2007 before landing a further three in 2008.
Coming into the final month of her career, she has one doubles title in 2009, leaving her one short of forty career women’s doubles titles and since 9th July 2007, Sugiyama has been an ever present in the WTA top 10 doubles rankings list.
Looking back over her career, Sugiyama singles out her 1998 win in San Diego over Steffi Graf and a 2006 victory over Martina Hingis on the Centre Court at Wimbledon as two of her most memorable matches.
The decision to retire came following weeks of hard training in San Diego this summer and Sugiyama, who felt that she could no longer continue with the physical and mental demands, told in a conversation with her mother & trainer, Fusako, “I cannot do this any longer. I think this year will be the last”. This will not, however, be the end of tennis for Sugiyama, who, in talking of what lies in store for her in the future mentioned of a move into the coaching side of the game.
Her final tournament appearance, coming in the city of her birth and where she played her first professional tournament, brings her career full circle and the tournament can surely expect to have a full house when she takes to the court for the very last time in what should prove to be an emotional moment for both Sugiyama and her vast legion of fans.
^ Back to Top
|
|
|
|
