Daily Times

LONDON: Shingo Kunieda, the most successful men’s wheelchair tennis player of all time, has announced his retirement. Japan’s Kunieda, 38, won 50 Grand Slam titles across singles and doubles and four Paralympic gold medals during his 28-year career. He retires as the world’s top-ranked player, having won the singles titles at the Australian and French Opens and Wimbledon last year. “I felt I have done enough with what I want to accomplish,” he said. Kunieda won 11 singles titles at the Australian Open in addition to eight victories at the French Open and eight at the US Open. He completed the career ‘Golden Slam’ – where a player wins all four major titles and the Paralympic gold medal – with his victory at Wimbledon last year. He also won 22 Grand Slam doubles titles. “I’ve been thinking about retirement since my dream came true at Tokyo Paralympics,” he said. “The Wimbledon singles title made me feel that my energy was little left to compete.” Since first picking up a tennis racket aged 11, two years after being diagnosed with a spinal tumour, Kunieda has gone on to become one of the true greats of the sport.