Katie O'Brien retires

LordBrownof · Futures level

Katie O'Brien retires

philwrig · Hall of fame

Sad, but good luck to Katie for the future.
I wonder when Annie K will follow suit ?

steven · Tennis legend

I really wasn't expecting this (I mean, she was top 100 only 18 months ago) but with hindsight, perhaps we should have seen it coming. She was often excruciating to follow on live scores, but fantastic to follow courtside, both for much the same reason - her lack of height (by tennis player standards) meant she couldnever rely on her serve, but she made up for that by being an incredible fighter. She provided the highlight of two days at Wimbledon for me - the win against Klösel in 2007, where Bladetiger led the cheering (that booming voice is wasted nowadays LOL), and the match against Bondarenko last year that she so nearly won from a set down.

PaulM · Tennis legend

I'm so sad :(

Count Zero · Tennis legend

Always sad when a player retires, wishing her best of luck for the future.

indiana · Tennis legend

Sad to see Katie retire and wish the last year or two had worked out much better for her.

She seemed a great little battler who gave her all and shortchanged nobody.

All the best to her in whatever the future holds.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

A shame to hear that Katie has retired as, at 25, if she felt her career was moving forward she still had a lot to offer.

Unfortunately, her ranking had gone in the wrong direction and if she feels like she is unlikely to be able to return to the top 100 her decision to retire is understandable. Going round the world on the ITF 25k and 50k circuit is a lot of effort for not much financial reward and players can probably only do this for a limited time.

Good luck to Katie in what she does next, whether it is within tennis or a new career entirely.

Spectator · All-time great

I am sorry to hear this news: Ms O'Brien has always seemed such a nice person, as well as a battling, talented player. But I seem to recollect that she's been studying while she played, so presumably she has other good things to do post-tennis. All best wishes to her, and thanks for the enjoyment she has given!

DavidC · Tennis legend

Sorry to read the news as she is a likeable person who has achieved what she did by hard work, and gave a lot of people a mixture of joy and pain with her committed performances. I've shared the mixture of ecstasy and agony since watching her as a junior, and she has achieved more than seemed likely as a good but not outstanding junior. Good luck to Katie in her next phase.