French veteran Paul-Henri Mathieu has retired from professional tennis. The Strasbourg native, 35, had an excellent career that saw him peak at No.12 in the ATP rankings, earning over $6 million in prize money over his 17-year career.
A great junior, Mathieu won the 2000 Roland Garros Boys Single’s title by defeating future Top 10 star Tommy Robredo in the final. Mathieu won four titles at ATP 250 level, reaching a further five finals, and one at ATP 500 level in Hamburg.
2002 proved to be the year that Mathieu reached a high level. He became famous as the final player to defeat Pete Sampras before the American retired after winning the US Open. He played the final deciding rubber in the Davis Cup final for France against Russia, but squandered a two-set lead against Mikhail Youzhny as France were beaten.
Injuries then dogged the Frenchman. He did not register a victory on tour in 2003 until April citing a stomach injury. A wrist injury forced him to miss most of 2007, and he played with groin injuries through 2009 and 2010. Late in 2010 he suffered a serious injury to his left knee that left him unable to play tennis for more than a year.
In the midst of this horrible luck, Mathieu reached his career-high ranking of N0.12 in April 2008 around the time he achieved of a pair of Round of 16 runs at the Australian Open and Roland Garros. As a veteran, Mathieu defeated American John Isner 18-16 in the fifth set of what was then the second longest match in the history of Roland Garros.
Mathieu retired after losing in the singles qualifying to Vasek Pospisil, before taking to the court for his final match, in doubles with Benoit Paire, defeated by American duo Jack Sock and Nicholas Monroe.
Mathieu was given an on-court ceremony in Paris, where the crowd paid tribute to his achievements.
Mathieu: ““I knew that when I started the year it was going to be my last one, because I’m 35 and I’ve had a lot of injuries. I have a family. When you have one kid you can manage it a little bit, try to make them come. But when you start to have two kids, it’s too complicated. I’m 35. 10, 15 years ago I would have never thought I would have played that late. I’m lucky playing until this age. I think it’s time. One year or more is not going to change anything for me, and I want to spend time with the family.”
