Puerto Rican native Monica Puig, who took home the gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics, announced her retirement from tennis.
In 2016, Monica Puig became the first athlete from Puerto Rico to win a gold medal in any sport at an Olympics. She also became the first woman to medal in any discipline at the Games representing Puerto Rico.
She is the first Latin American representative to win the gold medal in singles and the second to win a medal, after Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina won silver at the Seoul 1988 Summer Olympics.
“After a tough three-year fight with injuries and four surgeries, my body had enough,” Puig wrote. “This decision isn’t an easy one because I would’ve loved to retire on my own terms, but sometimes life has other plans and we have to open new doors that lead to exciting possibilities.”
Puig had to pull out of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics last summer due to a rotator cuff and bicep injury.
She will stay connected with tennis as a commentator working for ESPN. She is also exploring positions where she can help foster support in youth athletics and academics.
She leaves professional tennis with a record of 310-215 on the WTA Tour, with a career-best ranking of 27. Early success as a teenager saw Puig advance to the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2013 - her best Grand Slam showing as a professional. She also earned over $3.5 million in prize money.
At the Rio Olympics, she was the first unseeded woman to win a gold medal since tennis returned to the Olympic program in 1988. In her gold medal match she defeated Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
Puig won ‘Best Female Athlete’ in Rio 2016 presented by the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC).
Puig was also a fixture in Latin American tennis, winning both the Central American and Caribbean titles as well as a Pan American silver medal.
“Over the past 28 years of my life, tennis has been my constant. It has given me some of the most thrilling and memorable experiences I could have ever asked for,” Puig wrote on social media. “But, sometimes, good things come to an end.”
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