Barbora Strycova said goodbye to professional tennis in 2023. In 2024, she'll welcome her second child.
Two-time Wimbledon doubles champion and former World No.1 Strycova, 37, announced the impending addition to her family in an Instagram post on Sunday, accompanying a photo of her and her 2-year-old son, Vincent, playing on the beach in Dubai.
"Vincent is gonna be a big brother," she wrote.
Strycova made a brief return to competitive tennis in 2023, after Vincent's 2021 birth, with the intention of retiring "on [her] terms." She and Hsieh Su-wei, a fan-favorite pairing in their first stint together from 2018-21, reunited for four tournaments, including a Cinderella run to their second Wimbledon crown together.
Unseeded, they lost just one set in six wins, and knocked off No. 3 seeds Storm Hunter and Elise Mertens in the final.
Strycova played the last tournament of her career at the US Open -- a trip she said was about "enjoying myself on court, enjoying the city, enjoying the family around me" after an August farewell ceremony on home soil in Prague -- where she reached the third round in doubles with fellow Czech Marketa Vondrousova and the quarterfinals in mixed doubles with Santiago Gonzalez.
“I had many obstacles during my career, but I wasn't sure if I want[ed] to really come back after giving birth,” Strycova said in New York. “I am so happy that I decided to do so because I didn't miss tennis at all. I didn't want to come back because I was missing it, I just wanted to come back because I was feeling like I need to close this chapter from my side.
“I feel like the tennis, I need it, and also my tennis needs that. I did it. It was challenging, and it is still challenging. I am happy that I'm done. I love tennis. It's a great sport. Also I love my life without it. I have so many things what I want to do, what I did, with my son what I want. I can't wait to come back to my life without tennis.”
In all, Strycova won 32 WTA doubles titles, including eight at WTA 1000 events, and topped the rankings for a total of 27 weeks in 2019 and 2020. She also won two career WTA singles titles, and peaked at a career-high ranking of No. 16 in 2017.
