FORMER world number 9 tennis professional Nicolás Almagro has announced his retirement from the sport after a 'marvellous tournament' at the Murcia Challenger Open in his home city.
"I'm leaving. I'm leaving tennis and I want to do it here, at my own club, Murcia Tennis Club, with my family, my friends, in my city, and at this marvellous tournament," the 33-year-old clay-court ace said last night (Monday).
Having won his first title in Valencia in 2006, three years after turning professional, Almagro finishes on a high note with 13 ATP trophies under his belt, two ATP 500 and 11 ATP 250 titles, all on clay.
His best year was 2011, when the Spaniard known as El Bombilla netted three titles, in Nice (France), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Costa do Sauipe (Brazil), and soared to number 9 in the ATP rankings.
Part of a whole gilt-edged generation of top-10 Spanish tennis prodigies, including Rafa Nadal, Fernando Verdasco, David Ferrer, Tommy Robredo and Juan Carlos Ferrero, Nico Almagro was never out of the 15 world best for four seasons on the trot, from 2010 to 2013.
His retirement comes as he is just short of 400 victories - 397, in fact, of which 278 were on the professional circuit - and over US$10 million in prize money, although he has not won an ATP title since his victory in Estoril, Portugal in 2016.
The London 2012 Olympic quarter-finalist and 2005 Mediterranean Games gold medallist has been beset with injuries for the past few years which have impeded his continuing success, leading to his opting to hang up his racquet for good.
In the above photograph, Almagro is competing at the ATP in Båstad, Sweden in 2015.
