Croatian tennis player Mario Ancic on Wednesday officially announced his retirement at a press conference in his hometown Split. Ancic retired at the age of 26 after years battling illness and injury.
The former world number seven who earned the nickname "Super Mario" after reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2004, achieved his career-high ranking in 2006 but has struggled since with the debilitating illness mononucleosis as well as back and knee problems.
In an emotional speech, Ancic said he is forced to quit because nature has decided it's time. "My back can't withstand the effort of professional tennis," Ancic said.
Ancic, whose greatest moment came in 2005 when he won the deciding rubber in the Davis Cup final against Slovakia, also won the Olympic bronze in doubles with Ivan Ljubicic in Athens. He reached a career high of No. 7 in 2006. Then he got mononucleosis at the start of 2007 and was out of the game for 6 months. He dropped from No. 9 in January 2007 to No. 135 in January 2008. Despite making a push to the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2008, illness and various injuries continued to plague him.
Ancic is will return to the law career he started after graduating from the University of Split’s law school in spring 2008. He studied for a degree in law during his lengthy spells out of tennis.
The Croatian Tennis Association president, Radimir Cacic, told today's news conference that he would nominate Ancic to be his successor at the next assembly of the association.
