The former world No 2 Anett Kontaveit has announced she will retire after Wimbledon next month at the age of 27 because of the chronic back injury that has troubled her for the past eight months.
In a social media post on Tuesday, the Estonian explained that the back condition, lumbar disc degeneration, has made it impossible for her to continue to compete at the highest level. The syndrome, usually age-related, occurs when wear and tear on a spinal disc leads to lower back pain.
