Former world number 9 and 2004 Olympic gold medalist Nicolas Massu of Chile has announced this week that he will be retiring from professional tennis.
Massu, a winner of six ATP Tour titles, announced this development on Tuesday in his home city of Santiago in Chile. The Chilean made his country proud by securing the singles and doubles (with Fernando Gonzalez) gold medals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
“With my retirement we close two incredible decades for our sport. Marcelo Rios, Fernando Gonzalez and I contributed to put Chile’s name at the top. Now we are in a transition period and others will have to lead the way to bring joy to the people, with the most successful sport in Chile’s history. I only pray that no comparisons arise between us and that future generations are not given undue pressure to succeed,” Massu said.
Massu said that he won’t be participating in any tournaments in the remaining months of the season but will play against an unnamed opponent sometime around the end of the year.
“After discussing it for months with my team, my heart and body, I decided to end my professional career being aware that it wasn’t possible to get back to a top level and exhausted from the effort it takes to be an elite sportsman,” he said.
