She was World No. 2, defeated Venus Williams but was forced to retire at just 27 due to injury

Anett Kontaveit reached the peak of her sport before her career was unexpectedly cut short at just 27. Once ranked World No. 2 and the highest-ranked Estonian player in history, she was forced to retire in 2023 due to a chronic back condition. Despite the abrupt end, Kontaveit leaves behind a career marked by breakthrough wins and an impact on Estonian sport.

Kontaveit grew up just outside Tallinn, Estonia, where tennis was part of everyday life. Her first coach was her mother, Ülle, a tennis instructor who introduced her to the game at age six. She trained with her mother until she was 11, then progressed under local Estonian coaches before working with notable names like Nigel Sears, Dmitry Tursunov, and later, Torben Beltz.

Known for her aggressive baseline play and powerful forehand, Kontaveit always favored hard courts. As a junior, she reached the 2012 US Open final and was one of the most promising talents of her generation.

Kontaveit’s rise to World No. 2 in the WTA rankings

Kontaveit’s breakout came at the 2015 US Open, where she battled through qualifying and upset 31st seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova en route to the fourth round. She broke into the top 100 shortly after. In 2018, she made headlines again, beating Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki back-to-back to reach the semis in Rome.

Kontaveit during 2022 Wimbledon (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

But it was 2021 that defined her career. Kontaveit won four WTA titles in a three-month span, qualified for the WTA Finals for the first time, and finished as runner-up. Her hot streak helped her climb to World No. 2 by June 2022.

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“I think I’m very proud of consistently staying in the top 20, 30,” she said. “Then of course, having this one huge year where I achieved a lot of my goals that I had for my career,” she told Tennis Majors in 2023.

In total, she captured six WTA titles and reached two WTA 1000 finals—Wuhan in 2018 and Doha in 2022. She also reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in 2020. Despite her good results, she was forced to end her career earlier than expected.

Her early retirement: ‘I can’t believe how difficult has been’

Kontaveit’s career ended not by choice, but by necessity. In mid-2023, she was diagnosed with lumbar disc degeneration, which is a painful back condition that made high-level training impossible.

Kontaveit had to retire early due to a chronic injury (Mohamed Farag/Getty Images)

“I always thought when the day came that I’d be fine,” she told Tennis Majors in 2023. “But then actually it’s been pretty difficult. I’m surprised how difficult it’s been. Especially announcing (the retirement) and everything, it was very stressful and I was getting very negative. It’s been hard. It’s been kind of like a rollercoaster, I think.”

“I think ending my career would be difficult anyway, because that’s what I’ve done my whole life and it’s something I care about so much and that I’ve put all my attention to for the last I don’t know how many years,” she explained. “I mean, it is coming sooner than I thought it would. It’s been a difficult decision to make, but one I’ve had to make. I think once I decide something, I’m pretty firm on it. And there’s also life after tennis of course. So I am trying to not get too stuck on all the sad and negative things about it.”

Despite the diagnosis, she fought to stay on court as long as possible. At Wimbledon, she extended her farewell by beating Lucrezia Stefanini in the first round before falling to Marie Bouzkova. Her final official match came in July 2023, but she said goodbye to fans properly in November with a farewell exhibition in Tallinn, playing her close friend Ons Jabeur.

Plans post-tennis life

As she left the sports early, she said she was interested in going back to school to study psychology. “Psychology is something that’s been fascinating to me,” she told Tennis Majors. “I’ve worked with different sports psychologists at home and I do think that having this experience is a big bonus.” However, Kontaveit did start a new chapter in her life after welcoming her first son in September 2024.