Sybille Bammer retires; plays last match at Bad Gastein – Tennis News
As Sybille Bammer bids adieu to professional tennis, we have a look at her distinctive and inspiring career which sadly for her ended with a loss against fellow Austrian Yvonne Meusburger in the second round at Bad Gastein. She
played her Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) career while taking care of her daughter Tina’s upbringing, an oddity in women’s tennis. While most careers in female tennis reach their pinnacle in the players’ teens, Bammer reached her career high ranking of 19
in December 2007 when she was 27 years old.
Professionally beginning her career in 1995, her first five years lacked any real punch. She spent most of her times, albeit successfully, at WTA Qualifying matches and in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) challenger circuit.
She made her WTA Tour main draw debut at the Klagenfurt, Austria event in 2000 as a wildcard and lost in the first round to German Andrea Glass. Later, in the same year, she failed to qualify for Wimbledon, the US Open and even her home tournament at Linz,
Austria.
She then took a sabbatical in 2001 to give birth to her daughter Tina, now almost 10. Her daughter’s birth was an elixir for her career which jumped right back on track thereafter. "Tina was very good for my tennis," Bammer had
said. "After my matches, when I'd see her, I could always stop thinking of tennis and enjoy our time together." Tina almost always accompanies her mother to the matches.
However undeniably there were times when playing the dual role of a mother and tennis player didn’t quite gel together. At a French Open event in 2007 Tina whiled the time away by playing Uno in the stands while her mother fought
in the courts below. A gust of wind got hold of the cards and blew them all over the court, much to the dismay of the court officials. Undoubtedly however, this event is bound to kindle laughter whenever the mother-daughter duo reminisces.
Her comeback in 2002 hallmarked the start of her successes. She delved into tennis head on and won her first three ITF titles at Grenoble, Innsbruck and Mostar that year. Four more titles went her way in 2003 and she debuted at
the Fed Cup, for Austria.
Bammer made headway towards the top league by making her mark at her first appearance as a qualifier in a Grand Slam event, the US Open 2005. She broke into the top 100 by bagging her first two WTA Tour quarter finals in Kolkata,
India and Linz, Austria. Her outstanding performance at Linz as a wild card entrant boosted her standing to a new career high of 77.
She registered her first WTA Title by winning the 2007 Pattaya Women’s Cup. This was the first time after eighteen years that a title was won by a mother on tour, following Laura Arraya’s win in 1989.
Her most remarkable and bewildering achievement came in 2007, a few weeks before the Australian Open. She defeated Serena Williams in the lead up event at Hobart – who eventually won her eighth grand slam title a few weeks later
– and caught everyone by surprise. This event propelled her into world fame. A gushing Bammer had said, "My two wins over Serena were very special too. I don't really know how I did it!”
She is actually amongst those few players who have a winning head to head record against Serena. In their second outing a few years later in Cincinnati Bammer again emerged as the victor.
She then reached the fourth round of the French Open in 2007 only to be defeated by the World No. 1 and eventual champion Justine Henin. Bammer finished 2007 at No. 19 her highest as well as the highest for any Austrian woman.
Here on began her slow decline in the rankings chart. 2009 saw her slide down to 55 and by 2010 her ranking had slid down to a dismal 70. Her performance at Wimbledon, where she failed to even get past the first round dismayed
even her. She announced eventual retirement soon thereafter and finally played her last match at the Gastein Ladies. As for her plans for the future - "I want to relax for a few weeks. I'm going to take some holidays now, just at home - I love Austria and
I'm looking forward to enjoying some time in my hometown.”
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