Michael Llodra has retired from active play on the ATP tour. He has his sights set on coaching now. The Frenchman has agreed to help Belgium prep for doubles play in this month's Davis Cup final against Great Britain.  

Llodra's Singles Career

Frenchman Michael Llodra made it official this week that he will no longer be playing on the ATP tour. The 35-year-old suffered an elbow injury during last year's U.S. Open and opted for surgery to try and prolong his career to play a final season of doubles. The surgery however was not able to bring his elbow back up to an acceptable level to be able to play again. Llodra ended his singles career with a 6-2, 6-2 loss to Tobias Kamke on the Challenger circuit at the Internationaux de Tennis de Vendee in Mouilleron Le Captif, France last November. During a press conference at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, Llodra reflected on his career and said he was at peace with the decision to retire after a "long 15 year career."

He played just ten singles matches in his final year on tour in 2014 with a 4-6 record. The highlight of his final season came on home soil at the Moselle Open in February 2014. Llodra made the quarterfinals of that event before bowing out to Jan-Lennard Struff in straight sets. His singles career ends with a mark of 187-221 overall. He won five career titles at the ATP level with the last coming in 2010 at the AEGON Open in Eastbourne. The lefty won two of his singles titles on grass. It ranked as his best surface with a career record of 44-29 for a winning percentage of just over 60 percent.

Doubles Legacy

Llodra leaves behind a much more impressive resume from his doubles career where he won a whopping 26 titles with ten different partners. He twice won four doubles titles in a single season, completing that feat in both 2005 and 2011. Llodra won three Grand Slam doubles titles in his career. He won back-to-back at the Australian Open in 2003 and 2004 with Fabrice Santoro as his partner. He also won the Wimbledon men's doubles title in 2007 with Arnaud Clement. His final doubles title came in 2014 alongside Nicolas Mahut at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam. He finished his doubles career with 387 wins and 224 losses.

Future Plans

With his retirement from active play on tour, Llodra already has a new job lined up. Llodra said he was approached by the Belgian National Team to help prepare them for doubles play for this month's Davis Cup final against Great Britain. The Frenchman brings a wealth of experience with him having played 37 total Davis Cup matches with 28 of those coming in doubles play. Llodra said it will be fun to help prep the Belgians, "This is a very exciting challenge when you know how difficult it is to win that title. I would have preferred to do that last year with the French team, but I have a sort of second chance in a way."

The Davis Cup final is set to take place in Ghent, Belgium from November 27th to November 29th.