Former doubles world number one and singles world number eight Ekaterina Makarova has officially announced her retirement through an Instagram post on 28th January, putting an end to her storied career more than 16 years after her debut on the professional circuit. This will also mean that she will not defend her gold medal at the Olympics this year.

Makarova was one of the most accomplished left-handed players during her time, reaching two Major semifinals at the 2014 US Open and 2015 Australian Open respectively, and also becoming one of the two left-handed players to defeat Serena Williams at a Grand Slam. 

Her singles achievements include winning three WTA titles, with the most recent coming at the 2017 Citi Open where she defeated Julia Goerges in the final. Her first WTA singles title came at the Eastbourne International in 2010, defeating five consecutive top-20 players as a qualifier to complete her breakthrough.

Ekaterina Makarova won the Rio Olympics gold medal alongside Elena Vesnina | Photo: Clive Brunskill
Ekaterina Makarova won the Rio Olympics gold medal alongside Elena Vesnina | Photo: Clive Brunskill

During the latter stages of her career, Makarova was one of the tour’s only players to compete at the highest level in both singles and doubles. She was a three-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, with the Australian Open doubles title being the only silverware missing from her trophy cabinet. In addition, she also claimed the Olympics Gold Medal in Rio alongside Elena Vesnina, bringing her career onto a whole new level. Furthermore, she also won a mixed doubles Grand Slam title at the 2012 US Open, partnering Bruno Soares to clinch the trophy as an unseeded team.

She is one of the few players in history who made the quarterfinals at all the Grand Slams for singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles, with the exception of the Roland Garros singles, making the fourth round there twice.

A former world number one in doubles, Makarova lifted 15 WTA doubles titles and earned 34 top-10 wins in doubles in addition to an impressive 32 top-10 wins in singles. She has not competed since the 2019 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships where she made the doubles final with Lucie Hradecka, with her last singles win coming at the 2018 US Open against world number nine Julia Goerges.

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