Czech Davis Cup winner Stepanek retires at 38

ByReuters

Published 14/11/2017 at 17:00 GMT

PRAGUE, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Czech Davis Cup winner Radek Stepanek announced his retirement from tennis on Tuesday after failing to recover his fitness following back surgery earlier this year, Czech media reported.

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The 38-year-old Stepanek won five ATP singles titles and reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2006 when he reached a career-high eighth in the world rankings.

The following year a back injury threatened his career but Stepanek battled back and won two grand slam double titles with India's Leander Paes, the Australian Open in 2012 and the U.S. Open a year later.

Alongside Tomas Berdych, Stepanek was also part of the Davis Cup teams triumphed in 2012 and 2013.

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Stepanek had hoped to make another comeback after undergoing back surgery but that dream was never realised.

"I had to be realistic. I fought till the last breath but it is time to move on," Stepanek was quotes as saying on www.idnes.cz website. (Reporting by Jan Lopatka, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

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