Anett Kontaveit back on court in French Open Legends matches
Former world number two women's tennis player Anett Kontaveit returned to the courts at the Roland Garros in Paris Wednesday, playing the opening match of this year's French Open Legends tournament, which runs in parallel with the main French Open.
The tournament is in a doubles format and, as its name suggests, attracts retired top players.
Kontaveit and her partner Cedric Pioline went down in straight sets 6:3, 6:4 against former world number one Kim Clijsters and her doubles partner, Iranian-French legend Mansour Bahrami.
Ahead of Wednesday's encounter, Kontaveit also answered some of her fans' pressing questions via her social media account, telling one questioner she was very happy with my life outside of tennis and had no plans to return professionally, but still loved the game.
No longer having to play daily and competitively had been a bonus, though regular training in any case helps with the recurring injuries which cut short her career at the age of only 27.
Pioline, 55, is a former world number five and Wimbledon (1997) and U.S. Open (1993) finalist.
Clijsters is a two-time (2001, 2003) French Open finalist and won the U.S. Open three times in the 2000s, plus the Australian Open in 2011.
Bahrami, aged 69, is famous as a showman and master of trick shots. Growing up in Iran, he had no opportunity to be coached or play even with a proper racquet – honing his skills with an old frying pan instead.
Other tennis stars of yesteryear taking part in the legends tournament in Paris include another showman: Seven-time grand slam winner John McEnroe; Lindsay Davenport (U.S.), who won Wimbledon in 1999 as well as the U.S. and Australian Opens on the years either side of that, and Sweden's Mats Wilander, a three-time grand slam winner who is nowadays also a familiar face as a commentator.
Kontaveit has also announced that she has signed up for the Wimbledon Legends tournament later this summer.
The main French Open, highlight of the clay court season, is entering the semi-finals phases Wednesday. Kontaveit's furthest progress there was round four, in 2018. Estonia's other top player, Kaia Kanepi, made it to the quarter-finals on two separate occasions – and made the quarters of the other three grand slams, as recently as 2022 in the case of the Australian Open.
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Editor: Anders Nõmm, Andrew Whyte
