Injuries, loss of form take toll on former world No. 8
 
 
AUSTRALIAN tennis lost one of its charismatic and gifted talents yesterday with the retirement of Alicia Molik.

 

 

Molik, 27, hangs up her racquet after 11 seasons on the professional tour, a stint crowned by a career-high singles ranking of No. 8, Olympic Games bronze and grand slam doubles success.

Articulate, personable and driven, Molik has mulled her future for the past two years while recovering from the inner-ear virus vestibular neuronitis.
More recently, the South Australian has been plagued by leg and arm injuries.
In the end, retirement came easily.

"It's not a sad day, it's an exciting time for me," Molik said yesterday.
"Sad is when I'm in my hotel room and I've lost first round and I've been beaten badly.
"Sad is when I switch my phone off for two days and I don't want contact with anyone at the US Open or maybe I've lost at Wimbledon.
"As a player travelling the world, it can be very lonely. For three or four years, I've been very good at keeping a brave face. It's been an uphill battle, it really has, as much physically as it has been mentally and emotionally."

 

Molik carries no bitterness about being cut down in her prime.
She was on the cusp of grand slam glory in 2005 when her ranking peaked at No. 8 and she had just beaten Venus Williams to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals.

Soon after she was physically unable to stand up without fear of over-balancing because of the effects of the virus.
The months required for rehabilitation and the regaining of form should have been Molik's best.

But they became her most exasperating as memories of top-10 victories against Maria Sharapova, Amelie Mauresmo, Anastasia Myskina and Williams became even more poignant.

If Molik feels cheated, it does not show.
"In 2005, you could say I was at the pinnacle of my career," she said.
"I was No. 8 in the world, it was the first time I'd cracked the top 10, I'd won an Olympic bronze medal. I'd beaten the top players in the world and I wouldn't have imagined then probably this day (retirement) would come this soon. But it has and it's as though I've been blessed.

 

"I've had 11 years on the tour, with a bit of injury time in and out, that's a pretty unbelievable career, I think. I'm a bit of a realist. I felt like I've been ready for a long time (to retire). Instinct tells me to move on to something else."
Beijing was the beacon that dragged Molik this far.
After the elation and success of Athens in 2004, Molik began preparing for China despite crippling injury and illness travails.

"It (Beijing) was a huge goal for me," she said.
"Not so much a finishing line, but I promised myself I'd then take a step back and evaluate before I made any really serious decisions."

Molik's decision has stunned some of those closest to her, but surprised even fewer.
"A lot of people have said, 'You're young, you've got a lot of years ahead of you'," she said.
"That's true, but I want to be as productive as I can and to be challenged, to be stimulated and motivated again.
"There's only so many hours that you can spend in player lounges with a lot of dead-mind time, I call it. There's only so many tennis matches you can talk about."
Apart from spending more with her parents Andrew and Teresa and brother Richard, Molik wants more quality time with her Australian-based friends.

 

She said she will miss her compatriots on tour, along with Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova and Italian Mara Santangelo. But she will not yearn for the endless travel grind and solitary tour life.
In time, she wants to help Australia's children to discover the joys of tennis - as she did 21 years ago - on suburban courts.

But for the moment, it is time for a well-deserved respite. "When you travel so much and the best thing about going away is coming home, you don't need to ask yourself questions," Molik said.

"The answer is sitting right there in front of your face. I still love tennis, but it's time for the next phase, the next chapter of my life. It's time to look at other opportunities out there that will make me happier than what I'm doing at the moment."

 

Molik won six WTA singles titles and eight doubles crowns, including the French Open.

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