Tim van Rijthoven, a Dutch tennis player, has announced his retirement from professional tennis. The announcement was made through an emotional post on social media.
Van Rijthoven gained attention in 2022 as one of the sport’s notable underdog stories when he won the ATP 250 tournament in ’s-Hertogenbosch. During that event, he defeated three Top 15 players despite being ranked No. 205 in the PIF ATP Rankings and having no previous tour-level match wins. He continued to impress with a fourth-round appearance at Wimbledon, where he was eventually defeated by champion Novak Djokovic.
The 28-year-old is retiring due to a persistent elbow injury that has not healed despite extensive rehabilitation efforts.
“With a heavy heart, I have to share something today that I have been trying to process for a long time,” Van Rijthoven expressed on Instagram. “My professional tennis career is forced to end.”
He added: “Due to a stubborn elbow injury that, despite all the rehabilitation and medical journeys, fails to recover, I am forced to say goodbye to the sport I’ve lived my entire life. I would have liked to see it differently. I would have liked to say goodbye on my own terms, with a racket in hand and the audience in the stands. But sometimes the body decides differently than the head. Yet I look back with an incredible amount of pride and gratitude.”