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Long time Swiss number three, Marco Chiudinelli, retired from professional tennis last week. The 36-year-old played his last match at his hometown tournament in Basel, falling to Robin Haase in the opening round of the Swiss Indoors.

Chiudinelli turned professional in 2000. He was a member of the Swiss Davis Cup team in 28 ties, competing in 18 matches. He was also part of the winning squad alongside Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka and Michael Lammer, who lifted the trophy for Switzerland in Lille 2014

His best performances at a Grand Slam were at the 2006 US Open and the 2009 US Open, where he reached the third round as a qualifier both times.

Chiudinelli clinched three titles on the ATP Challenger Tour, his latest triumph took place at the Wroclaw Open last year. He reached a career high ranking at World No. 52 in February 2010.

After an injury plagued-season, Chiudinelli announced earlier this year on his official website that he would be retiring following the tournament at St. Jakobs-Arena where he enjoyed the greatest success of his career, reaching the semi-finals of the ATP 500 Event in 2009.

“I had it in my head for a while now. I had so many problems that I have almost never been able to play properly. I was 100 per cent fit at maybe only five tournaments this year,” Chiudinelli said and added: “It was not an easy decision. I am a bit sad, as I actually was not fed up with playing tennis. I enjoyed the life on the tour.”

ATP World Tour Season In Review: Player Retirements
Continuing our Season In Review series, ATPWorldTour.com pays tribute to six players who retired in 2017. In part two of our two-part series, we will look back at the careers of five other players, including Radek Stepanek.

Juan Monaco (Retired: 15 May), career-high No. 10
Juan Monaco exhibited both great sportsmanship and charm, performing at his best on clay courts – where he captured eight of his nine titles – during a 14-season pro career. He rose to a career-high No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on 23 July 2012 and recorded 20 victories over Top 10 opponents, including over his good friend Rafael Nadal at the 2007 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. Together, they won the 2015 Qatar ExxonMobil Open doubles title – one of three team crowns for the Argentinean, affectionately known as ‘Pico’. “[There is] pride to have faced so many challenges over many years,” said Monaco. “Thanks for what tennis gave me: education, discipline, friendship and unforgettable moments. [There is] sadness, because I will really miss the tennis courts [and] happiness to have had the chance to work in what I really loved since I was a kid. Knowing that dedication, sacrifice, tenacity and compromise have always been my engine, I leave with the satisfaction that I gave all I had and I want to let you know that I enjoyed until my last match.”

Albert Montanes (Retired: 27 April), career-high No. 22
Albert Montanes, the archetypical Spanish clay-courter who often completed lengthy tournament schedules each season, brought the curtain down at home at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, where he’d made his debut in 2001. At 36 years of age, he accumulated 212 victories on red dirt – including six ATP World Tour crowns – and a career-high of No. 22 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. "It's a very special moment," said Montanes. "I wanted to finish my career in a special way. It couldn't have been anywhere else. You, the public, have been essential in my career. I feel really proud to have had a very long career." A career-best week for Montanes came at Estoril in 2010, when he beat then World No. 1 Roger Federer in the semi-finals – at a time when Rafael Nadal was the only Spanish to haven beaten the Swiss on clay – prior to an emotional victory over Portuguese hope Fred Gil in the final. "I will always remember that win over Federer," he said. "And then I was able to win the tournament, which made it even more special."

Grega Zemlja (Retired: 12 August), career-high No. 43
Grega Zemlja fulfilled his dream to play tennis professionally, recording a number of firsts for Slovenia – the first in the Top 50 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, and the first to play in the main draw of a Grand Slam championship – before calling it a career at the age of 30. In October 2012, he advanced to his lone ATP World Tour final, beating Tommy Haas and Janko Tipsarevic at the Erste Bank Open 500 prior to losing to Juan Martin del Potro. He won six ATP Challenger Tour titles and rose to a career-high No. 43 on 15 July 2013.

Somdev Devvarman (Retired: 2 January), career-high No. 62
Two days into the new year, the fighting spirit and passion for the sport flickered out for Somdev Devvarman, the smiling Indian, who at 31 years of age looked beyond the tramlines for a new career. The decision came 12 months on from his last ATP World Tour appearance in Chennai, where he reached the 2009 final (l. to Cilic). The sociology graduate from the University of Virginia, for whom he won back-to-back NCAA singles title in 2007 and 2008, rose to a career-high No. 62 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on 25 July 2011. That year he reached the Johannesburg final (l. to Anderson) but in 2012 he began to struggle to overcome a shoulder complaint, part of an injury-plagued career, which included five ATP Challenger Tour titles.

Giovanni Lapentti (Retired: 10 February), career-high No. 110
Giovanni Lapentti played close to 400 matches on the ATP Challenger Tour, winning 10 titles, but perhaps his finest achievement came just two weeks after 2000 Wimbledon. As a 17-year-old he fought back from a 0-2 sets deficit in the fifth and deciding rubber to beat Great Britain’s Arvind Parmar on No. 1 Court at the All England Club to record Ecuador’s first – and, to date, only – singles victory in the Davis Cup World Group. He’d also partnered his brother, Nicolas Lapentti, a day earlier to a straight-sets win in the doubles rubber. A year later, and yet to turn professional, the 6’4” Giovanni partnered Frank Dancevic to the 2001 Wimbledon junior doubles title.

Colin Fleming (Retired: 16 January), doubles career-high No. 17
Colin Fleming moved seamlessly from professional tennis to the position of National Coach for Tennis Scotland in January, after calling time on a 10-year professional career that included eight ATP World Tour titles from 19 finals. He reached a career-high No. 17 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings on 9 September 2013. Ross Hutchins, the Chief Player Officer for the ATP, who won three ATP World Tour doubles titles with Fleming, said, “I wish Colin all the success in his move away from playing professional tennis. He had many fantastic tennis achievements and performed extremely well on the biggest stages in our sport. I have no doubt at all that he is an outstanding fit in his new role and will help build something very strong in Scottish tennis.”

ATPWorldTour.com looks back on the careers of the players who retired from professional tennis this year

Radek Stepanek (Retired: 14 November), career-high No. 8
As one door closes, another one opens. Just two weeks after announcing the end of his professional career in mid-November, Radek Stepanek joined Novak Djokovic’s team as a coach alongside Andre Agassi. During a 20-year playing career, Stepanek combined unorthodox groundstrokes and a penchant for rushing the net to lift five singles titles and 18 doubles crowns on the ATP World Tour. He only decided to stop for good, aged 38, when a back injury that required surgery on 22 March this year proved too hard to overcome. The Czech rose to a career-high No. 8 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on 10 July 2006 and a career-high 4 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings on 12 November 2012. He completed 11 seasons in the Top 100 singles and doubles rankings. Stepanek, one of the sport’s hardest workers and more colourful characters, partnered Leander Paes to the 2012 Australian Open and 2013 US Open crowns. He would also join forces with Tomas Berdych to help the Czech Republic to the 2012 and 2013 Davis Cup crowns and at the 2016 Rio Olympics he teamed up with Lucie Hradecka to the mixed doubles bronze medal. “I’m very proud of my achievements and the whole team who helped me throughout my career, they definitely have their signature on that,” said Stepanek. “I think the [award] suitcase is packed. Obviously, there is a trophy missing for a singles Grand Slam title, which I wasn’t that close to. But I’ve done a lot in my career, and it’s something that I can be proud of.”

Paul-Henri Mathieu (Retired: 29 October), career-high No. 12
In tennis, you win or lose. You progress through the draw, or you head to the nearest airport. Paul-Henri Mathieu learned early on how to treat triumph and disaster just the same, regrouping as a 20-year-old from a 2002 Davis Cup fifth-set deciding rubber loss against Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny. It took him up to five years to realise the enormity of the result. The Frenchman won four ATP World Tour titles – including back-to-back crowns in 2002. He beat seven Top 40 players – including Marat Safin, Gustavo Kuerten and Thomas Johansson – in Moscow and Lyon, and was later named the 2002 ATP Newcomer of the Year. Two further titles followed in 2007 at Casablanca (d. Montanes) and Gstaad (d. Seppi), and on 7 April 2008 he attained a career-high No. 12 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Injuries were ever-present – wrist, groin, knees (that required three surgeries) – throughout his 19-season pro career and in 2012-13 further complaints played out as his wife, Quiterie, successfully battled to overcome Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Mathieu kept fighting on and off the court, recording 10 Top 10 victories – including three over Davydenko. Allez, Paulo.

Benjamin Becker (Retired: 16 September), career-high No. 35
For Benjamin Becker a hip injury triggered a change of plans and in spring 2018 he will complete the final semester of his bachelor’s degree in management at Baylor University, where he is also the men’s team student volunteer coach. The 36-year-old is now giving back to an institution that he helped to win the 2004 NCCA national team championship title for the first time and also the NCCA singles title. The German, who overcame two elbow surgeries in 2011, rose to a career-high No. 35 in the Emirates ATP Rankings in 2014, eight years after cracking the Top 50 for the first time. He won his lone ATP World Tour title in June 2009 at the Ricoh Open as a qualifier, defeating two of the top four seeds en route to a final win over Raemon Sluiter. He also reached two other finals at 2007 Bangkok (l. to Tursunov) and on ‘s-Hertogenbosch grass in 2014 (l. to Bautista Agut). Among six Top 10 career wins, were two victories over former World No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko (2008 Wimbledon and 2010 Halle).

Marco Chiudinelli (Retired: 24 October), career-high No. 52
It was an emotional day for Marco Chiudinelli when he called time on his career in October at the Swiss Indoors Basel, scene of his best singles performance – a run to the 2009 semi-finals, when he beat Philipp Kohlschreiber, Michael Lammer and Richard Gasquet en route to losing to his childhood friend and some-time doubles partner Roger Federer. Shoulder and knee injuries, over a 10-year period, hindered his development, however, the Swiss rose to a career-high No. 52 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on 22 February 2010 and won 10 ATP Challenger Tour singles titles during his career. He went 1-3 in ATP World Tour doubles finals, with his lone crown coming at the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad with Lammer. Chiudinelli, a member of the Swiss Davis Cup team that won the 2014 title, partnered Stan Wawrinka to a seven-hour and one-minute 24-22 fifth-set doubles rubber victory over Czech Tomas Berdych and Lukas Rosol in the 2013 first round.

Mariusz Fyrstenberg (Retired: 16 September), doubles career-high No. 6
As one half of the ‘Polish Power’, Mariusz Fyrstenberg called it quits after 17 years at the ATP Challenger Tour’s Pekao Szczecin Open in Poland, where he started his doubles career in 2001. In tandem with Marcin Matkowski, the duo captured 15 doubles crowns – including two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crowns at the 2008 and 2012 Mutua Madrid Opens. The pair also finished as runners up at the 2011 US Open (l. to Melzer/Petzschner) and qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals on five occasions, including a 2011 title match (l. to Mirnyi/Nestor). Fyrstenberg reached a career-high of No. 6 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings on 6 August 2012 and won 18 tour-level titles overall.

Affalterbach - Ende Januar wird Nils Langer 28 Jahre alt, knapp zehn Jahre ist der Affalterbacher nun als Tennisprofi um die Welt gereist. Das scheint im ersten Moment noch nicht so alt und so lange zu sein, dass man den Schläger an den Nagel hängen muss. Dennoch sagt der 1,93 Meter große Rechtshänder: „International ist jetzt Schluss! Ich werde mich weiterhin fit halten, ein paar nationale Turniere spielen und auch in der Bundesliga für Aachen auflaufen. Aber Woche für Woche um die Welt reisen, dieses Kapitel ist beendet.“

Das Jahr 2017 lief nicht wirklich nach Plan für Nils Langer. Am Anfang spielte er noch recht gut und erfolgreich, erreichte zum Beispiel das Finale beim ATP Challenger in Koblenz. Doch dann warf ihn eine Grippe zurück. „Das habe ich wochenlang mit mir herumgeschleppt und habe zum Teil auch gespielt, obwohl ich nicht richtig gesund war. Später hatte ich dann noch eine Rückenverletzung, da war ein Wirbelgelenk entzündet. Das hat mich erneut mehrere Wochen außer Gefecht gesetzt.“ Die Gedanken an ein Ende der internationalen Karriere waren zu dieser Zeit schon im Kopf. Der endgültige Entschluss kam dann aber am Ende der Sommersaison beim Challenger-Turnier in Essen. „Da habe ich mir im ersten Match einen Muskelfaserriss in den Adduktoren zugezogen. Und da war dann ein Punkt erreicht, an dem ich gesagt habe, dass es nicht mehr geht. Denn es ist zwar einerseits sehr schön, jede Woche woanders zu sein und Turniere zu spielen. Ich bin unendlich dankbar für diese Zeit. Aber wenn man dann ständig mit gesundheitlichen Problemen zu kämpfen hat, dann ist es auch sehr anstrengend und irgendwann nicht mehr zu bewältigen.“


Nils Langer hat als Tennisprofi fast die ganze Welt gesehen. Australien, China Thailand, Marokko, Italien, Portugal, Mexiko, die Dominikanische Republik oder die USA – die Stationen der Turniere, bei denen er teilgenommen hat, könnten auch aus einem Reisekatalog stammen. Die Highlights waren aus Sicht des dreifachen Deutschen Jugendmeisters dabei nicht unbedingt die Turniere, die er gewonnen hat. „Für mich waren die Höhepunkte vor allem die Grand-Slam-Turniere, die ich alle vier spielen durfte.“ Also Melbourne, Paris, Wimbledon und New York. Obwohl er dort immer „nur“ in der Qualifikation antreten konnte, es also nie ins Hauptfeld geschafft hat, war das für den Affalterbacher so ziemlich das Größte. „Na klar war es auch schön, mal bei einem Challenger im Finale zu stehen. Oder am Stuttgarter Weissenhof ins Hauptfeld zu kommen. Aber die Grand Slams sind einfach das, wovon jeder Tennisspieler träumt“, sagt Langer. Als besondere Momente in Erinnerung geblieben sind ihm außerdem Trainingseinheiten mit Roger Federer oder Novak Djokovic. „Bei Djokovic war damals noch Boris Becker als Trainer an der Seite“, erinnert er sich.

Bis auf Platz 188 der ATP-Weltrangliste hat es Nils Langer geschafft. Das war im März 2016. Dass es nicht noch höher ging, vielleicht sogar unter die „magische Grenze“ der Top 100, dafür macht er vor allem seinen Körper verantwortlich. „Das größte Problem war, dass ich immer wieder verletzt war. Das bringt einen dann auch immer aus dem Rhythmus. Spielerisch konnte ich mithalten. Ich habe ja auch oft genug gegen Leute gewonnen, die unter den Top 100 oder knapp dahinter standen.“ Doch er blickt dennoch positiv auf die knapp zehn Jahre Profitennis zurück: „Natürlich ist man im Nachhinein immer schlauer und denkt, dass man manches wohl anders und besser hätte machen können. Aber bin ich zufrieden. Ich denke, dass ich das Beste rausgeholt haben und sehr viel Spaß hatte.“

Spaß hat er immer noch am Tennis. „Ich spiele nach wie vor leidenschaftlich gerne“, sagt Nils Langer, will diesen Spaß künftig aber auch anderen vermitteln. „Ich mache momentan meine B-Trainer-Lizenz und arbeite in einer Tennisschule in Stuttgart-Kemnat.“ Dort gehört unter anderem der ehemalige Davis-Cup-Spieler Andreas Beck zu seinen Kollegen. „Jetzt im Winter ist das noch nicht so viel, da ich ja auch erst recht kurzfristig dazugekommen bin. Es gibt ein paar Profis, die bei uns trainieren, daneben spiele ich aber auch mit einigen ambitionierten Jugendlichen. Reine Freizeitspieler sind derzeit weniger dabei“, erklärt Nils Langer, der außerdem nebenher eine Fernausbildung „Grundlagen Sportmanagement“ begonnen hat. „Einfach um mich nebenher noch etwas auf diesem Gebiet weiterzubilden.“

Das Ende der internationalen Karriere hat natürlich auch dazu geführt, dass Nils Langer wieder mehr hier in der Region ist. „Derzeit wohne ich bei meinen Eltern in Affalterbach. Ich bin aber auf der Suche nach einer Wohnung.“ Das war die vergangenen Jahre nicht nötig, da er die meiste Zeit des Jahres eh unterwegs war. Keine Frage: Für Nils Langer hat ein neuer Abschnitt seines Lebens begonnen.