Sorana Cirstea has never been one for dramatic exits, but her announcement still carried a jolt: after two decades on tour, the Romanian shot-maker has decided 2026 will be her final season. At 35, with a résumé that stretches back to her teenage breakthrough, she told fans on Instagram that they have “one more year” to watch her mix it with the best.
She reflected not with regret, but affection — for the discipline, the routines, the grind, and the adrenaline that has fuelled her since she first burst onto the scene in 2006. “I love tennis… I love the discipline, the routines, the hard work,” she wrote. Competition, she said, still feeds her soul, but even the most enduring careers must eventually find their curtain call.
Next year will mark her 20th season, a milestone she never expected to reach. “The last few years have been my happiest on court,” she said, explaining that she still has goals and ambitions for her farewell run. This, she stressed, is not a goodbye yet — more of a “see you one more time,” a final dance to be enjoyed on her terms.
A Career Built on Staying Power
If longevity is a skill, Cirstea mastered it early. Her first WTA title came in 2008 at the Tashkent Open, where she topped Sabine Lisicki as a teenager. She returned to the same final in 2019, proof of the remarkable span of her competitive window. Her biggest stage came in 2013 at the Canadian Open, where an inspired run carried her to the final before Serena Williams, as she often did, shut the door.
Her second title arrived in 2021 in Istanbul, taking out Elise Mertens in straight sets. The third, won in August 2025 at Tennis in the Land, showed she could still produce clean, commanding tennis deep into her thirties — a crisp two-set win over Ann Li sealing another trophy.
Grand Slams never yielded a semifinal, but they offered two deep runs bookending her career: the Roland Garros quarterfinal in 2009 and the US Open quarterfinal in 2024. At her peak in 2013, she climbed to No. 21, establishing herself as one of Romania’s finest players in the post-Halep era.
She closed her 2025 campaign with a late surge in Asia — a semifinal and quarterfinal giving her the kind of momentum most retirees can only envy. It sets up a fitting launch into 2026, her final lap, with the Australian Open leading the calendar from January 18 to February 2.
For Cirstea, the dream started with a four-year-old gripping a racquet for the first time. In 2026, she will walk the tour one last time — not to say farewell, but to finish the story exactly as she wants.
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