Patty Schnyder calls time on career

Patty Schnyder on Saturday called time on a 17-year career which brought 11 titles, 59 Grand Slam appearances and a family split caused by a bizarre relationship with an orange juice-obsessed guru.

The 32-year-old Swiss made her majors bow at Roland Garros in 1996 and chose her 16th successive French Open to announce her decision. "It's time to close this chapter of my tennis career. It's very emotional," said a tearful Schnyder at a news conference.


Patty Schnyder

"I had always wanted to win a Grand Slam title but that will remain a dream."

Left-hander Schnyder reached a career high of seven in the world in 2005, a year after recording her best Grand Slam performance ufffd a semi-final at the 2004 Australian Open. But she hit the headlines as a teenager when she hooked up with Rainer Harnecker, a self-styled 'natural therapist', who convinced her to give up meat and drink three litres of orange juice a day.

Her parents became so concerned for the welfare of their daughter, who by now was Harnecker's girlfriend, that they hired a private detective, Rainer Hofmann to help out. Schynder's story then took a new twist, worthy of any soap opera, when she split with Harnecker and eventually married Hofmann in 2003.

"Sometimes you have no advice. Nobody knows what to do, how to help you. Then you have to decide," she said.

On Saturday, she admitted that time was catching up with her. "I felt I had some more years in tennis but the last five weeks on clay I have not been able to push away the desire of wanting to do other things in my life.

And after my first round defeat here (against Sorana Cirstea in straight sets), I decided I had to do something."

Schynder said her best memory would remain her home win at the Zurich tournament in 2002, where she beat Lindsay Davenport in the final. She also beat a succession of world number ones including Martina Hingis, Serena Williams, Steffi Graf, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin as well as current world leader Caroline Wozniacki.