Proud father shocked at Open winner Pennetta’s retirement

Reuters: Flavia Pennetta won her first grand slam singles title over Roberta Vinci in an improbable all-Italian U.S. Open final on Saturday (September 13).

Then Pennetta added another shock by announcing her retirement, much to the surprise of her family back home in the Italian city of Brindisi, where supporters had crowded into a restaurant to watch events unfold across the Atlantic.

Pennetta’s 7-6(4) 6-2 victory brought the crowd to their feet in celebration at the 33-year-old local woman’s career highlight, the fourth oldest grand slam winner in the Open Era.

But as the celebrations began, Pennetta dropped a bombshell that provided a dramatic finish to the year’s final grand slam and her career.

After embracing childhood friend and Fed Cup team mate Vinci at the net a smiling Pennetta stood at center court during the trophy presentation and told a capacity crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium that included Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi that she would retire.

Her mother, Concita, told journalists: “I think for a player that the big stage like the one this evening, would be very difficult to beat. You cannot hope for anything greater than this.”

Father Angelo added: “We’ll try to make her change her mind about retirement. That announcement shocked everyone. Maybe she had it on her mind. The announcement made us freeze for a moment. We’re happy for this extraordinary achievement but disappointed at the retirement. She said she was going to retire but only if she dropped to 50th in the rankings.” Pennetta joins 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone as the only Italian women to win a major singles title.

The unlikely final was set up by breathtaking upsets as unseeded Vinci knocked off world number one Serena Williams in the semi-finals to end the 33-year-old American’s quest for a calendar year Grand Slam.

Pennetta’s path to the final included two huge hurdles which she cleared with confidence, taking down Czech fifth seed Petra Kvitova in the quarter-finals and Romanian second seed Simona Halep in the semi-finals.