U.S. Open 2015: Flavia Pennetta wins title, will retire
Pennetta beat childhood pal and fellow Italian Roberta Vinci 7-6 (4) 6-2 in the title match in New York, a day after the runner-up engineered one of the biggest shocks in tennis history by ousting Serena Williams, CNN reports. Speaking of shocks, Pennetta then said in her on-court interview Saturday she was retiring from tennis. At first it was thought Pennetta was stopping now but she later told reporters she'll finish the season. She made the decision at a tournament in Toronto last month. "Sometimes it's getting hard for me to compete," Pennetta said, referring to the mental struggle of playing tennis throughout the 11-month season. "I don't feel to have this power anymore sometimes. "So this is the perfect moment. Was a really hard decision to make, but I'm happy that I did it. I'm really happy and proud of myself." Pennetta, who will turn 34 in February and almost quit the game two years ago because of a wrist injury, became the oldest first-time grand slam champion in the Open Era. All of Italy rejoiced having two home-grown players in the final -- Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi even flew to the Big Apple for the unprecedented occasion -- but pockets of Arthur Ashe stadium, the largest regularly used stadium in tennis with a capacity of about 23,000, were empty. Had the U.S.'s Williams reached the final, it certainly wouldn't have been the case. Chasing a calendar-year grand slam heading into the year's last major, the women's final at the U.S. Open sold out prior to the men's for the first time. Read more
