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Aussie favourite John Millman reveals he will play his final professional tournaments during the upcoming Australian summer.
Australia, 9 November 2023 | Leigh Rogers
John Millman will end his professional playing career at Australian Open 2024.
The 34-year-old announced his decision today, declaring “unfortunately age has caught up to me”.
“The body’s really broken down. It’s been a fantastic career, but I’m ready to try something else,” Millman told Channel Nine in Brisbane.
Millman will represent Australia at the United Cup this summer, before ending his career at the Australian Open.
“For me in the way I play, I have to really be out there playing 11 months a year and I’m just no longer able to do so,” conceded Millman, who contested only 10 tour-level matches in 2023.
“I can still play at a high level I feel, but not day-in, day-out. The body’s not letting me. All those years of being physical on court has caught up with me.”
The Brisbane-based athlete, who plans to study at university next year, hopes to be remembered as “someone who just had a crack”.
“I come from humble beginnings, a hard-working family … and I wasn’t some amazing junior, ” Millman said.
“But I worked at it and I had a goal. I did everything possible to squeeze that lemon dry and hopefully people can see that I got everything out of my game.”
Millman achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No.33 in 2018, shortly after stunning then world No.2 Roger Federer to reach the US Open quarterfinals.
That was Millman’s best Grand Slam result across 30 major appearances.
“I’m happy to have been able to live out a dream of mine, which was to play professional tennis. It’s been an absolute thrill,” Millman said. “I’ve had some really special moments on court.”
He listed representing Australia at the Olympic Games and in the Davis Cup competition as his proudest achievements.
Millman is determined to contest one last Australian Open, so that he can compete in front of his family, especially his parents Ron and Shona, one last time.
“That’s the reason why I’m on court slugging away and playing through the pain,” Millman said. “To hopefully get a couple of matches over the summer for them to cheer me on and hopefully make them proud.”
Although he is currently ranked No.436, Millman can use a protected ranking of No.217 to enter Australian Open qualifying.
“I still feel as if my level is top-100 tennis,” Millman said. “It’s just week-in, week-out, I wasn’t able to do that with my body.
“(But) I’ve got a great team that will be doing everything possible to have me peaking come mid-January and we’ll see how it goes.”
Find your way to play: Visit play.tennis.com.au to get out on court and have some fun!
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