Tuesday, 10 April 2018:
 | | CASEY DELLACQUA of Australia plays a backhand in his first round match with Matt Reid of Australia against Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Rajeev Ram of the United States of the 2017 Australian Open at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. | |
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Australian tennis player Casey Dellacqua has announced her retirement from the sport to spend more time with her young family.
The 33-year-old posted a video to her social media accounts on Tuesday to mark the end of her career, effective immediately.
Dellacqua says she decided to step away from the game to devote more time to her partner Amanda Judd and children Blake and Andie.
"It's something I've been thinking about for a while and I definitely feel like it's the right time to hang up the rackets and be a mum," Dellacqua said.
"It's time for me to spend time with my family, particularly while my kids are young.
"It's a precious time in life and I feel like I want to be at home with my family."
Dellacqua reached a career high singles ranking of 26 in September 2014, but had focused on her successful doubles career after making a comeback in 2017 following a serious head injury.
A fall at the China Open in October 2015 saw her suffer concussion symptoms that saw her sidelined from the game for more than a year.
Dellacqua spoke about the "terrible anxiety" she experienced following the freak accident and the dramatic impact it had on her life.
She bows out after helping Australian to win their Fed Cup tie against Ukraine in February to reach the World Group qualifiers.
Dellacqua reignited her successful combination with Ashleigh Barty to help win the deciding doubles rubber on her birthday.
"One thing I'll miss about professional tennis is playing for Australia," Dellacqua said.
"It was always the highlight of my career and it's something I'll always cherish having those memories representing my country."
The West Australian won a mixed doubles grand slam in 2011, partnering with American Scott Lipsky to take out the French Open.
She reached seven doubles grand slam finals, including last year's French Open decider with Barty, but couldn't break through for a crown.
They became the first all-Australian women's pairing to make the final at Roland Garros in 46 years.
In doing so, Dellacqua and Barty were the first Australian partners in the open era to qualify for all women's grand slam doubles finals after reaching the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open deciders in 2013.
Her best singles results in grand slams were reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open twice (2008, 2014) and US Open in 2014.
Off the court, Dellacqua received strong support for taking a stand against Margaret Court's controversial views on same-sex marriage.
She hit out last year by tweeting "Margaret. Enough is enough".
The statement was accompanied with Court's public letter where the 24-time grand slam singles champion lamented that Dellacqua's "child has been deprived of his father".
"I know that my partner and I do a really good job at parenting and we adore those kids and those kids will always have our love and they see us in a very respectful relationship," Dellacqua said in June 2017.
