Alison Van Uytvanck, a former Roland Garros quarterfinalist, has announced the end of her professional tennis career at the age of thirty. In 2018, the Belgian hit a career high of No.37.
“Making this decision has been incredibly hard,” Van Uytvanck remarked on social media. “Over the last few weeks, I haven’t felt the same fire that drives me to give my all, fight for every point, and travel the world. It wasn’t an easy decision; I struggled a lot last year while recovering from a terrible injury, both physically and mentally.”
Van Uytvanck suffered a back injury that sidelined him for eight months in 2023. Since returning to action in October, she has won three ITF titles, including the Surbiton W100 on grass in June, and risen to No.228 in the PIF WTA Rankings, but has yet to win a tour-level match. Van Uytvanck’s last professional match was a 6-3, 6-3 defeat to Julia Middendorf in the second round of the Hechingen ITF W75 last month, while her last tour-level outing was a 6-2, 6-2 loss to Jana Fett in the first round of Prague the week before.
Van Uytvanck played her first professional match in 2009 at the age of 15; two years later, she made a remarkable WTA main-draw debut on home soil, qualifying for
Brussels (beating Laura Siegemund and Hsieh Su-Wei) and defeated Patty Schnyder in the opening round.Van Uytvanck went on to win five WTA singles titles, including every tour-level final she competed in: Québec City 2017, Budapest 2018 and 2019, Tashkent 2019, and Astana 2021. She also won three WTA 125 titles: Taipei 2013; Limoges 2021; and Gaiba 2022.
Van Uytvanck achieved three Top 20 wins, including a 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 victory over defending champion and World No.3 Garbiñe Muguruza in the second round of Wimbledon 2018. Her other notable triumphs include defeating Ana Ivanovic in Luxembourg in 2015 and Petra Kvitova at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. Van Uytvanck also won two WTA doubles titles, in Luxembourg 2018 and
2021, both with then-girlfriend Greet Minnen.
Van Uytvanck was well-known for her ability to play on fast courts, combining power and touch. She won four of her five WTA titles on indoor courts, as well as two of her three WTA 125 titles. On grass, she won one WTA 125 title and three ITF W100 events. However, she had her best Grand Slam performance on clay, reaching the Roland Garros quarterfinals in 2015. Van Uytvanck had previously reached the second week of a major at Wimbledon in 2018, where she advanced to the fourth round.
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