QUEENS, NY – August 30, 2011: Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in action during her Women’s Singles first round match of the 131th staging of the US Open Tennis Championships at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Ana Ivanovic wins 6-4, 6-2. .(Photo by Allen Kee / ESPN)
Ana Ivanovic, the former No. 1 tennis player in the world in 2008 when she won the French Open, had something important to tell her fans.
“There’s something I want to share with you all,” Ivanovic wrote last week on social media sites, telling her supporters to tune in the following day.
It was on Facebook Live where Ivanovic would announce her retirement from professional tennis at age 29, citing injuries that prevented her from performing to her own high standards.
The announcement was viewed 2.4 million times, as the tennis world wanted to watch the Serbian player speak on Facebook, where her page had 3.3 million likes.
Ivanovic previewing her Facebook Live news led to some guesses from fans about a pregnancy, but it ended up being a retirement instead. Her opening statement shed light on why Facebook Live was the chosen platform instead of a formal news conference setting.
“I haven’t announced it anywhere else because I think you deserve to hear it first,” she said.
A nearly-identical retirement statement was later posted on Twitter, prompting more responses from colleagues and fans alike.
