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www.theage.com.au
Despite announcing her retirement last year, tour veteran Barbara Schett made
the long trip to Melbourne to take part in her favourite tournament, the
Australian Open, just one more time.
Schett's final Open campaign and career came
to an end yesterday when she was defeated by another of the tour's glamour
girls, Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova, 6-4, 6-0, but the Austrian walked away
without regrets.
"I played Australia because it was my
favourite tournament, favourite grand slam tournament especially . . . I always
loved it here," she said. "That's why I wanted to quit here.
"I had a great time. I think I am very happy
with my career. Of course it's going to be something completely new now; I think
it's going to be a big change, very exciting."
Still, it was a sad end for the 28-year-old,
who reached a ranking high of No. 7 in 1999. Schett battled the emotion of the
day until the very end.
"She had a match point and then suddenly I
was, I don't know, I had tears in my eyes. I knew that sooner or later I was
going to realise, 'OK, this is going to be my last, this is going to be the last
point of my career'.
"It's been what I've been doing for all my life. I just suddenly realised that
and it was very emotional."
Schett plans to take a few months off before
returning to tennis life, working at tournaments and in the media. While she
wants to stay involved in the game, there was no thought of staying on the
court.
"The decision was made already, kind of (in
the) middle of last year. I thought if I'm not improving, if the passion is not
coming back, then I definitely want to quit. I always thought that I should be
ranked much higher than I was at the end.
"It was a clear decision. Even if I would
have played really well here, I would have stayed with that decision." | 
