BBC commentator Jo Durie has announced her immediate retirement aged 65. The legendary voice called her last match at Wimbledon for Iga Swiatek’s shock loss to Alexandra Eala on Centre Court on Saturday afternoon.
Durie was the British No. 1 for most of her playing career and won two WTA titles. She reached the semi-finals of the French Open and US Open in 1983. The furthest she progressed at Wimbledon was the quarter-finals in 1984, where she beat a 15-year-old Stefi Graf en route.
Durie hang up her racket in 1995 and immediately stepped into the broadcast booth, where she has been ever-present throughout the last three decades. Durie worked for both the BBC and British Eurosport.
Durie wrote on social media: “Well after 30 years of commentating today was my last match. Great way to finish on Centre Court. Thanks to @bbc & fellow comms Chris Simon & Sam had such fun over the years. I’ll be back to watch, love this sport.”
Durie’s final match was to see defending Wimbledon champion Swiatek beaten by No. 29 seed Eala. And after that loss Swiatek was let reflecting on her missed opportunities.
The Pole said: “I think it was tougher mentally for me to accept these missed returns from the slow serves. I got to say it’s much tougher to return a serve like that than a normal serve.
“I know it was slow. I know exactly how it’s going to come to me. It’s such a different rhythm than what I usually have a chance to return.
“The first serve, I mean, it was a good fight and I know that it’s hard, such a long set. I know that one ball here or there could change a lot.
“But I wanted to be present in the second set. I made some unforced errors at the beginning. Then, yeah, I felt like she was serving slower and slower, and it became tougher and tougher for me to return these serves. That, for me, was hard to accept, yeah.”