Pennetta wins the US Open… then she retires!

What a moment for Flavia Pennetta! At 33 the Italian is the oldest 1^st slam champion in tennis history to surprise everybody during the ceremony and announce her retirement.

Flavia won this tournament playing probably the best tennis of her great career. The Italian has defeated huge players on her way in back to back matches such as Stosur, Kvitova and Halep (against Simona she displayed an incredible tennis).

In the final Pennetta had to play her dear friend Roberta Vinci that was already emotionally spent after generating what is probably the biggest upset in tennis history after shocking Serena Williams in the semis. Roberta was still good to “stay “with Flavia in the first set to lose it only at the tiebreak, then it was game-over. Pennetta won 7-6 (4) 6-2.

Special message from #USOpen champ @Flavia_Pennetta to her fans 😃🏆 https://t.co/z2xp6D4Jya

— WTA (@WTA) September 13, 2015

Pennetta: Happy… I am going to retire

The Italian surprised everybody during her speech to announce her retirement  “I’m really happy right now. I have to say, before this tournament I never thought I’d be so far. I never thought I’d be the champion here. It’s amazing when big surprises like this happen.

It’s a dream come true. When I was young, I was always thinking to be No.1 and win a Grand Slam. I also wanted to win Rome, but a Grand Slam is maybe a little better! But it’s a dream come true. It’s also nice to play with a friend of mine. Roberta played unbelievable. She had an incredible week.”

Then she added “There’s one more thing I’d like to say – it’s the way I would like to say goodbye to tennis.”

Vinci:  I was mentally tired, well done to Flavia

Roberta commented “The past 24 hours I’ve had a lot of things on my mind, and I was a little bit tired, especially in the first set. But I lost in the finals – I’m really happy, and of course really happy for Flavia.

It’s tough to play against a player you’ve known for a long time, but I tried to do my best. Flavia just played unbelievable today. It was a great match, and I have to just say congratulations to her. And I would like to say thank you to everyone who came to watch – I’ll see you next year!”