Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.

US Open champion Flavia Pennetta used her victory speech to take the tennis world by surprise with the 33 year-old announcing her retirement from tennis within minutes of winning her first Grand Slam singles title.

Pennetta became only the second Italian woman to win a major title, after Francesca Schiavone was triumphant at the French Open in 2010.

“I make a big decision in my life; this is the way I like to say goodbye to tennis,” said the oldest first time singles champion of the Open era.

“One month ago I decided that this is the way I would say goodbye to tennis.

“This is my last and I couldn’t think of finishing in a better way.”

However it did not take long for the Brindisi-born player, US$3.3 million richer for stacking up seven wins in New York culminating in her 7-6, 6-2 win over Serena Williams’ conqueror Roberta Vinci, to start tempering her announcement.

First she confirmed her retirement would not be immediate and she would honor her obligations to play two upcoming WTA events in China, the Wuhan Tennis Open starting September 27, and the China Open that starts in Beijing a week later.

Then Pennetta took note of the fact her victory promoted her to sixth spot in the Race for Singapore and a place in the WTA Finals which could bring still more financial reward. “Of course, if I have a chance,” she said.

Immediately the people close to Pennetta said they would try to get her to reverse her decision. “We will all try to convince her to continue but I think that after this victory her mind is made up,” said Italy’s long-serving Fed Cup captain Corrado Barazzutti.

And her father Oronzo Pennetta told the ANSA news agency from his home in Italy: “‘We’ll try to make her change her mind. ‘That announcement made us freeze for a moment. We’re happy for this extraordinary achievement but disappointed for the retirement.”

Pennetta maintained her main reason for wanting to retire after spending 12 years on the women’s tour as a lack of motivation.

She said: “Sometimes it’s getting hard for me to compete; when you are in the court, when you have to play 24 weeks in the year, when you have to fight every week.

“If you don’t fight every week in the same way I did today, it’s going to be bad. And sometimes I don’t feel I have this power anymore.”

Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.