Patty Schnyder on Saturday called time on a 17-year career which brought 11 titles, 59 Grand Slam appearances and a family split caused by a bizarre relationship with an orange juice-obsessed guru.
The 32-year-old Swiss made her majors bow at Roland Garros in 1996 and suitably chose her 16th successsive French Open to announce her decision. “It’s time to close this chapter of my tennis career.
It’s very emotional,” said a tearful Schnyder at a news conference. “I had always wanted to win a Grand Slam title but that will have to remain a dream.” Left-hander Schnyder reached a career high of seven in the world in 2005, a year after she had recorded her best Grand Slam peformance of a semi-final at the Australian Open in 2004. But she hit the headlines as a teenager when she hooked up with Rainer Harnecker, a self-styled “natural therapist” who convinced her to give up meat and drink three litres of orange juice a day.
Her parents became so concerned for the welfare of their daughter, who by now was Harnecker’s girlfriend, that they hired a private detective, Rainer Hofmann to help out.
