French veteran Gilles Simon retiring at end of season

PARIS (AP) — French veteran Gilles Simon is retiring at the end of the season after 20 years of playing professional tennis.

The 37-year-old Simon has 14 career titles and a best ranking of sixth in 2009. He is ranked 158th.

Simon troubled more talented opponents with his cagey technique, stamina, smart reading of the game and clever defending from the baseline.

He reached the fourth round at every major tournament, going on to reach the quarterfinals at the Australian Open in 2009 and on the grass of Wimbledon in 2015.

He helped France win the Davis Cup in 2017 alongside Jo-Wilfried Tsonga — who is also retiring after this season — and Richard Gasquet.

"It was a magnificent adventure, marvellous and extraordinary. It will stop at the end of the year," he wrote on Twitter on Saturday. "There's no sadness, no regrets. Only my will to give everything I have left. In every game, until the end."

___

More AP tennis: https://www.apnews.com/apf-Tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports