Cara Black Hints At Retirement

The 30-year-old tennis ace told Standardsport on the sidelines of a coaching clinic for children she conducted at Harare Sports Club last Thursday: "I still have some goals that I want to achieve before I retire.

"At the moment I am in second place in the number of most weeks at number one on the rankings because I am behind Navratilova who spent 237 weeks.

"I would like to retire after getting close to that record or after passing it."

Black and her doubles partner American Liezel Huber have dominated the WTA rankings for the past three years.

Black said her husband Brett Stephens has been very supportive of her career and they would probably start a family once she retires.

"He has been very supportive and it would be have been very hard for me to continue playing without him on my side," she said.

"I think I am going to take it year by year and maybe we might have at least two kids after I retire."

Black said she loves coming back to Zimbabwe for holidays and always makes a point to visit Kariba, her favourite resort destination.

"Zimbabwe is the place I love to be and it feels good to be back home," she said.

"Every week we are always travelling around the world and for the past 13 or 14 years I have been staying in hotels.

"When we started playing tennis I used to enjoy the travelling, but now I am getting old and staying in a hotel is not that pleasing anymore. Sometimes you need to just sleep in your bed for once.

"The first place I visit when I come back home is Kariba and I go there just to relax. I like it there because I am completely detached from everything.

"It is just me, my family and some close friends. I won't have a cell phone, the internet and I do not have to think about tennis."

Every year she takes two holidays that are 10 days long to get away from the demanding WTA circuit.

Black said although she has made quite a fortune through the sport most of it goes to finance her travels.

"It has been very rewarding because I can buy the house or car that I want. However it is also expensive to compete in the world circuit," she said.

"Every time I have to use my own money to pay for three air tickets and three hotel rooms because wherever I go I travel with my husband and my coach."

Black and Huber finished this year on the number one with 8 520 points while sisters Venus and Serena Williams are in second place on 7 440 points.

Black is one of the most successful Zimbabwean sportspersons with eight Grand Slam victories in her career including the Wimbledon mixed doubles, the French Open doubles and the Australian Open doubles titles.

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