Australian Open: Sam Groth to retire from tennis after next year

Australian tennis player Sam Groth has announced that he would bid adieu to his career after the next year's first major of the season at the Melbourne Park in January.

Groth, an Olympian and Davis Cup mainstay, will call curtains to his 13-year-long career after the Australian Open, which is to be held from January 15 to January 28.

While announcing his decision, the 30-year-old said he had increasingly struggled "with the whole life on the tour thing."

"It's been something I've been thinking about since the Wimbledon. I went to Newport, a tournament I've done really well in. I 'qualified', won a round and I was playing John Isner on centre court and a part of me just really didn't want to be there," news.com.au quoted Groth, as saying.

"My issue has never been competing. Before I got to 53 in the world, my issue was doing enough work and all those sorts of things. That became the easy part at the end. But getting out and competing and being away from home became tough," he explained the reason behind his decision.

Groth, who was rewarded for his performances with the 2015 Newcombe medal, made his professional debut in 2006 and moved to a career-high ranking of world no. 53 in 2015 .

He was also a significant part of Australia's Davis Cup team that made it to the semi-finals that year. 

-ANI