3 Tennis Players Retire in December 2025

The tennis off-season is one of the shortest in professional sports. Tennis players and fans can start counting days as the new season begins this week. December is considered a critical month as players step up and ramp up their efforts before they embark on another year of competition. But three names won’t be part of it in 2026 after announcing their retirement. So who made the list of tennis farewells?

3 Tennis Players Retire in December 2025

1. Ricardas Berankis

35-year-old Ricardas Berankis announced his retirement on X in early December, calling it “the most difficult decision of my life”. Berankis will go down as the best Lithuanian tennis player of all time, having achieved a career-best ranking of World No. 50 in singles back in 2016. Berankis had a prolific junior career. He was ranked World No. 1 and won the US Open boys’ title and the Orange Bowl Tennis Championships in 2007. Berankis is a two-time ATP Tour finalist and earned $4.8 million in career prize money.

2. Bernabe Zapata Miralles

Spain’s Zapata Miralles made a shocking retirement announcement in mid-December at the age of 28, citing a lack of motivation and self-drive to compete at the highest level. The former World No. 37 endured a challenging 2025 season in which he lost 33 matches while playing at the Challenger and ITF levels. His final match was a three-set defeat in the first round of the Athens Challenger in late November. Zapata Miralles earned nearly $2.6 million in career prize money.