Former Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki is expecting her first child -- and the 34-year-old German already has her eyes on a comeback.
Lisicki, often injured in her nearly 20-year professional career both before and after she stormed to the women's singles final at the All England Club 11 years ago, beating three Grand Slam champions including World No.1 Serena Williams along the way, cheekily made reference to the fact in making her pregnancy announcement on Friday, writing on Instagram: "I guess I will have to make one more comeback."
"Life is full of unexpected surprises," she added. "My fiancé and I are looking forward to this exciting journey."
Last November, Lisicki won her first professional title in nine years when she ran the table at the ITF W60 event in Calgary, Canada. The German had missed more than 18 months from 2020-22 as a result of a torn ACL she suffered at the 2020 Upper Austria Ladies Linz -- the second knee injury in a litany of maladies for the one-time prodigy that also included her ankle, shoulder and a bout of mononucleosis.
She called her Calgary win "surreal" at the time, adding: "The odds to be playing professional tennis again were so slim yet here we are winning the title."
Now ranked No. 374, the one-time World No.12 was famous for her vaunted serve in her prime, and once held the record for both the fastest serve on the Hologic WTA Tour at 131 mph, and most aces in a match with 27. Her last WTA-level victory came in 2022, when she reached the quarterfinals in her home country on grass in Bad Homburg. Last year, she qualified for the WTA 500 Credit One Charleston Open, which was her first career WTA singles title as a 19-year-old in 2009.
In addition to her runner-up finish to Marion Bartoli in 2013, Lisicki reached the quarterfinals or better at Wimbledon four other times -- including the semifinals as a wild card in 2011. She boasts four career WTA singles titles, four more in doubles, and was also a doubles finalist at Wimbledon in 2011.
