Thai star Danai to hang up racquet in 2012
Danai Udomchoke says 2012 will be his final year in tennis, following long battles with a recurring shoulder injury which has forced him out of the Davis Cup squad.
The former top80 player is resting his right shoulder instead of joining his teammates in Seoul this weekend, where they will battle against South Korea in the Davis Cup Zone Asia/Oceania Regional Qualifying Group II, with promotion to next year's Group I at stake.
The same injury kept him on the sidelines for most of the 2010 season, before he underwent an operation in Germany. It then flared up again during US Open qualifying three weeks ago.
"I cannot push myself and compete week in week out like in the past. My plan is to play a few more tournaments this year and then take a rest. Then I will play less next year, and finally hang up the racquet,'' said Danai, who decided to pull out of next week's tournament in Uzbekistan.
Danai, 30, is hoping to be ready for the PTT Thailand Open, which runs from October 26 at the Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani.
"I'm now getting better, but I want to rest from tournaments so as to get fresh for the Thailand Open. I hope they will give me a wild card,'' said the Thai, whose best result in his home ATP event so far was a roundtwo place in 2007.
Currently No 206 in the world, Danai reached a career high of No 77 in 2007, also the year of his best Major result - a thirdround place in the Australian Open. He is hoping to run an energy drink business after retirement from tennis.
