ELENA Baltacha revealed she might be hanging up her tennis racquet for good after crashing out of London 2012 competition at Wimbledon – but she could think of no better place to end her career than the biggest stage.
The 28-year-old eased through her first round match on Saturday but in round two she slipped to a 6-4, 7-6 defeat to Serbia's former world No.1 Ana Ivanovic before losing 6-3, 6-1 in the women's doubles to Germany's Julia Goerges and Anna-Lena Groenefeld with Anne Keothavong.
Baltacha, who broke into the world's top 50 in 2010, has made little secret of the fact that she requires surgery on an ankle and intends to now go under the surgeon's knife, insisting she will not rush into any hasty decisions.
But after following in the footsteps of her father Sergei, who won Olympic football bronze for the Soviet Union on home soil at Moscow 1980, she will have no qualms with the final chapter of her career coming at London 2012.
Baltacha said; "I can't carry on without having the op and I am going to take my recovery very seriously and see how I feel and make a decision at Christmas."
The Scot, whose mother Olga would have competed at Moscow 1980 in athletics had she not opted to look after her one-year-old son, added: "I have said that I would like to come back, but if I find that home comforts are a little bit too important and that I don't want to get on another plane, then I will retire.
"I want to come back and make sure my feet are fine first and then hopefully come back in February. Being here is great. Even though I know we are not with the other athletes, the fact that you are an Olympian and part of the elite is great.
"Not all the girls are here and being given the chance to be part of the elite is something I will take away with me.
"Wimbledon is always special and I have great memories so I am very happy the event was here. The fact that I can say that I have been an Olympian is really special to me."
While Ivanovic, seeded 11th, ran out the victor in two sets, she did not have things all her own way and Baltacha made her fight for the second set before the Serbian secured the tie-break.
And Baltacha believes her performance bodes well, should she make the decision to return to the sport in 2013.
"It was a tight match and I had a couple of break points in that second set to go 4-3 up and if I had taken one of them then you never know, something might have been different," she added.
"It was a very tight match and I just wish that I had taken that opportunity because I think it would have been a different match.
"I fought back and got myself into the tie break but those first few points are always so important and I gave them away far too cheaply. But it was a good match and I felt she played well."
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