Former Australian Open champion Johansson retires

Former Australian Open [ Images ] champion Thomas Johansson of Sweden on Friday announced his retirement from competitive tennis at the age of 34.

"I have now, after a lot of thinking, decided to put an end to my professional tennis career," the former world number seven said in a statement through the Swedish Tennis Federation (www.tennis.se).

Aside from the 2002 surprise win in Melbourne [ Images ], where he beat Russian Marat Safin [ Images ] in the final, Johansson won another eight ATP titles and reached the Wimbledon [ Images ] semis in 2005, losing to American Andy Roddick [ Images ].

Last year he won the doubles silver at the Beijing [ Images ] Olympics [ Images ] with Simon Aspelin, losing in the final to Roger Federer [ Images ] and Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland [ Images ].