Former Australian Open doubles winner Radek Stepanek has retired from tennis after failing to recover his fitness following back surgery earlier this year.
The 38-year-old Czech won five ATP singles titles and reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2006, when he reached a career-high eighth in the world rankings.
The following year a back injury threatened his career but Stepanek battled back and won two grand slam double titles with India's Leander Paes, the Aussie Open in 2012 and the US Open a year later.
Alongside Tomas Berdych, Stepanek was part of the Czech Davis Cup teams which triumphed in 2012 and 2013.
Stepanek had hoped to make another comeback after surgery but he was unable to recover sufficiently.
"I had to be realistic. I fought till the last breath but it is time to move on," Stepanek was quoted as saying on the www.idnes.cz website.
