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They say tennis players never really retire: they just … take a break.

And so it is that American Christina McHale is back on court in a professional tournament this week in Boca Raton, Fla.

McHale, who is still only 32, reached No. 24 in singles back in 2012 with one WTA Tour title (Tokyo in 2016). She got to No. 35 in doubles with a WTA 500 title in Tianjin in 2017 (with Peng Shuai) and also in Hobart (with Han Xinyun).

(Tough to get her actual history on the WTA website because, well, you know, they disappear peoples’ full statistics once they’re out a year. So we went to the ITF website).

McHale last played at the US Open in 2022 where, as a wild card, she lost to Ysaline Bonaventure in the first round of qualifying.

It was a pretty low-key retirement, in keeping with her personality. But she did get some nice flowers and parting gifts.

The last two years, she was at Flushing Meadows as a world feed commentator. And, from the look of her Instagram feed, has been all over the place doing all sorts of things

In the spring, she went to the British Virgin Islands for an exhibition/pro-am along with Marcos Baghdatis and Monica Puig.

And along the way, she became a college graduate in May, Class of 2024 at Indiana University East, which is affiliated with the WTA Tour and gives them a great opportuity to further their education (Sloane Stephens and Nicole Melichar are among the many WTA graduates).

Wild cards in singles AND doubles

McHale isn’t just playing doubles, which would be more typical of players who’ve been out two years.

She’s doing that, with 17-year-old American Akasha Urhobo.

But she’s also playing singles. She’ll face No. 5 seed Anna Rogers in the first round on Tuesday.

Top junior makes the transition

McHale was a top-10 junior in the ITF rankings back in 2009, among the best of a topnotch generation of American girls that included Stephens, Melanie Oudin, Kristie Ahn, Nicole Gibbs and Caroline Dolehide’s big sister, Courtney.

She reached the Orange Bowl final in 2008 beating Hao-Ching Chan, Asia Muhammad, Daria Saville and Stephens, losing to Julia Boserup in the final.

A couple of years after that ITF peak, she was already in the top 100 and mostly stayed there until the end of her career, slowed down by a bout with mononucleosis as she reached the top 50.

She was the poster girl for the USTA’s high-performance program. So much so that her forehand was, from what we hear, literally in the textbook. For years, their coaches would teach the “Christina McHale forehand”.

She was also known for her impressive and diligent use of suncreen – and for being a super-nice person. Not necessarily in that order.

A stomach-turning moment in Australia

We remember her best for an epic moment that is coming up on its 10-year anniversary.

Back in 2015 in the Australian Open qualifying, McHale got past France’s Stéphanie Foretz in the first round. It was 12-10 in the third set, back in the days when they didn’t play a super tiebreak, rather played out the advantage set.

And it was … hot. We can personally attest.

McHale’s stomach did flipflops in the middle of the match, as ESPN was doing commentary. (Watch here, if you dare).

It got her a sweet little headline in the New York Post which, for a girl from Jersey, is almost a hometown paper.

And yet, she pulled it out.

“I was more just embarrassed that it took so long to clean up,” she said. “But I did feel much better after I let it out.”

And THEN she immediately did a live interview on court with Pam Shriver. And THEN she took selfies.

It was an absolutely IMPRESSIVE bit of professionalism.

We’ll keep you posted on her progress.

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