Valorant esports legend TenZ leaves competitive scene

The North American esports team Sentinels has announced the retirement of player TenZ. In the future, he will focus on content creation for SEN.

Career Beginnings, Achievements, and Challenges

TenZ, a 23-year-old esports athlete, began his career in the Counter-Strike scene and transitioned to Valorant in 2020, joining Cloud9. In March 2021, he replaced sinatraa on the SEN roster and secured victories in Stage 1 and 2 NA. At the VCT 2021 Masters Reykjavík tournament, he showcased exceptional gameplay, not losing a single map and winning the MVP title.

However, following these successes, both the team and TenZ faced challenges. At Masters Berlin, the team placed 8th, and at Champions 2021, they were eliminated in the group stage. In 2022, the team failed to qualify for the world championship.

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In 2023, the situation did not improve; TenZ even left the team due to a finger injury, and the team finished 7th in the league with a record of 4 wins and 5 losses. They placed 4th in the LCQ.

Before the 2024 season, johnqt and Zellsis joined the team, and TenZ transitioned to a support role, focusing on playing Omen, KAY/O, and Gekko, while leaving the duelist role to zekken. SEN won the off-season tournaments "Sentinels Invitational" and "AfreecaTV League," and in the 2024 season, they triumphed at the Kickoff Americas tournament and Masters Madrid. Despite missing out on Masters Shanghai, the team finished 4th at Champions 2024.

Future After Retirement

TenZ announced his retirement via X, explaining that he wants to focus on content creation and other aspects of his life. He mentioned that he did not want to end the 2023 season without any achievements and decided to retire before the 2024 season began.

In his announcement, he said:

From the start of this year, I knew I would retire. That's why I told myself, 'This is my last year.' My mission was to play to the best of my abilities and not have regrets." I felt it. I want to do so many things beyond gaming that I need motivation, and I need more time to focus on them.

he said

The future of SEN without TenZ is highly anticipated as the team will look for ways to compensate for his absence.