courtesy of bbc news


Henin announces shock retirement

Justine Henin

Henin would be favourite heading into this month's French Open

World number one Justine Henin has announced her retirement from tennis with immediate effect.

The 25-year-old confirmed the shock decision at a news conference in her native Belgium on Wednesday.

"It's the end of a wonderful adventure but it's something I have been thinking about for a long time," said the winner of seven Grand Slam singles titles.

Henin headed the WTA rankings for the 117th time this week, but pulled out of the Rome Masters blaming fatigue.




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courtesy of eurosport


WTA Tour - Henin announces sudden retirement

Eurosport - Wed, 14 May 15:18:00 2008

World number one Justine Henin has announced her retirement from professional tennis with immediate effect.

"It's the end of a wonderful adventure but it's something I have been thinking about for a long time," the 25-year-old Belgian said.

Winner of seven Grand Slam singles crowns, Henin suffered a surprise defeat in the third round of the German Open last week. She then withdrew from this week's Italian Open, citing fatigue.

Only last week Henin wrote on her website that she had been training without any problems and was injury free.

"She's simply burned out and has no more juice to go on," her agent Ken Meyerson told ESPN.

"I was surprised at the urgency of the decision. We, as agents, like long farewells. I'm really sad.

"She did so much for the game, and we need her in the women's game. Pound-for-pound, she was one of the best tennis players in history. She was an underdog. She was someone we could relate to."

Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam tournament to have eluded her, with runner-up finishes in 2001 and 2006 her best results in London.

Despite her patchy form this season, Henin would be a favourite heading into this month's Roland Garros to win a fifth French Open crown.

Her retirement comes a year after compatriot and fellow former world number one Kim Clijsters walked away from the sport to start a family.

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to watch the press conference

This was a huge shock for me...and it even came at an unfortunate moment, I was in the middle of learning for the exam.

But after my crying was over (yes, I am very fanatic about things like that...) I realized that Justine looked really happy at the press conference. So I consequently suppose it was the right decision from her side...and we have to cope with the situation being. Which is hard.

Henin doesn’t rule out comeback

WIMBLEDON, England (AP)—Less than two months after her sudden retirement, Justine Henin isn’t completely ruling out a return to tennis.

“I can never say for sure that I’ll never be back because I hate to say never,” Henin said. “But for me, and the people who know me, they know that when I do something, I do it 200 percent—and when I decide it’s over, it’s over and I go to the next step.”

The 26-year-old Belgian announced her retirement 10 days before the start of the French Open in May, saying she had lost her hunger for the game after a nine-year career that included seven Grand Slam titles.

“Being a professional athlete is quite difficult and you make a lot of sacrifices,” Henin said on laureus.com, the Web site of the Laureus World Sports Academy. “You need to eat tennis, sleep tennis and live tennis and give 300 percent all the time. I’ve been doing that for 20 years.

“You know one day it’s going to be over and I always said that it would never be an injury that pushed me to stop and that it was going to be my choice. I had the freedom to get my choice.”

Wimbledon was the only Grand Slam that Henin never managed to win.

“It has been the biggest disappointment of my career,” said Henin, who is establishing a tennis academy in Belgium. “It has a great tradition, I love it but my game wasn’t quite good enough and I probably wasn’t confident enough to win on grass.”

She predicts defending champion and four-time winner Venus Williams will win again.

“I keep thinking that Venus is the best player on grass,” she said. “She’s so big and tall, so, for me, she’s the favorite.”


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Thank you, sky

Good to hear from her again. I haven't checked out Ju's site for a while now, it just feels strange, therefore I don't realize it when there's something new about her.

"You have to eat Tennis" I wonder how it tastes Don't worry I have caught the drift