Justine Henin's shocking retirement

[TennisHack]

Henin Retires From Sony Ericsson WTA Tour
May 14, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG, FL, USA - Tributes are flowing in from around the world for Justine Henin, who on Wednesday announced her immediate retirement from the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. The 25-year-old Belgian became the first woman in the history of professional tennis to retire from the sport while ranked No.1 in the world.

Henin, winner of 41 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles titles – including seven Grand Slam championships – is currently in her 117th week as the world No.1, sixth on the all-time list. She has amassed $19,461,375 in career prize money and compiled a 493-107 win-loss record in singles. But more importantly than any statistics, the 5-foot, 5 3/4-inch (1.67 m) Henin was renowned for her spectacular backhand, incredible athleticism and unrivalled mental fortitude and work ethic.

"Justine Henin will be remembered as one of the all-time great champions in women's tennis, and a woman who made up for her lack of size with a will to win and fighting spirit that was second to none," said Larry Scott, the Chairman & CEO of the Tour. "It is rare that an athlete leaves at the very top of her game in this day and age, but Justine has always played by her own rules, in the very best sense of those words. History will remember Justine for not only her seven Grand Slam titles and three years finishing as the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's No.1, but for one of the most graceful backhands the sport has ever seen and an ability to overcome any and all obstacles placed in her way on and off the court."

"Pound for pound Justine is the greatest player of her generation," said Tour Founder and tennis legend Billie Jean King. "I trust she has not come to this decision quickly or easily and I wish her the very best. Justine is an extraordinary player and a special person and a true champion both in tennis and in life."

Added Scott: "This is a sad day for our sport and for her millions of fans around the world, but I know that I speak for so many in wishing Justine the very best in her future endeavors and hope that she will stay connected to the sport to which she gave so much."

Among her many accomplishments, Henin achieved the following:
- Finished three seasons ranked No.1 in the world (2003, 2006, 2007);
- Won her seventh and final Grand Slam singles title at the 2007 US open, beating both Serena and Venus Williams en route, the only player ever to beat both Williams sisters at a Grand Slam and going on to win the title;
- In 2007 she had her most successful season ever, winning 10 titles (including two majors) and becoming the first female athlete to pass the $5-million mark in a season;
- Was of the most successful players of all time on clay, winning Roland Garros four times in five years (2003, 2005, 2006, 2007);
- Won every major title except Wimbledon, taking the Australian, French and US Opens at least once, along with two season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships (2006, 2007) and an Olympic gold medal (singles) in Athens in 2004; she also led Belgium to its first Fed Cup title in 2001.

Henin is the first current world No.1 to retire from professional tennis, and only the fifth Top 5 retiree, after Margaret Court in 1977 (No.5), Chris Evert in 1989 (No.4), Steffi Graf in 1999 (No.3), and fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters in 2007 (No.4).

[TennisHack]

Henin announces shock retirement
Henin would have been favourite heading into the French Open

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

The 25-year-old insists her decision is final after confirming the shock news 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.

The Olympic champion has been enduring one of the worst slumps of her career this season, losing four times in the past four months.

She suffered a shock defeat by Russia's Dinara Safina in the third round of the German Open last week in only her second match after a month off with a knee injury, losing 5-7 6-3 6-1.

The news comes less than two weeks before the start of the French Open, which Henin has won four times, including each of the past three years.

"I'm at the end of the road," confirmed the winner of 41 WTA singles titles, after the Belgian press leaked stories of her imminent retirement on Wednesday morning.

"This is the end of a child's dream.

"I have experienced everything I could have. I have lived completely for tennis.

"I am relieved and proud of what I achieved."

Henin also insists that, unlike many other sports stars who have retired at an early age, she will not change her mind.

"A new future is ahead and I won't go back on this decision," she added.

BBC Radio Five Live tennis correspondent Jonathan Overend said both Henin's decision and its timing were huge surprises.


"It's a bolt out of the blue. Nobody in the world of tennis saw this coming," he said.

"You have to remember this is her favourite time of year with the French Open beginning next week.

"She's undefeated in that Grand Slam event since 2004, so to retire now is quite jolting and will make people wonder about the true reasons."

Speaking in Berlin just before the German Open, Henin revealed that she had been thinking hard about life beyond her career in professional tennis.

"I'm young in life, but starting to get old on the tour," she said. "I'm growing up and I need different things.

"Even physically, I don't recover as well as I did when I was 20. That's normal.

"Now I've been playing tennis for 20 years and it's been my whole life but as a woman, as you get older, you need to think about the future."

Larry Scott, chief executive officer of the WTA Tour, said Henin would be remembered as one of the all-time great champions in women's tennis.

"[She is] a woman who made up for her lack of size with a will to win and fighting spirit that was second to none," he said.

"It is rare that an athlete leaves at the very top of her game in this day and age, but Justine has always played by her own rules, in the very best sense of those words.

As the reigning women's singles Olympic champion, Henin will not defend her title in Beijing in August at the 2008 Games.

[TennisHack]

Henin Announces Immediate Retirement

Just a couple of weeks short of her 26th birthday, current world no.1 and reigning French and US Open champion Justine Henin has announced her retirement, with immediate effect.

The diminutive Belgian with the text-book singled fisted back hand that has been identified as one of the truly great shots of the game becomes the first player in the history of the game to quit right at the very top.

After several of days of speculation, following last week’s early exit in Berlin, she made the announcement official in her homeland. Henin maintained: “It's the end of a wonderful adventure but it's something I have been thinking about for a long time.”

2008 has been a tough year for the player who has spent 118 weeks and counting at the top of the world rankings. I'm at the end of the road," confirmed the winner of 41 WTA singles titles, after the Belgian press leaked stories of her imminent retirement on Wednesday morning. "This is the end of a child's dream. I have experienced everything I could have. I have lived completely for tennis. I am relieved and proud of what I achieved."

Henin, who has struggled against a succession of injuries as well as a very weak immune system was insistent she will not change her mind. “"A new future is ahead and I won't go back on this decision," she added.

Larry Scott, chief executive of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, joined the applause for the newly retired world no.1 when he said: “Justine Henin will be remembered as one of the all-time great champions in women’s tennis, and a woman who made up for her lack of size with a will to win and fighting spirit that was second to none. It is rare that an athlete leaves at the very top of her game in this day and age, but Justine has always played by her own rules, in the very best sense of those words.

“History will remember Justine for not only her seven major titles and three years finishing as the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s World No. 1, but for one of the most graceful backhands the sport has ever seen and an ability to overcome any and all obstacles placed in her way on the tennis court and off.

“This is a sad day for our sport and for her millions of fans around the world, but I know that I speak for so many in wishing Justine the very best in her future endeavors and hope that she will stay connected to the sport to which she gave so much.”

[TennisHack]

From Bob Larson:

Justine Henin Retires

We thought she would wait at least until Wimbledon. It would have given us time to come up with a better headline. It was not to be.

On Wednesday, Justine Henin announced her retirement from tennis, effective immediately. No farewell visit to Roland Garros, no last try for Wimbledon, nothing. She's through.

Possibly we should have seen it coming; her press conferences in recent weeks have sounded rather half-hearted. She has been suffering from a bad knee, but she did manage to win two titles this year. When she withdrew from Rome this week, she didn't cite the knee; her reason was "fatigue." Physically, she could surely have kept on playing. Clearly, it was the determination that was gone.

She becomes the first player in history to retire while still #1.

She would have kept the top spot for a while yet, too. At least until Roland Garros, and almost certainly until Wimbledon. We don't know just how many weeks she will spend at #1, because it will depend on just when the WTA takes her off, but if she were to stay on the rankings, we estimate she would hold the top spot for at least 125 weeks, which is sixth on the all-time list. She was the year-end #1 in 2003, 2006, and 2007.

She certainly earned it, winning seven Slams in her career: Roland Garros 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007; the U. S. Open in 2003 and 2007, and the Australian Open in 2004. She also made the Wimbledon final in 2001 and 2006 (ironically, her first Slam final was at the only Slam she never won!), and also made the 2006 Australian final, and the 2006 U. S. final (meaning that she made all four Slam finals in 2006).

There were 34 other titles to go with those seven Slams. That includes the first WTA event she ever played, at Antwerp 1999; she is one of only six players to win her first-ever WTA event. She also won the year-end Championships in 2006 and 2007, and the Olympics in 2004.

She was versatile, winning big titles on just about every surface; she lacked only carpet, which she rarely played. The following list breaks out her results by surface and tier (showing only Tier II and higher events):
Red Clay: Berlin 2002 (I), Berlin 2003 (I), Roland Garros 2003 (GS), Warsaw 2005 (II), Berlin 2005 (I), Roland Garros 2005 (GS), Roland Garros 2006, Warsaw 2007 (II), Roland Garros 2007 (GS)
Green Clay: Charleston 2003 (I), Charleston 2005 (I)
Grass: Eastbourne 2006 (II), Eastbourne 2007 (II)
Indoor hardcourt: Linz 2002 (II), Zurich 2003 (I), WTA Championships 2006, Stuttgart 2007 (II), Zurich 2007 (I), WTA Championships 2007, Antwerp 2008 (II)
Outdoor hardcourt: Dubai 2003 (II), San Diego 2003 (I), Canadian Open 2003 (I), U. S. Open 2003 (I), Dubai 2004 (II), Indian Wells 2004 (I), Olympics 2004, Dubai 2006 (II), New Haven 2006 (II), Dubai 2007 (II), Canadian Open 2007 (I), U. S. Open 2007 (GS), Sydney 2008 (II)
Rebound Ace: Sydney 2004 (II), Australian Open 2004 (GS), Sydney 2006 (II), Doha 2007 (II)

That's 37 of her 41 titles. The four smaller ones all came early in her career: Antwerp 1999, Gold Coast 2001, Canberra 2001, and 's-Hertogenbosch 2001.

She hardly ever played doubles in the last half decade of her career, but she won two titles in 2002: Gold Coast with Meghann Shaughnessy and Zurich with Elena Bovina. She peaked in the doubles rankings at #23 that year.

All told, she spent nearly seven years in the Top Ten, first reaching that mark in 2001. She was in the year-end Top Ten every year from 2001 to 2007, with her worst year-end showing being #8 in 2004.

Even this hardly sums up her exploits; her WTA list of career results is two crammed pages of small print.

She did it despite many tragedies: A broken-up marriage, a dead parent, estrangement from her family (now happily ended -- indeed, her coach Carlos Rodrigues said their reunion was one reason why her feelings changed). Perhaps those demons helped her summon the steely determination that let her succeed despite being the shortest member of the Top Ten for most of her career. She won with a combination of skills: She was fast. She served very well for someone so short. Her one-handed backhand was a thing of beauty -- though it was mostly a setup shot; the winners came off her extremely strong forehand. It was a very tough game to play against.

The tributes of course have been pouring in. Larry Scott of the WTA said, "Justine Henin will be remembered as one of the all-time great champions in women's tennis, and a woman who made up for her lack of size with a will to win and fighting spirit that was second to none. It is rare that an athlete leaves at the very top of her game in this day and age, but Justine has always played by her own rules, in the very best sense of those words." ITF president Francesco Ricci Bitti's tribute included these words: "Justine Henin has been an outstanding athlete of her generation, and had a grace and style on court that distinguished her from other players...I have followed her career since she was a junior, and she has always been one of my favorite players to watch. We were delighted to recognize her as ITF World Champion on three separate occasions, most recently following her memorable year in 2007."

It's hard to add much after that. The one thing we can say is, with two former #1 players gone in the last year (Martina Hingis and Henin), both of whom won primarily with style, it's going to be a very different sport....