Justine Henin ready to live life away from tennis
The Associated Press
Published: May 15, 2008
WASHINGTON: The happiest I’ve ever seen Justine Henin was away from a tennis court.
There wasn’t a racket in her hand. Not a silver Grand Slam trophy. Not a million-dollar-plus winner’s check. Instead, here’s why Henin was giddy: She was rocking her 6-week-old niece in her arms.
It was about an hour after the lithe Belgian with the bigger-than-you’d-think strokes won the 2007 French Open. Henin was standing in a players’ lounge, surrounded by her formerly estranged father and siblings, reveling more in her recently reconstructed family life than in the sixth of her seven major championships.
“This year, she is laughing, smiling, and taking pleasure in what she does,” her oldest brother, David, said at the time. “I used to see her on TV, and she did not always look too happy.”
Not quite a full year later, Henin again was surrounded by her relatives, again content as could be, only on Wednesday, she said she is no longer driven to be the best in her sport. She won’t be defending her title at Roland Garros when the clay-court Grand Slam begins May 25, and she won’t be defending her U.S. Open title in the fall, either.
All of 25, she suddenly, stunningly, walked away from tennis, the first woman to retire while ranked No. 1 by the WTA.
“I realized that I was at the end of the road,” Henin said during a news conference at her tennis academy outside Brussels. “I lived through it all, I had given it all.”
Henin always got by on her grit as much as her groundstrokes, and she made it quite clear Wednesday that her heart isn’t in it the way it was for so long.
That’s what is so surprising about the news — and its timing.
She won the French Open each of the past three years, and four times overall. And that tournament was, after all, the first she attended in person as a fan, sitting in the stands as a 10-year-old with her mother.
Source: AP
I’m sad to see her retire. She’s a great player.
We may see this more in some sports where the kids start very young and play very seriously at an early age.
Bjorn Borg retired from tennis when he was still on a streak of 6 consecutive Wimbledon Men’s Finals (he won 5 of 6, barely losing the 6th to John McEnroe).
A year later Borg asked Wimbledon officials for an exemption to let him play, and they said No (rather retentive of them).
A year (or two?) later Borg attempted a comeback, but it was a sad and pathetic thing to watch the utter failure of that attempt.
GeneM
its sad but its good because how better way to be remembered at the pinnacle of the height and not being looked down as a No. 1.
Now wasnt bobby fischer smart????
when did he retire from chess????????????????????????
jb.
au revoir!!!
p.d. nothing is eternal only him.!
I would announce my retirement but for the small detail of not having made my millions yet. Guess I need to keep practicing 🙂
Nice flower vase.