Breaking News - Justine Henin retires from tennis with immediate effect.

Nick 0208 Ldn

News 24
Joined
Mar 10, 2004
Messages
23,721
_44654283_henin_b226.jpg


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 Belgian 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."

Henin retires on top of the WTA singles rankings ahead of second-placed Maria Sharapova by some distance.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/7399963.stm
 
Henin separated from her hsuband at the beginning of last year, i do not know if she is attached nwo or to who. She had until relatively recently not been on the best of terms with her immediate family too.

It seems clear that she has fell out of love with the sport to some extent, and that events in her private life as fo late have put it in a new light for her, priorities have changed. Young enough to begin anew if she so chose.

From a tennis PoV i think that Bartoli's defeat of Henin at last year's Wimbledon and exiting the scene without the Grand Slam coudl leave her with some regrets.

G'luck to her though.

The women's tour should be even more interesting this year.

Go back half a dozen years and who would've thought that both Henin and Clijsters would be retired from the sport by mid 2008.
 
Our only hope for a gold medal at the olympics. :(

It's a shame but if she can't motivate herself than I can understand that. Those girls have played tennis since they were 5 years old so after 20 years I can understand she wants to do something else.
 
Doesn't she have a fatigue illness? I'm sure that will have played its part, must have been extra tough for her to compete at the top with it

The timing is strange, because it is the French Open and Wimbledon in the next month and a bit. I guess if she feels she can't compete to her best, whats the point?

Cracking player to watch, will be missed from the tennis circuit

Frankly, retiring in your mid 20's seems quite common these days in female tennis
 
:( Shame.

Her style was almost perfect. I literally loved to watch her game. Her backhand... :drool:
 
Fantastic player. As Giggsy PO said, almost perfect.

It's shame really, but at least it gives Ivanovic a greater chance at Wimbledon. :D
 
The only female tennis player I enjoyed watching for her tennis.
 
Brad said:
Doesn't she have a fatigue illness? I'm sure that will have played its part, must have been extra tough for her to compete at the top with it

The timing is strange, because it is the French Open and Wimbledon in the next month and a bit. I guess if she feels she can't compete to her best, whats the point?

Cracking player to watch, will be missed from the tennis circuit

Frankly, retiring in your mid 20's seems quite common these days in female tennis
Click to expand...

I thought she recovered from the illness last year or even longer ago.

She felt during the winter break that she wasn't motivated enough to train hard for the new season and felt that this was the time to quit. She can retire as number 1 so that's a nice touch.

Too bad we lost some of our national symbols so early in their careers. (Clijsters and Henin).
 
Sabatini was my favourite. I was in love with her for a long time. I mean genuinely in love
 
Women's tennis is finished as far as I am concerned. I get no joy watching anyone women's tennis match anymore. There are no sort of proper rivalries.
Basically couple of players dominate the circuit for couple of years, fade away, make no effort to fight back instead trying to make all the cash they can with some other shit. At one time women's tennis had his own place with a certain elegance to the play differentiating it from men's game. Now it's just a poor version of men's game, not quite as bad women's football but on it's way.
 
There goes the best backhand in the game. A shame at just 25.
 
Where are the boobs?

I always thought she was bloke along with Mauresmo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.