Justine Henin retiring immediately

[volfanbill]

Justine Henin, the world's #1 ranked women's tennis player (and has been for over 2 years now) is retiring immediately. According to her agent she just has no motivation to continue and has earned more money than she could spend "in three lifetimes".

Henin hasn't had a great 2008, but this is very surprising to me at least, especially with Roland Garros right around the corner. No other women's player has ever retired at #1. She has won 7 Grand Slam Titles, including i believe 4 wins at Roland Garros (i couldn't find it in any article and I'm lazy to look it up, so it's mostly memory, 2 US Opens, 1 Aussie Open, and no Wimbledons, so that makes 4 French Open titles). For someone as small as she was, she had one amazingly powerful and accurate one handed backhand and could play anywhere on the court. Most importantly she was an absolute fighter on the court and never gave up on any point.

I know there are a few other tennis fans on here, so here's my best wishes to her and best of luck in all her future endeavors.

 

[Vercingetorix]

One more obstacle out of the way for Ivanovic!

Modern tennis is a weird sport. The top players are all largely washed up by their mid-twenties, even before their bodies have really finished maturing. Example -- the Era Of Federer is pretty clearly coming to an end, whereas if he were a baseball player, he'd still be two or three years away from his prime. I know Henin's not exactly "washed up," but apparently she feels like she's on the way out.

You'd think she'd want to take one more shot at the French, though. That would be the way to go out on top.

 

[volfanbill]

One more obstacle out of the way for Ivanovic!

I really like your positive spin on things!

As for Federer, wow, I know he's struggled mightily, but I can't bring myself to say his reign of supremacy is over. Could easily change that by the end of this year though.

 

[Vol Mania 21]

Tennis players go thru slumps just like a basketball player goes thru a shooting slump, or a baseball player goes thru a batting slump

 

[TennesseeFan07]

shocking

 

[Vercingetorix]

As for Federer, wow, I know he's struggled mightily, but I can't bring myself to say his reign of supremacy is over. Could easily change that by the end of this year though.

I don't mean to say that his career is over, obviously, and he may well remain the #1 player in the world for awhile yet. He was so much better than everybody else that, even in decline, he might still be the best player in the world for some time. But it seems pretty clear that he's declining, at least compared to how great he was at his peak.

I wish I had a better source for tennis stats & records, but for a couple of years there he won something like 99% of his matches that weren't A) on clay, and B) against Rafael Nadal. Under any other conditions he was unbeatable. For a year and a half or so now, though, he's been losing routinely on other surfaces, against other opponents, etc. The aberrations are coming so much more often now that his overall level of performance must be lower. Either he's had a long-term injury of some kind, or he's on the downslope.

 

[volsgal03]

I cant believe this either, I wish her luck. I can wait for the French to start. Bill I saw the hockey man in his get up on the t.v. today WOW is all I can say.

 

[kptvol]

I really like your positive spin on things!

As for Federer, wow, I know he's struggled mightily, but I can't bring myself to say his reign of supremacy is over. Could easily change that by the end of this year though.

He had mono earlier this year. That hits some people harder than others. I think something has been a little off with him. I'd guess he just still isn't at 100% health. Andy Roddick even managed to beat him, for goodness sake. Some other American I've never heard of also beat him. I wouldn't be too surprised to see him return to dominance before too long. It may just be that he hasn't gotten all his endurance back. Until then, Dojkovic and Nadal can win a few.