Is Justine Henin retiring from professional tennis? Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad is reporting the world no. 1 will announce her retirement today. Justine has been struggling of late and I wondered where all the talk of retirement had been coming from - now we know where her mind has been recently.
This news would truly be shocking.
Stay tuned - she is scheduled for a news conference at 10am EST.
UPDATE: Justine announced her official retirement from professional tennis in a news conference in Belgium. She has been considering the decision for the past six months or so, said her agent Ken Meyerson:
She's simply burned out and has no more juice to go on. 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."It's the end of a wonderful adventure but it's something I have been thinking about for a long time," Justine said about her career.
(image via Getty)
I'm shocked, stunned, flabergasted...I can't believe it...right before Roland Garros?!?
ReplyDeleteThis is really shocking. Wow. I thought she had a lot left in her.
ReplyDeletei'm thinking she wanted to do this before Roland Garros because it's such a special place for her with only good memories really...so she didn't want to play her last French Open going out in the first, second round since she's been playing way below her standard.
ReplyDeleteit's a huge shock and it makes me think she's either dealing with the recurrence of some health issue or she's trying to prevent it from coming back. her body is clearly very fragile and if she's thinking about having children, etc. she may be protecting her health.
in any case, i'll miss her a lot particularly her trademark fight, fearlessness, and tenacity which wasn't present lately. she was the only player who could step on the court with serena or venus and believe she would win - and they knew it too!
i think it's best that she went out on her own terms.
i guess maria's no. 1 again.
Yeah, geez, Maria the new de facto #1. I am certainly going to miss all of Justine's "Allez" on court. Maybe we can expect a comeback? :)
ReplyDeleteAwful news. Justine was my favouite player on the tour. Although well behind my two favs Steffi Graf and Chris Evert.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know if her ranking will be removed or will it remain and just drop off the list naturally?
as of right now, the rankings aren't posted on the main page but if you click on the link to the rankings page, she's still listed as no. 1.
ReplyDeleteno i think she'll be removed completely since she's finished with the tour.
It's stunning to think of Roland Garros without her! I suppose it's better to go out with a winning taste in your mouth than to go and leave such a special place with an early loss. I wish her all the best - she will be missed.
ReplyDeletei misspoke re: sharapova moving to no. 1.
ReplyDeletevia onthebaseline.com
http://www.onthebaseline.com/2008/05/14/who-will-be-the-new-no-1-on-the-wta-tour-tennis-rankings/
"According to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rules, Henin must make her retirement official in writing and request that the Tour remove her from the rankings. If she does take care of it immediately, Sharapova will have enough of a lead over Ana Ivanovic to become No. 1.
However, if Henin takes her time signing on the dotted line, she could potentially remain in the top spot until another player overtakes her. Sharapova is currently No. 2, but is still 1709 points behind Henin."
seems like silly bureaucracy right? if someone retires they should be booted from the rankings.