No. 1 Justine Henin retires from tennis immediately

Justine Henin retired from tennis Wednesday, an abrupt ending to a short and successful career in which she won seven Grand Slam singles titles and leaves while ranked No.

[Neil]

That is too bad, who is she?

[Flashgordan]

The only thing less interesting than women's tennis is men's tennis

[Matt]

Good riddance to the Belgian Elf. I have other names for her but this is a family newspaper. Can't stand her. I've hated her ever since the infamous incident in the match with Serena in which she called for time, Serena didn't see it and served anyways, the serve was out, and even though she called for time, Justink took the point anyways. Real classy.

[Nibs]

I love tennis, the only sport I can watch. Henin was a delight to wash. A small woman who looked like a woman, played with passion and dignity. The game has lost a lot of the latter and is much less interesting to me because of that.

[Nibs]

delight to 'watch'

[Steve M]

Take the money, run, enjoy life!!!

[Venus Williams]

I guess Serina and me can start winning again .

[Dennis the Menace]

Who?

I thought Sharapova was the top tennis player. Never heard of this one.

[William Dollar]

It take guts and courage to walk away from a sport that you have excelled in and while still at the top of your game. Hopefully, at the young age of 25 she will begin a great new journey! Congratulations again!

[P-Lee]

I believe there will be much more to this story. Illness? Pregnancy? Legal problems? No way she just retired to retire.

[SheriD]

I'm confused...first the article says--

"I thought long about this," Henin said, her voice cracking and eyes watering. "I started thinking about it late last year. I was at the end of the road. I leave with my head held high."

And then it says--

Dressed in a simple white T-shirt and jeans, her brown hair in a ponytail, Henin spoke in French for nine minutes before taking questions Wednesday. She never lost her composure and held the microphone firmly.

Which is it?

[matt]

who wouldn't want to retire at 25?

Perhaps she simply looked at her bank account and decided it was big enough to last the rest of her life; she didn't want to go accumulating more millions. Now she can enjoy life.

I wish I'd been in a lucrative enough career to retire at 25, but here I am ten years later, still working every day...

[Thomas]

It must be nice to retire at 25.

[Jabli Izvesti]

Is it taboo for the report to include her marital history?

[TMD]

Matt wrote:

Good riddance to the Belgian Elf. I have other names for her but this is a family newspaper. Can't stand her. I've hated her ever since the infamous incident in the match with Serena in which she called for time, Serena didn't see it and served anyways, the serve was out, and even though she called for time, Justink took the point anyways. Real classy.

Amen.

I feel the same way. She knew she had called for time, but she wanted to win more than she wanted to do the right thing. Serena would have been publicly roasted had she done the same thing. I was also very disappointed with her default in the finals of the Australian Open. Champions don't quit in finals no matter how bad they feel.

Another poster mentioned that Henin was "a small woman who looked like a woman". This sounds like a swipe at all of the taller, more athletic female tennis players that now dominate the circuit. Well, I think both of the Williams sisters look like women (both over 6 ft tall), as does Sharapova (6'1"), and many others. Henin looks more like a 13 year old boy than a 25 year old woman.

Quite frankly, I am amazed that she won as many tournaments as she did.

[Todd]

I had no idea that she was only 25. She looks easily 30. I don't exactly get why she's retiring. She's the current #1, it said she won 10 tournaments last year, but yet she is whining about getting beat by the younger girls?

I know she got divorced last year or two years ago, at the ripe old age of 23. There has to be something more to this story. It's especially odd that she's retiring right before the French Open, which is easily her best tournament and an event in which she is pretty much unbeatable.

Tennis players don't just quit mid-season. They usually announce well in advance that it is their final year on the tour, and then they have a long drawn out farewell party. You just don't quit immediately, especially right before your best event.

I wonder if she's pregnant.

[Mike]

This is great

[quills]

Who is she? This proves tennis is real interesting doesn't it. No one but select few knows who she is. Oh yeh,they are the ones who get paid the same as the men even though they work 40% less. Sounds like the sport I want to watch and support. Yea!!

[Wilt Chamberlain]

In other late-breaking news, tomorrow is Thursday.

[Juan Carlos]

Goodbye and good luck, Justine Henin. It's been such a joy to watch her play her elegant and tenacious game over the years. She will certainly be missed.

Matt, what's your beef? If you hate Justine for that infamous 2003 incident, then you must also hate the Williams sisters for all the things they have said and done over the years.

Todd, fyi, the great Steffi Graf retired in the middle of the season in 1999. Some tennis players retire abruptly, and don't stick around like Andre Agassi did.