Justine Henin Retired on Wednesday

Whoa, I just found this out today. Apparently I've been sleeping for 2 days, but sometimes this happens. 

On Wednesday, Justine Henin announced her immediate retirement from professional tennis. She just up and did it, with about nil forewarning. Even on her site, she has blog posts from last week that detail her regular routine of preparing for a tournament, Berlin in this case. So she loses in Berlin and decides to call it quits. She's always been a bit singular.

Actually, I'm kindof emotional right now. I'm not all sad or anything, but I've always liked Henin. She doesn't talk alot but she is pure class and has both the heart of a champion and the skills to back it up. She's one of the greatest of all-time, IMHO. I got sort of bored a few years ago with the Williams sisters, and when she came on the scene with her Belgian cohort Kim Clijsters, it was a real breath of fresh air. 

In her farewell letter (the link above), she says that she has been thinking about it for awhile and that she has other projects that she wants to focus on. Ok, this I do understand. She is number one in the world, so she wants to go out on top a la Pete Sampras. This will give her a kind of legend status that will follow her career and help her move into the types of things that are meaningful to her, i.e. charities and such. She's one of kind for sure, a very smart chick, so I'm sure she will be successful in her endeavors. 

Hmmn, now that I think about it, it's pretty cool. But I'm definitely going to miss you Justine. Here's to you! Congrats on a remarkable career.