Justine Henin shocked the tennis world by announcing her retirement from the game just prior to the onset of the 2008 French Open. The 25-year-old Henin was the former No. 1-ranked player on the women’s tour, where she was expected to repeat as champion.
Her game was as compact as her small frame, yet she packed a powerful punch. She was cocky, self-assured, and a fierce competitor. She served bullets and had one of the best single-handed backhands in tennis, male or female.
Her forehand, however, was considered her weapon of choice. Many referred to her as the Roger Federer of the women’s game because of her accuracy, speed, and arsenal of weapons, including her delicate but athletic net-play ability. She had impressed John McEnroe from the beginning of her career.
Henin won seven grand slam titles on every surface except Wimbledon—she also won 41 WTA singles titles and over $19 million in prize money.
Yet, it was hard to dismiss the vulnerability hiding just beneath the bold front. Masked by intense bravado, Henin sheltered the timid and insecure little girl hidden from view. She played tennis to avoid life—it was her escape valve from an intensely unhappy personal situation.
Her mother, who was a staunch supporter of Justine’s tennis, died when Henin was 12 years old. Justine and her father did not always see eye to eye on her tennis or on her choice of boyfriends. They had a permanent parting of the ways over Justine’s attachment, and later marriage, to Pierre-Yves Hardenne in 2002.
Luckily for Justine, she had secured Carlos Rodriguez as her coach shortly after her mother’s death in 1995. He became like a second father to her, serving her not only as a guide on the court but also offering her support in her personal life.
It was her intense desire to reach the top of the women’s game that kept her focused and drove her to bulk up her tiny frame as much as possible in order to stay on the court with the giants competing against her—the Williams sisters, Maria Sharapova, Lindsay Davenport, et al.
2003
Justine was driven to succeed. In 2003, she began the year ranked as No. 5 and ended the year as the No. 1 player in women’s tennis.
In fact, 2003 became the turning point in her career, but it did not bode well at the beginning as she lost to fellow countrywoman Kim Clijsters in the semifinals of the Medibank International Series in Sydney—then lost to Venus Williams in straight sets in the semifinals of the Australian Open.
A breakthrough came in Dubai where Henin defeated Monica Seles for the first time in her career—4-6, 7-6, 7-5. Another momentous victory came when Henin defeated Serena Williams, then current world No. 1, at the Family Circle Cup Championships in South Carolina. It was Serena’s first defeat after 22 wins.
The high point came at the French Open where Henin defeated Kim Clijsters in the final in straight sets. She won her first grand slam title and became the first Belgian ever to win a major singles title.
She met Clijsters again in the 2003 U.S. Open final and again defeated her in straight sets. The win cemented Henin as the No. 2 player in the world, just behind Kim Clijsters.
2004
It was her victory at the Australian Open in 2004 that marked her permanent arrival, catapulting her over the top as she achieved not only the No. 1 ranking but in the process accumulated 7,626 points, the highest in the history of the WTA rankings. Many think this mark will never be equaled.
Unfortunately, nothing is easily won or lasting in the professional game. Her health began to falter. The remainder of 2004 became a black hole for Henin as she lost her ranking and spent much of it trying to recover her health.
Through it all, with her coach by her side, Henin never quit believing—and in her mind she knew she would succeed again to the top of the game.
2005
It took her until the 2005 French Open to regain her form. In the final, she defeated Mary Pierce in a lopsided contest, 6-1, 6-1. She had entered the tournament as the No. 10 seed. The win moved her up to No. 7 in the WTA rankings. She remained perfect on clay.
A hamstring injury depleted her for the rest of 2005. The injuries and the resulting time off did nothing to improve Henin’s spirits or temper her struggle on and off court, where her personal life was beginning to fail.
2006
2006 found Henin returned to the game anticipating her own rise back to the top. She reached the Australian Open finals. Unfortunately, she retired in her final match with Amelie Mauresmo due to a stomach ailment. She was severely criticized for this because no one retires in a grand slam final.
Henin won the French Open again in 2006, defeating Kim Clijsters but lost the Wimbledon final to Mauresmo. Henin also lost the U.S. Open final to Maria Sharapova—but in making the finals became the first woman since Martina Hingis in 1997 to reach the finals of all four majors in a calendar year.
She ended 2006 as the No. 1 player by reaching the finals of the WTA Championship, where she defeated Mauresmo—Henin’s first win in this event. While victories on court were converging to propel Henin back into the tennis spotlight, her personal life was plummeting to an all-time low.
2007
In January of 2007, Henin withdrew from the Australian Open and announced to the world that her four-year marriage was over. 2007 would also see Henin reunited with her estranged family, openly embracing their participation in her life again.
In 2007, Henin captured another French Open title as well as another U.S. Open championship. She won both without dropping a set. In fact, she had not lost a set at the French since 2004.
In October of 2007, she sewed up the year-end ranking as No. 1 for the third time in her career. To cap it off, she won the WTA Championship to repeat her feat of 2006. She was undefeated after Wimbledon and the only woman to accomplish that since Graf in 1989.
2008
She started 2008 as the No. 1 player and in March became the seventh female player to hold the No. 1 ranking for 12 consecutive months.
However, she lost the Australian Open to the eventual champion, Maria Sharapova, in the quarterfinals. She was struggling, losing other early matches unexpectedly, and finally she withdrew from the Family Circle Cup citing fatigue.
Abruptly, she announced her retirement from tennis on May 14, 2008 and requested that her name be removed immediately from the WTA rankings. She was still ranked No. 1 and still expected by most to win the upcoming French Championships.
It stunned everyone. One can speculate that Henin, after 20 years of playing tennis, felt free to face life on her own terms, and live it, finally and fully. She had scaled the heights to the top many times and felt, perhaps, unwilling or unable to sacrifice in order to do it again.
Reunited with her family and at peace with her inner demons, she could leave the game that sustained her for so long. Life called her out, and she went willingly...
27 comments Last one added 7 months ago — Leave a Comment
Rob York 7 months ago
Man, I was planning to write about Justine in the next couple weeks. I hope there's still some interest left after this excellent summary.
You win this round, JAA!
Edit Comment Cancel
J.A. Allen 7 months ago
Hi Rob - there is plenty about her to say i think...i just skirted the surface, really. i wanted to go deeper but it was difficult to find much beyond her play--which, of course, could be a great article--thanks, for the selection - so glad you approve!! jaa
Edit Comment Cancel
Long John Silver 7 months ago
its not that she was criticized cos no one retires in a slam final
but - to deprive an opponent of that isolated moment of victory is just being such a spoilt BRAT
am sure you cud stand there for 10 more mins - 8 points more .... such a BRAT !
self consumed - 'the lil' engine that could' - 'the lil' backhand that quit'
cheers
Edit Comment Cancel
J.A. Allen 7 months ago
Hmmm-quick to condemn Henin but when Nole retired against Roger on clay--was it Monte Carlo? or later? no calling him names???
She was just being human and as such, perhaps, made a mistake...but haven't we all?
She deserves better! In my humble opinion! jaa
Edit Comment Cancel
Long John Silver 7 months ago
yea sure
------
an OZ slam final - and a masters tourney are VERY MUCH the same thing
--------
yeah sure
-------
Amelie with her FIRST slam beckoning , and Rodge who has won like ten of 'em on the other side of the net - VERY much the same thing
-----------
I could go on
Edit Comment Cancel
Long John Silver 7 months ago
as far as the mistake part
----------
am forgiving too - but its like you and Nole, me and Marcos .... never took to J2H, never will
Edit Comment Cancel
J.A. Allen 7 months ago
Long - I can see that - wouldn't you know that i would select the one female player you truly detest to write about--these are the days of my life! So far I am batting zero! Maybe when Rob writes his article on Henin, he will be able to persuade you!
Ho! Ho! Ho! jaa
Edit Comment Cancel
Rob York 7 months ago
Long, when she retired it was 2-0 in the second set. That's not 8 points, that's at least 16. And who knows her reasons? Maybe she didn't want to aggravate the injury at the time. I do agree that it wasn't her finest hour, but she has enough admirable qualities to earn forgiveness.
Edit Comment Cancel
Long John Silver 7 months ago
hmmmmmm - Christmas is here
Edit Comment Cancel
Long John Silver 7 months ago
rob - i maintain my stance, that moment for Amelie is lost forever .... as a competitor you have a resp. to the game and opponent
this is the latter -
Edit Comment Cancel
Rob York 7 months ago
Yeah, I'm sure Amelie is really broken up over the fact that the first of her two majors came when her opponent retired.
I wish Henin had done differently, but I'm not going ignore the rest of her achievements over that.
Edit Comment Cancel
Long John Silver 7 months ago
jaa bashin' Nole again .... ironic given the fact she knows i love the Joker
ha ha ha -
Edit Comment Cancel
Long John Silver 7 months ago
am not either -
i see your take on the rest of the stuff
----------
but every time i think J2H
i remember OZ 06 - is that my fault ?
Edit Comment Cancel
J.A. Allen 7 months ago
I agree with Rob - she was a great champion and competitor! no one will remember that she retired in five years!! jaa
Edit Comment Cancel
Rob York 7 months ago
For awhile, whenever I thought of Hewitt all I could think of was a "spastic" comment and another about Blake's "similarity" to a line's judge. So, I won't blame you for that, but I hope you can look past it one day as I eventually did with LH.
Edit Comment Cancel
Long John Silver 7 months ago
the racist wasnt - a racist thing after all
LH talked about it in an interview ....
OZ has number of aborigines, i really doubt if LH is racist .... no way no way
Edit Comment Cancel
Long John Silver 7 months ago
LH is brash and rough on the edges, but hes a wonderful bloke mate - am gonna stick up for him a lil bit in here
sorry RY
Edit Comment Cancel
Rob York 7 months ago
There are a lot of Native Americans in the US, but some people still hate them.
Even if it wasn't racist, he never seemed to understand how insensitive it was.
Edit Comment Cancel
Long John Silver 7 months ago
insensitivity - YES
racist - am gonna say NO
Edit Comment Cancel
Rob York 7 months ago
I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt now. As I said on my page, he's grown up a lot.
Edit Comment Cancel
J.A. Allen 7 months ago
I think Justine managed to make the most of every ounce of talent she possessed. She maximized her abilities and played to make it to the top. Yes, she may have not always made the best decisions but no one does that perfectly.
She remains of the best...hope she is happy! jaa
Edit Comment Cancel
Long John Silver 7 months ago
SAME with Nole right ?
the right decisions logic fits him too ... hmmmmmmmm
Edit Comment Cancel
Gil 7 months ago
hey JA, Great work!
Dunno how to express how much I am missing Justine. After Graf's era, After Hingis' time, we had the power puff girls in the William's sisters, whom, this said with no disrespect, I dont particularly enjoy watching play the game.
And we had the Brattish Sharapove - The Sreeching Siren and some - well too inconsistent Promises..
But Justine was Different, she was consistent, more often than not, stood up short and delivered Tall.
I dont know what will happen to Women's tennis now which is very much paling in comparison and this time to Men's Tennis, Just when the latter seems to be at its peak of excitement with great prospects to look ahead too..
One Hopes someone will stand up and carry Gauntlet forward..But there wont be another Henin. As they say, Genius cant be replicated...
Edit Comment Cancel
Long John Silver 7 months ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO05K39l0co
Edit Comment Cancel
J.A. Allen 7 months ago
Hi Gil - Thanks as always for your kind words...they mean a great deal to me! I think that the women's game is in sort of a shamble right now--but they will come back. Justine really provided that consistent leadership presence at the top--the target. Now that she is gone--they really have no one to shoot at! I kind of like Marat's baby sister--Dinara, she appeals to me - her game and her attitude.
I have always loved Venus' game when she's on...I think they too will gel this year as the season progresses! Thanks again! jaa
Edit Comment Cancel
J.A. Allen 7 months ago
Hey JAA - Congratulations on your placement on the CBS Sports Page! I can't believe I am the only one who is acknowledging you! I am so happy for you - and jealous, too! Maybe if I had written mine first? Who knows? Anyway, congrats! Bobbie
Edit Comment Cancel
Ray Davis 7 months ago
Justine IS a beautiful young woman. She, and Venus, and Serena, and Maria, ARE all excellent tennis players, especially when playing injury-free! The matches would have to be played each time, to know who wins each time. All the rest of the WTA are still aspiring to and working to reach the level of these four. Jelena taking more chances might pleasantly surprise herself.
J.A., I hoped your article was leading to new information about a very happy existence for Justine. I was let down by the lack thereof, however this is not a complaint against you, just the truth about what I had hoped to read at the end of your article. The best to you, Justine. Just thought I'd weigh in.
Ray
Edit Comment Cancel
Leave a Comment
You must register to post a comment.