May 14, 2008

Henin retires. : Number 1 ranked Justine Henin has announced her immediate retirement from professional tennis.

read story | posted by lil_brown_bat to Tennis at 10:30 AM CDT (14 comments total)

This move has surprised a lot of people, given the tendency of top athletes to slip quite a ways from their previous heights before finally packing it in. By all accounts, though, Henin was having some unprecedented struggles this year, and likely envisioned herself using her top ranking. In her place, I can easily see myself saying, "Oh, god, all that damn clay!" and not wanting to go through with it.

posted by lil_brown_bat at 10:33 AM CDT on May 14

I have to respect that she did it without making a year long production out of it. She's got more money than she can spend in three lifetimes, good she should enjoy it. I say, be well and enjoy your retirement.

posted by Tinman at 11:24 AM CDT on May 14

What, is this Woman Pro Retirement Week?

posted by worldcup2002 at 12:30 PM CDT on May 14

Honestly, I never liked Justine Henin. She always came off as kind of spoiled and a bit nose-up, and I never really forgave her for stealing what should have been Amelie Mauresmo's greatest moment at the Australian Open a few years back with her whiningly premature exit.

Sure, she was a great champion, yeah yeah yeah, but this retirement, as ill-thought-out and out of nowhere as it is, seems completely in character.

posted by chicobangs at 1:01 PM CDT on May 14

I'm with Chico. I always wanted to like her as much as I liked her backhand. Which, by the bye, I began to tire of, somehow. It seemed . . . self-conscious, or something. Like it was calculated to please a coach. The fault was in me, of course, for extending my irritation with her persona to annoyance with a stroke that a hacker like me can only dream about.

posted by Uncle Toby at 3:53 PM CDT on May 14

I can easily see myself saying, "Oh, god, all that damn clay!" and not wanting to go through with it.

I thought clay was her best surface - two French Opens and all that. Still, I get your point, clay takes more out of you.

Sure, she was a great champion, yeah yeah yeah, but this retirement, as ill-thought-out and out of nowhere as it is, seems completely in character.

Strumpet!

posted by owlhouse at 5:19 PM CDT on May 14

Damned French. Open.

posted by bobfoot at 9:01 PM CDT on May 14

Alright, you guys back up off of Justine. I absolutely loved to watch this average sized woman (5' 5 3/4" the story said) take on the behemoths and whip their asses with skill and cunning that overcame the power game that has ruined men's tennis. I will miss her badly. It's not only tennis for me either. I'd rather watch Duncan than LeBron, Ichiro over Big Papi, Mark Martin rather than Earnhardt.

posted by gradioc at 9:30 PM CDT on May 14

Good point, Gradioc, and I agree with what you say.
But Henin did seem a tad robotic, as Uncle Toby lightly seemed to allude.
As an individual sport, tennis is aided by some form of flair in its athletes. Borg, Conners, Navratilova, Evert, Nastase, McEnroe (not one of my favourites), Becker, Agassi, Graf, Nadal, Blake. Even Sampras, tho I can't describe "it".
Henin just didn't have the comfortable, Iwannarootforyou "it" for me.
She certainly had the shots, though.
And I do wish her a sweet retirement.
And I like it when an athlete decides to retire while on top. Although it really disappointed me when Borg did it.

posted by bobfoot at 11:40 PM CDT on May 14

My first thought was "pregnant" when I heard how abruptly she'd retired.

She had a good career, but she never captured my imagination, heart or even interest really. Not even enough to dislike her.

Not, I'm sure, that she could give a whistling shit what I think.

posted by JJ at 7:00 AM CDT on May 15

My first thought was "pregnant" when I heard how abruptly she'd retired.

I suppose it's possible, but given the timing, I think it's more likely a well-timed move to exit on top. That would be in character to the less emotional, more rational, always in control athlete that others have alluded to. I suspect that one of her greatest strengths has always been an ability to evaluate her own performance in a truly objective manner. If she looked at her performance this year and concluded, "You ain't got it, kid," what would she do? Most athletes would hang in there, pick up a few more dollars on the way as they gradually declined, but I can see her looking at that ending and deciding to take the band-aid off with one yank. Certainly there's something of dignity about it, but when I compare her exit to Agassi's, I wonder if exiting on top isn't more about vanity than dignity.

posted by lil_brown_bat at 7:35 AM CDT on May 15

more about vanity than dignity

A good point. It's not like boxing where you risk permanent brain dammage if you stay in the game too long. Even in decline, she'd still have been better than plenty of others out there for a long time and might have won more.

Or maybe I just envy her self-knowledge. If there is no non-tennis reason for the decision, it's as ruthless and effective as her backhand became.

It's a whole other debate - is it better to exit at the top, or allow yourself to decline slowly, possibly picking up the odd major here and there on your way out?

posted by JJ at 8:37 AM CDT on May 15

Or maybe I just envy her self-knowledge. If there is no non-tennis reason for the decision, it's as ruthless and effective as her backhand became.

Yeah. My comment above kind of ended with a thump, because as I was writing it, my brain started to track in a different direction. Look at it one way, and Henin's resigning looks like the epitome of a graceful exit. Then I started to think about how Agassi ended his career, and I realized that there's a difference, sometimes a very stark one, between "graceful" and "gracious".

posted by lil_brown_bat at 9:37 AM CDT on May 15

Grace was never a strong point of hers.

posted by chicobangs at 11:52 AM CDT on May 15

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