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Top Ranked Sensation Justine Henin Stuns the Tennis World
Written By Dylan Vox
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Category: | Daily News |
It isn’t very often that a top professional athlete leaves the sport at the height of their game, but this week, number one ranked tennis phenom Justine Henin unexpectedly announced that she was stepping away from the game.
The announcement came as a huge shock in the tennis community since over the past few seasons Henin has dominated the field, but the 25-year-old stated that she has simply had enough.
With just one week before the start of the French Open, a tournament that the Belgian has won four times, Henin announced that she no longer had an overwhelming desire to play the game.
"It's the end of a wonderful adventure, but it's something I've been thinking about for a long time,” she announced to the press on Wednesday.
Henin has seven grand slam titles and an Olympic Gold medal under her belt, but despite coming off an incredible season, she started out this year with two major losses. She was enjoying her 100th career week as the number one player in the world entering into the Australian Open, but lost 6-4, 56-0 to Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals.
Then again at the Sony Ericsson Open, she struggled against powerhouse Serena Williams in an uncharacteristically lopsided match.
Over the past decade, Henin had been estranged from her family after the death of her mother, and only recently reconciled. She, however, overcame personal obstacles to become what legendary Billie Jean King referred to as “the best tennis player of her generation.”
In a press conference announcing her immediate retirement, Henin stated, “It is a new beginning for me. I feel like I already lived three lives. I gave the sport all I could and took everything it could give me. I take this decision without the least bit of regrets. It is my life as a woman that starts now."
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