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 Henin retirement stunner: 'This is the end of a child's dream' Intense
No. 1 cites lack of emotion; leaves with 7 Slams, 41 titles, 117 weeks at top
By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net
At 5-foot-6, the toughest girl in tennis was the smallest in the Top 5. She didn't hail from the mighty US, nor the tennis tradition laden nation of France, but came from a French-speaking city in tiny Belgium, who's most notable player prior to her and countrywoman Kim Clijsters was the obscure Filip De Wulf. The toughest girl in tennis was a woman and her name was Justine Henin. On Wednesday, in the most shocking exit since 11-time Slam Bjorn Borg hung up his racket at the relatively young age of 26 in 1982, Henin retired, just a week and a half before she was supposed to attempt to win her fourth straight Roland Garros crown, which could have made her the first to do so since the Grand Dame of French tennis, Suzanne Lenglen, did so between 1920-23. Only 25, seven-time Slam champ Henin said she was mentally toast and no longer has any of her vaunted fight left in her. Sadly, her bone chilling cries of "allez-c'mon" will now be confined to her living room. "I have been driving my career based on an emotion but I didn't feel that emotion anymore since (last year's season-ending championships in) Madrid. At Madrid I felt I had reached the climax of my career," said Henin, who bested Maria Sharapova in a three-set classic there. "I had thought about taking a break, but in the end I didn't think this was the right decision."
For the most part over her nine-year career, Henin has come off as a brutally honest and thoughtful person, so it's hard to doubt her reasoning. If she says she no longer has to desire to go all out, that's more than likely what drove her to quit, even though contending with a knee injury this year and a tricky virus on and off since 2004 couldn't have been easy. But no other player drove her out of the sport and the field had not caught up to her yet, post her incredible 2007, where she won a career high 10 titles including Roland Garros and the US Open and ended the season on a 26-match winning streak, where she became the first woman since all-time great Steffi Graf in 1989 to go unbeaten after Wimbledon. Along with the Williams sisters, Henin defined mental toughness amongst her peers and could have been on her way to being called the best player of her generation, no small feat. But now that she's waving goodbye, that moniker will likely go to Serena, whom Henin owns more overall tiles than with 41 to 31, but is one short in the Slam department. Plus, Serena has won every major once and Henin failed to do so, stopped time and time again at Wimbledon, most shockingly last year, when Marion Bartoli upset her. Her toughness was only called into question when she defaulted the '06 Australian Open final to Amelie Mauresmo, citing an upset stomach. A shocked tennis world wondered for the first time about her resolve and one former player, echoing widespread sentiment, said she would have had to be carried off court on a stretcher from a Slam final. Despite a high-variety game that included a 12 fingers worth of touch, on the outside, Henin appeared to have the power to grab at least one title at the AELTC, but admitted on Thursday that she never truly believed. "Winning Wimbledon would not have made me any happier," said Henin, who also won the '04 Olympic gold medal in Athens. "I didn't feel I was capable of winning there (Wimbledon). I stopped before Roland Garros because I asked myself if I could produce a better Roland Garros than last year and I realized I couldn't." AN UNDERDOG V. CLIJSTERS "People were thinking that in the final, Justine will have her chances and then lose and I proved them wrong," Henin told TennisReporters.net. "Against Kim they said I will be so nervous against her and Justine won't win because mentally she won't be all right. But I woke up the day of the final and said I did everything for this and it will be a great experience. I had the chance to play the No. 1 and beat her. Kim didn't play a great player until me in the final. I knew I had a great chance." That summer, she and Clijsters became involved in a catfight over sportsmanship issues, which affected Clijsters more than it did Henin, who had a history of personal conflicts and didn't seem to mind bearing her claws on court. She enjoyed chopping taller and stronger players down. "I think all these players don't like that I'm not so strong and tall and am not the same looking players as them," she said. "They don't like to see me running all over the court and having power, too. Mentally, it's hard for them to compete against me." Henin then went on to discuss her budding rivalry with Serena, whose four major title run she had stopped at Roland Garros in one of the most dramatic contests ever played on Court Centrale. Henin said that Serena knew that she was one of the few players on the tour with enough self-belief to challenge her week-in, week-out. That's what having a steely attitude is all about. "Serena doesn't feel comfortable that I think I can beat her," Henin said. "It's hard for her that a player like me not so strong and tall and can beat these types of players. She knows I believe in my chances and she doesn't like it, that's for sure." Who would have given the tiny Justine a chance at No. 1 after her mother passed away when she was just twelve, or after she split with her father and brothers when she was just 17? Henin carried a boatload of emotional baggage on her shoulders, which explains why many times she came off as being cold and calculating. She could be very engaging and pleasant off court, but had a tough shell. "I always had this fight within myself," she said. "All these things that I lost - my mom and my family problems - it didn't help me inside that I didn't let it out. But I know that I became a great fighter. But when you live with these things so long, it doesn't help you." The tennis world saw Henin grow up a great deal since her Slam coming out party in 2003, both off court and on. She married Belgian Pierre-Yves Hardenne that year and said that she had lost the "real me" prior to her engagement. "I was missing having a family around me," she said. "Getting married helped me. I didn't do that only for [having security], because I wanted to get married. We we're in love. But I feel secure with him. When I go back after a match there's someone waiting for me and that's very important. Plus, when I got married, I got a lot of confidence. I was saying 'I'm a good person and I can enjoy tennis.' Now I have family and I've really become myself. I'm very natural now. When I go on court, I'm not afraid to lose." REUNITES WITH FAMILY If there was once constant in her life, it was her longtime coach, Carlos Rodriguez, who always believed in her and steered the warship Henin for 12 years. She called him a father figure, a friend and brother all wrapped into one. Rodriguez was a bit of a perfectionist, criticizing her every error, but he also believed in her prospects like no one else. At times, he got his student into trouble, ripping Serena, Clijsters and the Belgian Tennis Federation publicly, but Justine always stood by him. She credited him for instilling in her a sense of self-belief. "I'm more mature and comfortable," said Henin. "He said you have the possibilities to be No. 1 someday and I didn't believe him because I didn't have confidence in myself. Now I have confidence in myself because he told me every day I could win Grand Slams and be No. 1. He was right. Henin truly amped her fitness after 2003, and developed her forehand and serve into much bigger weapons. Without question, she owned the wicked serve for a player 5-foot-6 and under. Her body looked like one tightly wiry muscle, she had incredible foot speed and a much admired, wondrous one-handed backhand. She could go from defense to offense in a millisecond. "In the past, I was afraid of the power, but now I know I can be powerful when I want," she said. Henin reached remarkable heights even when it appeared that the bar was set too high for her. Take the '07 US Open, her seventh and final Slam crown, when she beat both Serena and Venus to go on to win the title. (She crushed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final.) She became the first player to best both Williams sisters at a major and did so at America's Slam, of all places, where former champs Serena and Venus had played some of their best tennis. She didn't drop a set during the tournament and was able to out-punch Venus, the one player who legitimately had owned her going into that match who. She had become primarily on offensive player on faster surfaces and only played defense when it was demanded of her. She's scorched her returns and had become a sure-handed volleyer "For once in her life, I told her, 'Don't fight to win a match but fight for yourself,'" Rodriguez said. "I fight a lot with her and say, 'C'mon, let's show what you are to people, don't put wall in front of you.' Now she's there." After Henin won her second Open, Rodriguez was ebullient and hopeful, not expecting what was to come during the off season, when Henin couldn't get her mind on court again. Then, he spoke of her in historic terms, a player and friend who on Thursday he said, "made him a somebody." CHANCE TO BE 'CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS' But she didn't want to go for double digits in Slams, as she more aware than anyone that her gritty, undercutting, think woman's game requites maximum concentration. She tried to go through the motions during the first five months of the season, but without her intensity, she looked fragile, crushed by Maria Sharapova in the Australia Open, by Serena in Miami and then last week, Dinara Safina rolled over her in Berlin. Make no mistake … this is a huge loss for women's tennis, which seems to be shedding great players with interesting personalities faster than a leaping Henin inside-out forehand. Since the legendary Monica Seles limped off the tour in 2003 (she officially retired two months ago), only one great player with a standout personality has emerged - Sharapova. During that time period, the WTA has lost three other intruguing Slam champions who cannot easily be replaced - Martina Hingis, Anastasia Myskina and Clijsters. Now the sport has lost Henin, a better player than all those three and a more attractive shotmaker. But with her once seemingly unquenchable fire dosed, Justine had nowhere to go but home. "This is the end of a child's dream," she said. "This is a definitive decision. Those who know me know it is serious. I thought long about this. I started thinking about it late last year. I was at the end of the road. I leave with my head held high. Maybe people will think I'm still young, but in life there are no rules. I've invested enormously in my sport. Since I was five, I've only lived for that. I'm without any regrets because it's brought me emotions, images that are engraved on my heart, and in my memory and in the hearts and memories of many of you as well. So, there is a page that turns today and I feel no regrets. On the contrary, it's more like a release, more like a relief, more of a look toward the future." © TennisReporters.net 2008 |
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