Well, the Tennis world suffered a crashing blow today. The current world number one women's player Justine Henin, has announced permanent retirement from the sport.
I have to say I am completely stunned. Usually players who are at the top want to ride that wave for as long as they can before calling it quits.
The cited reason for her ending her career was lack of motivation. Which can be a very valid point when it comes to Tennis, but the conspiracy theorist in me finds it hard to believe that's her only reason.
I think the constant grind and heavy schedule might have had something to do with it as well.
Long term it can be quite physically taxing (even for the best athlete). Whatever the reason, we'll probably never know the truth since Justine is an extremely private person.
I'm sure I've mentioned this in the past, but I'll say it again, I really think the WTA needs to make some major adjustments in terms of the schedule and perhaps even the conditioning of the players or unfortunately we will continue to lose players the likes of Justine or even Roger Federer, early on in their careers.
Some of you might be thinking that I need to accept that the days of players sticking around well into their 30's are long over and you may be partly right.
But, I stand by my earlier statement that there's a lot that still can be done in terms of schedules and conditioning (more then is being done) to improve things so that player's don't wear themselves out by their mid 20's.
Even though I can't really say I've been a true fan of Justine, (at least not to the same level as Martina Hingis).
I've always admired her style of play and thought that she was quite a legend in her own right (with all her accomplishments). And such a breath of fresh air, from the constant onslaught of power players (like Serena or Venus).
We've lost so many great veteran pros in the past year first Martina then Kim, and now Justine. It's very sad.
Her retirement does open a big door of opportunities in terms of Grand Slams for all the current player's on tour as well as future hopefuls. Not to mention the spot for #1 ranking.
As I've said above though this is a huge loss for women's Tennis and she will undoubtedly be sorely missed by the sport and it's players. I suppose if you are gonna bow out there's no better way to do that then while still on top.
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