revoir

when you're on top of the league, has dominated the game by finishing number 1 in 2007, winning 10 titles and over USD 5 million prize money and won 2 out of 4 slams, while 2008 showed some considerably decent outing, and you're only 25... how did you come up with the decision to retire altogether? was it something that just popped out of your mind? or after a bad night, woke up the morning after and said that i'll stop.

it was surprising to see justine henin retired. this year, she had really bad losses... 6-2, 6-0 washout from serena in indian wells final; 6-4, 6-0 defeat to maria sharapova in australina open QF; 7-5, 3-6, 1-6 to dinara safina in berlin third round. then, she skipped rome masters. and then she's retired.

she said that she's lost the drive that brought her to the top and would want to move into other fields, although she's one of the most ambitious players of her generation. she's not one of my fave players, but i think her presence and dominance is great for the game. while she generally dominated most of the top-10ers today, most of the players are putting extra effort to beat her, so improvements are seen in games of most players. her dedication and professionalism is phenomenal. plus, the skills and that beauty called henin backhand... is such a potent weapon.

her retirement is such a big loss to the game. but i think she'll do a "hingis" later on and rejoin the tour. that's just my hunch!