tennis is a game played with utmost thinking and endless playing tactics... this is how the tennis was played for the past century until the william sisters comes along and changed the way women tennis is played... yes, they were the pioneer in introducing power play in women tennis... and since their arrival, they were a force to reckon with, smashing the competition, and making tactical players a thing of a past... williams sister finals seems like a normal play in any tennis grand slam events.... and there was no one from the roster of world women tennis who can beat them until comes this player from Belgium who managed to integrate tactical play with power play and start beating the william sisters in their own turf... and the rest they say is history...
yes, her name is
Justine Henin... a professional Belgian tennis player, former world no. 1 and one of my personal favorites.... i first admired her play in 2003 during the French Open which she also won that year... and before 2003 ends, she reached the pinnacle of women tennis and was the world #1.... she held this position for 45 weeks... and since then she never failed to amaze me with her kind of play... i must say that her mental toughness, the completeness and variety of her game, her quick footstep and footwork and her one handed backhand which i admired most were the principal reasons of her success...
overall, during the tenure of her career, she managed to win 43 WTA singles titles and 7 grand slam singles titles which includes, 4 for French Open (2003, 2005, 2006, 2007), 1 for Australian Open (2004) and 2 for US Open (2006, 2007)
likewise, she has also won the 2006 & 2007 year ending tennis championships and the singles gold medal at the 2004 summer olympics.
upon her first retirement in 2008, due to personal problems... she was heralded as pound for pound, the best tennis player of her generation...
and when she returned to WTA in early 2010, she made an impressive comeback by becoming a finalist of the Australian Open, her only 2nd tournament after her comeback.
... and 2010 was a very good year for her, breaking the top 20 and winning additional 2 WTA titles... sadly she ended her 2010 prematurely after suffering an elbow injury during Wimbledon..
though she started 2011 right by winning all her matches during the Hopman Cup.... she did not escaped her previous injury.... it plagued and haunted her which caused her exit in the 3rd round of Australian Open...
and after consulting with her doctors, on 26 January 2011, she made the dreadful announcement that she had been forced to retire from professional tennis once again because of an elbow injury... her official statement can be read in this
link...
therefore, with a heavy heart, i must say... thank you for the 11years of excitement and glory you have shared us.... i sincerely wish you good luck in the future and i hope to see you again anytime, anywhere.... you already left your imprint not only in mah heart, but to all the hearts of the tennis fans who loves you... and with that you will be remembered always....
THANK YOU JUSTINE...
photo credits from google.com, and justine data from WTA website.
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