Justine Henin Announces Retirement for the 2nd Time
The 28-year-old Belgian who has amassed 43 career singles titles, and 7 Grand Slam Singles titles wrote an open letter to her fans on her website to announce her retirement. In the letter she states that “my elbow is too fragile and hurt so that my passion and my profession at high level cannot continue to exist.”"I spent the last days going through various medical tests and they have confirmed that my elbow has been damaged by my adventure in Australia. In these recent months I have rarely been spared form the pain.”Henin made the announcement to her fans on her website less than a week after losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 7-6 (8) in the third round of the Australian Open.Henin also announced her retirement once before quite abr proactol uptly when she was ranked No. 1 in 2008. She did return however 20 months later and made it to last year’s Australian Open final. She took a bad spill at Wimbledon last year that tore a ligament in her elbow. She had a tough time fully recovering, and obviously couldn’t.”I am sorry?I had hoped for a different return and dreamed of a different ending.”This announcement leaves yet another hole int he woman’s tour, with both Williams’ sisters out indefinitely with injuries and now Henin, there are certainly some gaps to fill. Good thing there are some exciting players on the horizon.We here at On The Baseline thank Justine Henin for the excitement she’s provided on the WTA tour, and wish her all the best in the next chapter of her life.