Is Justine Henin the new Drama Queen of WTA?

Question

Before you all take out your knives and guns and try to dismember me, I am simply making an observation of what appears to be the emergence of a new Drama Queen. On her website she reports that she is in good health and training very hard, yet recent results have been disappointing to her and her fans. So I am throwing some salt on her wounds in anticipation of her purported retirement announcement. At age 25 and ranked #1 in the world, it could be interpreted as being a sore looser and someone who wants to quit while she is ahead.

That is my observation........don't kill me.

Answer 1

Im not bothered tbh, i know shes a great champion but she sure aint acting like it with a few defeats !  :S its crazy dude ;) :P

Answer 2

I'll put the knife down I guess. I highly doubt she would retire just because she isn't winning. There have to be other reasons, maybe outside of tennis, that we aren't aware of.

Answer 3

I don't think her retirement has anything to do with her current ranking or current results.  She still has a gigantic 1700 point lead over Sharapova and is still number 1 by a long shot.  No one else is even close.  So I believe her retirement as this stage is largely mental and emotional in nature.  She's tired of the grind, tired of the pressure, tired of the media spotlight.  Like Clijsters, she wants to have a different life away from tennis and feels she has nothing else to prove.  Everything has always come hard for Justine mentally and emotionally and she has always struggled to remain composed.  I just hope Roger isn't next because he reminds me alot of Justine right now.

Answer 4

Drama Queen?  

How many DQs is the WTA allowed to have?  

Although she may not be the #1 Drama Queen, she does have a number of "retirements" during major matches due to "not feeling well."

The one that sticks out in my mind is her retirement during the finals of the 2007 Australian Open against Mauresmo.  Mauresmo was on fire and Henin was losing -- then she said her stomach wasn't well and gave the match to Mauresmo.  

Which woman has the most retirements from matches?  

Roger Federer cannot be compared with Henin.  Whether he feels well or not, he is playing (win or lose) and he has never retired from a match.

IMHO, Henin may regret her decision to retire.  I think she may be tired of the grind emotionally & mentally.  She still has some great matches in her but she doesn't seem to have confidence that she can maintain her #1 position.  I would have wanted to see her fight to the end of the year, or until she lost the #1 position.  Now, the person who gets to #1 will not know if she really is or not.  

Tennis is funny that way.  Because each player is a free agent, you are left with "what ifs."

Answer 5

No, I think it's a legitimate question.  Although I don't see anything wrong with quitting while you're ahead.  It's always nice to see someone go out on top rather than struggling to relive past glory that will never return (Roger Starbauck as opposed to Joe Montana).  

Henin has had her share of personal issues some of which were partially of her own making, like her divorce; and some over which she had no control, like the death of her mother.  So calling her a drama queen implies that she thives on confict and controversy, and I don't think that's the case.  I don't doubt that these issues are the main reason for her retirement, though.  I also highly doubt that this is the last we see of Justine once she gets her personal issues worked out.  Lindsey Davenport and Martina Hingis were also supposedly done for good, but here they are back playing again (or at least Martina was before the whole cocaine thing).  I also wonder if Cljisters will get the itch again once she forgets about all the injuries - though she seems content with her decision for the time being.

Answer 6

its better to retire whilst still at the top than to be 100 or lower or even unranked.

sore loser,well...after dominating last season,winning a fourth RG and second us open,i would hardly call it being a sore loser.