Tennis News: Belgian Justine Henin forced to retire for the second time
Citing a prolonged elbow injury which surfaced at the 2010 Wimbledon Championship, Justine Henin of Belgium was forced to retire from the sport of tennis for the second time in her career. Henin was knocked out in the third round of the 2011 Australian Open.
Media reports stated, "I spent the last days undergoing various medical tests and they have confirmed that my elbow has been damaged by my adventure in Australia. I have rarely been spared from the pain, those last months were very hard... my elbow is too
fragile and hurt... Having followed the advice of doctors it is now clear and I accept that here my career ends."
Having been out of action for six months due to the elbow injury, Justine lost 4-6 and 6-7 in straight sets to Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia. Furthermore, after retiring in the year 2008, Henin returned to the world of tennis in
the year 2010, making it through to the championship final of the Australian Open. Justine faced Serena Williams of the United States and was defeated 6–4, 3–6 and 6–2 in the final at the event.
Henin further added, "It's disappointing to lose like this. She was better than me, especially in the important moments. I got some opportunities in the second set to come back, but I never really took the lead in the match. I never took the opportunities and
she was much more aggressive than me. So that made a big difference. It was a bit better at the end but not enough as I served a few double faults in the tie-break and made too many mistakes. It wasn't good enough to win that match."
In the year 2008, Justine communicated her immediate retirement from professional tennis, requesting the Women's Tennis Association to delete her name from the official rankings. Henin's retirement came as a shock to tennis fans as the professional was ranked
number one in the world and was one of the favorites for the French Open that year. In addition, the Belgium was expected to defend her title for the third time. In spite of the fact that Henin felt saddend to leave the sport, she said that in the future
she would be focusing on her tennis school and on charity work.
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