Henin confirms retirement
by Michelle Fortune and Nick Royle, 14 May 2008
Justine Henin has announced her retirement from tennis with immediate effect.
Henin withdrew from this week's Internazionali BNL d'Italia citing fatigue, and the media had speculated that an announcement was imminent, but Henin had been expected to play on until the end of the current season rather than retire immediately.
"It's the end of a wonderful adventure but it's something I have been thinking about for a long time,"she told a press conference in Belgium.
Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsbald broke the news on Wednesday morning that the 25-year-old would announce her decision, just a year after fellow countrywoman Kim Clijsters brought her career to an end, and two weeks before she is due to begin the defence of her French Open title.
Henin has won 41 WTA singles titles and more that $19 million in prize money with the Belgian player earning over $5 million in 2007, becoming the first player in tour history to do so.
Seven of those titles were Grand Slam titles - she has won the French Open three times, the US Open on two occasions and the Australian Open just once - and also claimed the singles gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
However, Henin has not looked her best in 2008, losing to Maria Sharapova in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open before suffering early exits in the Qatar Telecom German Open and Miami.