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Where Jill Will Talk Like She Writes
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Don't Get Mad, Get Elected
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May
15
For sports fans, there’s nothing more disappointing than to see a career end before we want it to. This week, the world learned that two soon would. Belgian tennis player Justine Henin and Swedish golfer Annika Sorenstam both announced their retirements. Sorenstam, a career Grand Slam winner, is 37. Henin, a seven-time Grand Slam champion and current world No. 1, is 25. Neither plays a sport in which youth is at a premium. So it is difficult not to feel cheated: we will never again see Henin’s spry figure unleashing shots with such a variety of spins that she made the slugging behemoths of women’s tennis suffer death by a thousand slices. Sorenstam’s cool accuracy and composure will soon be lost to us, too.
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To Henin and Sorenstam, an athlete’s career is in many ways no different from any other. “I have a lot of dreams, I want to live and I’m getting married,” Sorenstam said. Henin echoed: “This is the end of a child’s dream … It is my life as a woman that starts now.” The world has always admired northern European countries for their work-life balance, so we can hardly begrudge a famous Swede for saying she wants to start a family, or the planet’s best-known Belgian for simply craving a rest.
Henin’s explanation for quitting in her prime is that, quite to her own surprise, she has lost the desire to train and compete and is now interested in focusing on her personal life and her new Belgian tennis academy.
“I think I will take long, real vacation,” she said. “I’m going to appreciate going for a run with nothing at stake, just doing it for pleasure. I’ve never put my feet in skis, and next year I think I’ll be doing it the whole winter. I want to rediscover the small pleasures, not look at my watch all the time because I have to get to training the next day.”
So is it pure and simple burnout? Not according to Henin and not according to Larry Scott, the head of the WTA Tour, who heard the news and an explanation from Henin on Tuesday.
“This isn’t an exasperated, frustrated player who needs a break,” Scott said. “This is a life decision. I don’t think there’s any chance she’ll come back. Really.”
Best to them both.
Sphere: Related ContentBy Jill Miller Zimon at 9:39 pm May 15th, 2008 in Sports, Women
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