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Post by Edna Krabappel on May 14, 2008 13:53:07 GMT -5
Will those similarities with Clijsters ever end? Kimmie was also pretty much finished after the best season of her career. I guess we should now expect Justine to get knocked up soon.
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Post by Pamela Shriver on May 14, 2008 14:05:01 GMT -5
Will those similarities with Clijsters ever end? 7 Slam titles >>>>>> 1.
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Post by Edna Krabappel on May 14, 2008 14:14:17 GMT -5
Well, apart from that little detail. It seems like yesterday that people were talking about the Belgian sisters. Now they're both gone.
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Post by sasha on May 14, 2008 14:17:50 GMT -5
I still call bullshit...
I'm sure Justine is already through most of her preparations for RG. That's where you need the motivation. Not days before the biggest stretch of the season. The timing doesn't make sense.
Unless she's just really full of herself and doesn't want to handle a possible loss at RG, and probable failure at Wimbledon again.
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Post by janie on May 14, 2008 15:05:27 GMT -5
The thrill is gone, man. Don't you listen to B. B. King? When it's over, it's over. She said she pretty much realized it after her victory over Sharapova in Madrid, but it took till now for her to believe it and go through with it.
With the fire inside her dead, we'd only get more of JH getting clobbered by MS, by SW, and by all manner of lesser gods. JH is like Graf -- she notices she feels different, figures out what it means, and then abruptly cuts out. Finis! They are unusual people, but they're a lot like each other.
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Post by GoDom on May 14, 2008 15:11:25 GMT -5
Graf didn't retire with 25 though.
Why are all these women players burned out at 25? It's just sad.
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Post by janie on May 14, 2008 15:15:29 GMT -5
The little ones are the ones who're cutting out. ESPN says the players behind JH in the rankings average 5 inches taller than her. She's a peanut fighting a bunch of butternut squashes out there, and she's plum wore herself out.
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Post by GoDom on May 14, 2008 15:26:05 GMT -5
Yeah, but only because she always tried to be the best, at all costs. It brought her 8 GS titles, which is nice. But she had to pay the price for that. I for one would have liked to see her smile on court occasionally.
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Post by janie on May 14, 2008 15:47:35 GMT -5
Not everyone can be Jankovic. Maybe smiling on court and multiple Slams are incompatible?
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Post by GoDom on May 14, 2008 16:12:34 GMT -5
Maybe. But then, I don't really see the point of having a tennis career that is bound to end prematurely at the age of 25 when there's usually no reason not to play until 30 and beyond. I'd rather have some more longevity, especially if you ENJOY playing tennis. Yes, I heard some players do enjoy it so they keep playing year after year. Maybe wasn't the case for Justine.
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Post by Edna Krabappel on May 14, 2008 16:22:25 GMT -5
But didn't we keep hearing how much Justine loves tennis? I don't know, for me it was a surprise to hear her talk about how much she wants a "normal" life and so on. And now this, she feels relieved to quit. It's weird. I think she realized she wasn't going to be ready (as in, win) for RG and Wimbledon and that she needed a longer break, and simply decided not to bother about her career anymore. Which is actually better than to take the same route as Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and start losing to everyone in sight... But gosh, I wish she had tried to turn it around.
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Post by Calico on May 14, 2008 16:24:29 GMT -5
Congratualtions to Justine Henin on a great career and on being a different kind of player in the era of power players. I give Justine credit for calling it quits when she felt like she was done. It's shocking but it's her life and career. As for why Now? I say why prolong the agony for her? For more money? No. And that's to Henin's credit.
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Post by Calico on May 14, 2008 16:27:31 GMT -5
Not everyone can be Jankovic. Maybe smiling on court and multiple Slams are incompatible? Smiling on court and winning multiple grand slam singles titles would happen for Jelena Jankovic if she had a good serve. Not a great serve just a good one. And now that Justine Henin has retired I think Jankovic's chances of winning a grand slam have increased by 10 to 20%. As have Ana Ivanovic's chances to break though and win her first grand slam.
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Post by Grarliner on May 14, 2008 16:40:39 GMT -5
An absolute bombshell. What else can you say?
Nobody has ever quit at #1. Never. Ever. The closest thing I can think of was Michael Jordan, but he wrecked that with multiple comebacks. Maybe Suzanne Lenglen? Or Mo Connelly? But an injury doesn't count, and I don't think Suzanne did, did she?
Crazily enough, as much as they've been criticized for doing it, maybe Venus and Serena's "breaks" are why they are still playing now and not on the burnout aisle like Kim, Martina and Justine.
Or there's a deeper story here ... steroids?
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Post by janie on May 14, 2008 16:51:39 GMT -5
I don't think so. Watch the JH press conference on You Tube. She looks relaxed, happy, dignified, and in control. Carlos breaks down, though, in a different You Tube video.
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Post by janie on May 14, 2008 16:53:37 GMT -5
oh, and don't go thinking that I can understand what JH is saying in her PC. My comprehension of spoken French never does get better. But watching her is pretty informative. She's clearly very happy and settled with her decision. Like Graf was!
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Post by sasha on May 14, 2008 17:05:51 GMT -5
The thrill is gone, man. Don't you listen to B. B. King? When it's over, it's over. She said she pretty much realized it after her victory over Sharapova in Madrid, but it took till now for her to believe it and go through with it. With the fire inside her dead, we'd only get more of JH getting clobbered by MS, by SW, and by all manner of lesser gods. JH is like Graf -- she notices she feels different, figures out what it means, and then abruptly cuts out. Finis! They are unusual people, but they're a lot like each other. Steffi was different because she quit 1 match after Wimbledon. She was 30. On the downside of her career. And although she said injuries weren't a reason, they probably were. If Justine up and retired 6 days after her last match because of lack of motivation... then that's just incredibly short-sighted and dumb. Skip RG if you want. Skip most of the year like Amelie did last fall. That's why I defended St. Kim when she originally said she'd skip RG last year.
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Post by Wagasi on May 14, 2008 17:12:04 GMT -5
WHAT THE FUCK
I heard this news driving home on some cheesy top 40 station. WHAT THE FUCK
Steriods would at least provide a sensible resolution. Because I can't explain retiring before your 26th birthday as world no.1 after just having finished 30 something match winning streak and already having won two titles this year. Especially since she's presumably already done her training for the whole season. Even Amelie took a "break" to figure things out but didn't just get up and leave...and Steffi quit well into the hardcourt season after she'd given her favourite tournament one last shot. This shit is bizarre. Please be roids, or pregnancy, or latent homosexuality...those things I can take.
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Post by GoDom on May 14, 2008 17:13:16 GMT -5
Steffi's body was done. I was mad at her when she withdrew from the mixed at her last Wimbledon but I really believe she was on her last legs. She said after winning RG that she wouldn't be back so it was just a matter of time anyway.
Still, those specials moments late in a career are probably the greatest and most memorable, and worth the pain. These quitters don't get that.
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Post by janie on May 14, 2008 17:26:21 GMT -5
I think she's pretty content with the special moments she has had.
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Post by R. Black on May 14, 2008 17:27:36 GMT -5
If she is pregnant, she would have said so. Roids seem very unlikely.
I think the most plausible explanation is that she's depressed, resulting from too much stress (stress of tennis matches + stress of the divorce). Or maybe she's just sick of tennis; but the timing is too weird, there's got to be something going on.
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Post by Edna Krabappel on May 14, 2008 17:38:32 GMT -5
She doesn't seem depressed in those pictures from the press conference. In fact, she looks better than ever. The roids theory might have sounded plausible had she retired immediately after the great 2007 season, but since this happened after months of suckitude I don't think so. So she already began thinking about retirement after the YEC final. Well, it would sound like her to overanalyze everything and freak out at the though of not being able to replicate the results of the last season. But I still wouldn't expect her to take the easy way out.
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Post by janie on May 14, 2008 17:53:27 GMT -5
"She had to think her way through a point -- she was a combination player,'' said ESPN analyst and former pro Mary Carillo. "There aren't many left. Most players have a couple of big cannons and they use them. She had a lot of options. She had a very big tennis vocabulary in a small body. She knew how to open up a court and how to attack it.
"People are going to say she's only 25, but when you're 25 and you've been playing small ball all your life, that's a lot. We're talking about dog years when we talk about what she needed to do and needed to feel to play well.''
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Post by lexpretend on May 14, 2008 18:38:43 GMT -5
I think the key might be that while it's a shock to us, Justine has been considering it and mulling it over for nearly half a year now. I'm hugely disappointed - not to mention very sad that I'll never see Justine play again - because of what she could have still achieved. She could have been the best player of her generation; that title's been ceded to Serena now. She could have won Wimbledon. Six-month slumps don't mean you're done. Justine surely knows all of this too, and she knows it doesn't matter to her any more. She must surely have considered that loss of motivation isn't necessarily permanent, too; but I guess feeling bored and tired of the sport is different to realising you've achieved everything you need to. I wish my favourites didn't keep retiring...Nastya, Justine and Martina all gone while the Williamses and Davenport STILL sticking around. I guess Bepa is my favourite player now
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Post by DBBN on May 14, 2008 18:48:04 GMT -5
Crazily enough, as much as they've been criticized for doing it, maybe Venus and Serena's "breaks" are why they are still playing now and not on the burnout aisle like Kim, Martina and Justine. You know...word. And gross.
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Post by lexpretend on May 14, 2008 18:51:49 GMT -5
The Williamses are probably going to become female Agassis now.
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Post by Wagasi on May 14, 2008 21:39:40 GMT -5
Reading the players' comments it's apparent that it was a huge shock for all. Something really must be up.
Well Bepa better not quit, get injured or slump now. I don't want to depend on scrounging for occasional flourishes by the Cornets and A-Rads of the world for entertainment on my TV.
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Post by Traveling Man on May 15, 2008 11:08:19 GMT -5
As already mentioned, Justine retiring is a shock, but she seemed so content and happy (and attractive!) in the press conference pictures, that I couldn't help but feel happy for her. The weight she's been carrying on her shoulders (mother's death, family estrangement, divorce, tennis pressures) finally all seems to have been lifted. She finally seems at peace with herself. And I couldn't be happier for her.
As for her legacy, she's certainly left a mark on the game. If for no other reason, then that she retired as the world number one, reigning RG champ, US Open champ, YEC champ. I don't think anyone's ever going to retire at such a high. Even if you didn't like her, you couldn't help but respect her. The work she put into transforming herself from a talented player to one of the greats of the modern era - something Hingis never managed - was remarkable and admirable.
I think the mindless speculation is bullshit. She's led a very difficult life, besides the usual rigors that come with being a professional tennis player, and from a very young age. Now, she finally gets to be free of all the pressures she carried with her for the last decade and a half. I wish her all the best and am thankful that I got to see her play in person.
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Post by Grarliner on May 16, 2008 1:34:07 GMT -5
She doesn't seem depressed in those pictures from the press conference. In fact, she looks better than ever. The roids theory might have sounded plausible had she retired immediately after the great 2007 season, but since this happened after months of suckitude I don't think so. Not really. The results of tests only become known to all parties months after they were taken. But look, this is just speculation, and malicious speculation at that. But it just seems too bizarre ...
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Post by Grarliner on May 16, 2008 1:36:24 GMT -5
I'm hugely disappointed - not to mention very sad that I'll never see Justine play again - because of what she could have still achieved. She could have been the best player of her generation; that title's been ceded to Serena now. This is what has been running through my mind too. It might have turned out to be Serena anyway, but now we will never really know how it might have all shaken out.
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