Links, Henin, Etc…
Before I give you my thoughts on Henin, remember that it is not my job to necessarily report the news, but simply give my opinions on it. Actually, since this is my blog, I can do pretty much whatever I want. And today, I’m going to give you my opinion on why Justine Henin retired. I think she is simply put, soft. Soft can mean so many things depending on the context. Chris Webber, for example, was a soft NBA player because even though he was usually the best player on his team, he would never take the big shot in crunch time. Tons of NFL wide receivers are soft because they are scared to catch a pass up the middle.
I think Justine is soft because at the age of 25, she doesn’t feel like working hard anymore. She has been playing poorly the first half of 2008, can feel the field catching up to her, and simply doesn’t feel like putting in the effort to stay ahead of the game. Forgive me, I don’t think going out “on top,” is what makes an athlete a champion. I mean, I was top 5 in New England in the 12’s when I could’ve quit – instead I bottomed out when I was riding the bench on my college team, and now I’m the two time defending Jeff Stone Doubles Champion. In all seriousness, just compare Henin to Federer- relatively similar situations – Federer has struggled and been threatened (on surfaces other than clay) for the first time in seemingly forever, but instead of retiring he hired a new coach, stepped up his game and now seems again a threat for the next three grand slams. Anyway, I’m getting angry as I write…so for now here are some links.
Two ESPN articles on Henin, one from Garber, and one from Ford.
List of other early retirees. Sorry Ms. Holdsclaw, while you were a tremendous player at Tennessee, I bet very few sports fans could name what WNBA team you played for, and therefore I don’t think you belong on this list.
Mailbag from Wertheim, who links to his own Henin article within.
Gimelstob has some high praise for Henin.
Today’s results from Hamburg & Rome.
Peter Bodo’s thoughts on Henin.