Justine Henin Retires

I think Favre’s attitude is catching on.

At 25, after half a year of seeking to rekindle that flame, the seven-time major champion finally accepted that it was out forever, announcing her decision Wednesday to leave the sport as the No. 1 player in the world.

“I always based everything on this motivation, this flame that was in me. And once I lost that, I lost many, many things,” Henin said during a farewell news conference which had far more smiles than tears.

Her departure was as abrupt to the rest of the world as it seemed inevitable to her.

The Belgian won 10 tournaments last year, including the last two of seven majors. But since beating Maria Sharapova in the longest three-set final in the history of the Sony Ericsson Championships, it took something out of her that never came back.

She started to find it an ever bigger chore to pack bags. Her legs felt heavy when she should have been dancing in the backcourt, ready to turn another backhand into a winner.