Justin Henin will be honored by a musical dedicated to her life and the Belgian tennis champion will make a brief appearance in the show which will premier next year at Henin's tennis academy in Limelette near Brussels. Actors in the musical will mostly be children.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion retired in 2008 while still on top of the WTA rankings, but returned at the beginning of 2010 to experience the taste of competitiveness and winning again. She had a great comeback season, but later it was marred by injury and she retired for the second and final time in January 2011 because of problems with her right elbow. (source: AFP, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Justine Henin's second career came to an end, but not because she wanted to pursue other things – the Belgian had an elbow injury which cut her tennis plans short and now she is calling her state mourning.

Here’s how Henin is feeling right now:

I regard ending my career more like a sentence that's been handed down than a decision I've made. The will is there, but physically I can't [carry on]. Now I have to mourn the end of my career.

And she further explains the serious nature of her injury:

I've had to deal with a lot of injuries throughout my career but this time, at 29, I just can't go on. You have to be reasonable about things. When I came back from Australia, I had consultations with three different doctors. It got to the point that I needed 10 minutes in the morning just to get my elbow functional. The ligament wasn't solid enough to handle the intensity of the game. I'm going to miss all the great feelings you have as a professional tennis player. I hope I'll pick the racquet up again one day, but more than anything I want to live a normal life.

Earlier this month, Henin was in Antwerp, alongside Kim Clijsters, Els Callens, and Laurence Courtois, to receive a Fed Cup trophy won in Madrid ten years ago. There was a standing ovation by 10,000 spectators, and the seven-time Grand Slam champion expressed how she was going through a difficult period, missing tennis. (photo: Ralf Reinecke, sources: BBC, Henin's official website)

As our reader Brenda from Argentina asked for my overview of the 2011 Australian Open tennis fashion, here it is – a little bit of every brand, a little bit of good and bad.

Let's not save the best for the last. Let's start with by far the biggest fashion attention-grabber of the tournament – Venus Williams. The American played three matches (actually two, but she started her third one) and showcased the same number of outfits. The following one is the unofficial ugliest tennis outfit of the decade.

Venus, a graduate in fashion design and the person behind clothing line EleVen, made the outfits herself.

Believe it or not, Venus' dresses, or whatever they can be called, have gained a fan base. Whoever likes Venus' latest EleVen dresses, please leave a comment! I'm sure the world would love to hear your reasoning.

I'd like to continue with Nadia Petrova, the representative of Ellesse. Petrova has also had some colorful and imaginative styles (remember her US Open 2010 outfit that had stripes of all the possible colors?). There might be sound logic behind Petrova's support of EleVen.

Another fashion favorite is always Aravane Rezai. Even though this time her family drama attracted more attention than her dress, the Frenchwoman stayed faithful to the touch of crazy uniqueness. Although, she definitely can do better!

Let's move on to adidas – plenty of it. Read more »

Only a year after her comeback, Justine Henin announced her second retirement, once again out of the blue, although not as surprising as last time. The main reason for the Belgian's retirement No.2 is her right elbow injury, which has troubled her since her fall during the match against Kim Clijsters in the fourth round of Wimbledon 2010, and it's been further damaged during the Australian Open.

In the period between June 2010 and January 2011, Henin didn't play competitive tennis, except for the mixed doubles event, the Hopman Cup in Australia, where she reached the final. At the 2011 Australian Open, Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated her in the third round (Henin's earliest Grand Slam exit since 2005).

Here's a short extract from Henin's official statement (thanks, Migi, for sharing it with me!):

After my crash at Wimbledon in June, I knew it would be difficult to come back. But I had decided to keep playing and to give everything to overcome the injury. In these recent months I have rarely been spared from the pain, those last months were very hard. Time has passed, and the doubts have grown, and only return to the courts would give me answers. Not the answer I was hoping for… unfortunately. I suffered a lot the last week and every day gave me more and more pain, but I believed that my will would take the upper hand. Today, the examinations are clearly and and the doctors formally, my elbow is too fragile and hurt so that my passion and my profession at high level cannot continue to exist.

So unlike last time, when Henin's reasons for retirement were mostly in her head, she wanted to dedicate her life to other things and not only tennis, this time it's purely physical. Note: at the moment of her first retirement Henin was ranked No.1, now she's  No.13. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Seven-time Grand Slam champion Justine Henin had been playing the Australian Open final three times in her last four appearances, including last year when the Belgian reached the championship match on her comeback, but this year Svetlana Kuznetsova stopped the former No.1 in the third round and handed Henin her earliest Grand Slam exit since Wimbledon 2005, with a 6-4 7-6(8) win.

Henin seemed affected by an elbow injury which prevented her from playing the second part of the 2010 season, as she made 41 unforced errors. In the second set Henin came back from a break down twice, and gave the 23rd-seeded Kuznetsova a hard time in the tiebreak, but the Russian won on her fourth match point and scored only her third victory over Henin in their 19 meetings.

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki avenged her second round loss to Dominika Cibulkova last week in Sydney, defeating the Slovakian 6-4 6-3 to advance to the fourth round. Wozniacki made equal number of winners and unforced errors (11-11), while Cibulkova outweighed her 31 winners with 41 unforced errors.

Next for Kuznetsova is Francesca Schiavone, and Wozniacki’s next opponent is unseeded Anastasija Sevastova.

As for Maria Sharapova, she screamed off a stiff challenge from Julia Goerges and won the match 4-6 6-4 6-4.

Women's Tennis Blog is back from a two-week vacation, just in time for the Australian Open. We missed a lot of action leading up to the first Grand Slam of the season, but now we'll make sure not to miss a bit of the Australian major. So let's see what happened on Day 1.

Top seed and world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, playing her first Grand Slam as a top-ranked player, won the first round against Gisela Dulko 6-3 6-4. The world No.52 Dulko scored 35 winners, but outweighed them with 38 unforced errors. Her conversion of break points was also bad – only 1 of 8.

Wozniacki’s opponent in the second round will be Vania King, who defeated Tamira Paszek to advance. Wozniacki and King have played each other only once so far, last year at Indian Wells, but it was an absolute battle as Wozniacki rallied from 4-1 deficit in the third set to get past her first match of the tournament.

Fourth seed Venus Williams is playing for the first time since the 2010 US Open semifinals and warming up is not an issue for her as in her opening match against Sara Errani she had 33 winners against 18 unforced errors, hit 8 aces and won 15 of 20 points at the net. Final score: 6-3 6-2.

Maria Sharapova, sporting her new Nike Oz Open Ace Dress with adjustable straps, started her match against Tamarine Tanasugarn nervously, as last year she also played the first round on Rod Laver Arena and lost to Maria Kirilenko badly. The 14th-seeded Sharapova didn’t let the history repeat, and although she lost her opening game to love, she beat Tanasugarn 6-1 6-3.

Another big name, Justine Henin, also advanced, but only after digging deep against always-tricky Sania Mirza. Seed No.11 Henin eventually managed to take control and win 5-7 6-3 6-1.

Many more seeds are also through: Yanina Wickmayer, Francesca Schiavone, Li Na, Victoria Azarenka, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Andrea Petkovic, Marion Bartoli, Dominika Cibulkova, Tsvetana Pironkova, and Kaia Kanepi. Daniela Hantuchova and Aravane Rezai suffered upsets – Rezai to Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, and Hantuchova to Regina Kulikova. (photos via WTA Tour and Nike)

It may take a little bit more time for Justine Henin's official website to load initially, but when the homepage opens you see a nice, modern and sleek design, which manages to look attractive while not compromising the usability. Another great thing about www.justine-henin.be is that it is unique and completely different from all the other websites of women's tennis players.

There are features that are a must, such as news, calendar, biography and a photo gallery, but there is also fanzone (where you can subscribe to the news about Justine) and a guestbook where fans can leave their messages.

The website has versions in English, French and Dutch.

All in all, I really like Justine's official page, because it is a perfect blend of informative and user-friendly website, accompanied by contemporary design.

The 2011 season has just started and we're already thinking about the year-end rankings. Our friend John Bolan used a number of indicators to calculate how the Top 10 will look at the end of 2011. Isn't this a perfect time to get playful and test our projection abilities?

My friends and I play a game each year before the new tennis season begins: "Name the Top 10 players in order at the end of the year". We all have favorites, but I try to use a little logic in the picks.

First, see where the players finished this year. Then think about which good players have been injured for long periods during 2010. Finally, consider how many points players have to lose. Players with many points now must play better than players with fewer points to retain their ranking. Of course we all have personal favorites and think that different players will either rise or sink in the rankings.

My pick for number 1, Victoria Azarenka, has a combination of all the above factors – she has been injured, has fewer points to lose than anyone else in the Top 10, and is definitely a rising young star. Number 2, Justine Henin, and number 3, Maria Sharapova, also fit in the same mold.

One can’t forget to rank the Top 3 players from 2010. Kim Clijsters, Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Zvonareva are my next 3 picks. Although they have many points to subtract, they are the best 3 players in 2010.

Number 7 is Yanina Wickmayer. She is young and very strong. 2011 will be her breakout year.

Dinara Safina has very few points to lose, has been injured all 2010 and has more to prove than any other player. She will be back in the Top 10. Dinara is also my pick for a comeback player of the year 2011.

Ana Ivanovic is determined. She is working very hard.

In the last spot is Jelena Jankovic who will be steadier in 2011 and hold onto her Top 10 ranking.

There is no expectation on my part that any of you will agree with me on these picks! That is why we play the game! So use the comments and make your picks!

It will be interesting to get back to these projections when the 2011 season finishes. The time will come before we know it! (photos: Karla St John, John Bolan)

Thanks to our regular reader Maja J, we are learning about these sneak previews of adidas' WTA stars wearing their clothing for the 2011 Australian Open. We've already talked about the beautiful purple adilibria outfit Ana Ivanovic will be wearing Down Under, but now we're having the photo of the outfit on Ana herself (previously I thought it was a dress, but now I hear it's a skirt and a top), as well as the pictures of Justine Henin and Flavia Pennetta in the designs adidas prepared for them.

Justine Henin will be in more colors than usual with her new SS11 Barricade two-piece ensemble, but I have to say I prefer the less is more approach when it comes to Henin and colors. The outfit, consisting of a polo shirt and skort, will be available in two color combinations of "fresh pink", "intense green" and white.

Read more »

In an exhibition match of two Belgian superstars that took place in Antwerp, Kim Clijsters defeated Justine Henin 6-1 3-6 10-5.

Their meeting at the GDF SUEZ Diamond Games exhibition in Belgium was Henin’s first tennis match since the fourth round of Wimbledon in June, when she also played Clijsters and lost. The rest of the season Henin had to miss because of an elbow injury and her appearance in front of 14,000 fans at the Belgian exhibition was a nice test before the start of the 2011 season, which she plans to open with the Brisbane International, but only after playing the mixed doubles event in Perth. Clijsters will also begin her 2011 with an exhibition, but in Thailand, and then she will play the tournament in Sydney.

Another interesting piece of information regarding Clijsters and Henin is circulating the media – they are discussing competing at the 2012 London Olympics together, as a doubles team. Nothing is certain, but it definitely is a possibility. (source: ESPN Star, photo: Twenty90seven)