Justine Henin, top-ranked women’s tennis player, has shocked the world by announcing her retirement on Wednesday. Why did this come up so suddenly? The Belgian had mentioned she considered retirement and gave a time frame of two to five years, but who would have expected the world No.1 to retire just ten days after those statements.

Ok, this year hasn’t been so good for Henin, at least not by her standards, but it was far from being lost. I mean, she suffered some early losses and upsets, but she was still the best player out there in the majority of cases.

Anyway, I can’t say I'm stunned because I still can't believe the news, it hasn't reached my reason yet that Justine Henin has retired. Read more »

World No.1 Justine Henin has pulled out of the next week's Internazionali BNL d'Italia due to fatigue, and the WTA Tour said she will be fined $20,000 for the late withdrawal.

Before the ongoing Qatar Telecom German Open, Henin took a month off with a knee injury. She had hoped to restore her confidence in Berlin in time for the French Open, which she has won four times. But that didn't happen.

Henin has struggled for form all year. On Thursday, the Belgian lost to Dinara Safina in the third round of the Qatar Telecom German Open. Last month, Henin was beaten by Serena Williams at the Sony Ericsson Open with the worst score for a No. 1 player in nine years, 6-2 6-0. Also, Maria Sharapova defeated her in straight sets at the Australian Open. (via CBS Sports, photo: Getty Images)

Justine Henin lost early on her favorite surface. The world number one was defeated by Dinara Safina, ranked 17th, in the Qatar Telecom German Open third round. Final score: 5-7 6-3 6-1.

A three-times winner in Berlin and four-times French Open champion, Henin suffered her first loss on clay since losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the Berlin semifinals last year.

This defeat also means that Henin didn’t start her clay season and French Open defense as she had planned.

"This week was important, not only in terms of the French Open, but also in terms of getting some confidence back," said the Belgian.

"I will take a few days off, focus on Rome and we will see what happens now in the next few weeks."

Henin has won all five previous meetings against Safina, but this time she had problems with her serve and was broken eight times.

BTW: Justine has already started cutting back her schedule and is planning for a retirement she said could come in the next two to five years. (via BBC)

World No.1 Justine Henin surprised passers-by at the Grand Place Square in Brussels in her home Belgium. On Monday afternoon Justine approached people that gathered at the square and chose some of them to play tennis with her.

Sebastien, a tourist from Montreal, six-year-old Eléonore, on an excursion in Brussels, Emilie, a student, and Barnabe, an office worker, were lucky to get the opportunity to play with the highest-ranked women’s tennis player in the world. On Justine Henin’s official website you can read their impressions.

Women’s Tennis Blog’s readers have enjoyed our series of pictures of female tennis players when they were kids, and some readers were especially interested in seeing how world No.1 Justine Henin looked like when she was a child. Here she is!

On her website, you can find this picture on the left, and many more of Justine when she was a child and a teenager.

However there’s one photo of Justine Henin you won't find on her official website. After the cut you’ll see the childhood photo Justine’s most probably still trying to forget, or has learned to live with. Read more »

Serena Williams dominated world No.1 Justine Henin in the quarterfinal of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. Final score 6-2 6-0.

In the beginning, games were long and each one contained break points. However, eighth-seeded Williams scored at more important moments and established a 3-0 lead. Even though Henin afterwards won her service game for the first time and returned the break, her luck was short-lived. From that point on, every game up until the end of the match went into Serena’s hands!

Top-seeded Henin seemed frightened and timid, while Williams went towards her goal focused and strong. Well, who can blame Henin for being afraid. Last year she lost to Serena in the Sony Ericsson Open final, having won the first set 6-0. And that's not all. Serena has collected four titles at the Sony Ericsson Open, while Jusine's 41 career titles don't include one from the tournament in Miami. (photo via Getty Images)

Justine Henin and Serena Williams made comfortable starts with straight-sets wins in round two of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. Top-seeded Henin beat Germany’s Angelique Kerber 6-4 6-2, while eighth-seeded Williams defeated Romania’s Edina Gallovits 6-1 6-2.

Today's match in Miami was Henin’s first since the end of February when she was upset by Francesca Schiavone in Dubai quarterfinals, the tournament Henin had never been defeated at before. Henin made the one-month break in order to rest her knee and train properly. (photo via Getty Images)

World’s highest-ranked WTA player Justine Henin and her long-time coach Carlos Rodriguez have just opened a branch of their European tennis academy, called the Sixth Sense, at the Mission Inn Resort and Club in Orlando, Florida. It’s disappointing, but not surprising though, that Henin will spend very little time there, as her career is still a priority.

"How often I am going to be there is hard to say because my main concern is my career now," said Henin.

"It's really important I keep the emphasis on my tennis the next few years, but when I'm going to be in the States between tournaments for example, or before Miami, then I will be there." (source: Reuters, image via Sixth Sense)