After Atalanta

Justine Henin has announcement her retirement--again . Losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova last week in Melbourne and nursing an elbow injury she has had since Wimbledon last summer was apparently enough to make Henin reconsider this unretirement. I've never been a huge fan of Henin's, but her comeback was a little bit interesting--if only momentarily. I thought it--along with the comebacks of Clijsters, Hingis, and Davenport (with their respective and varying levels of success)--spoke more to the issues with the tour and women and professional sports more generally. What will I remember about Henin? The first time I saw her. US Open playing Anna Kournikova, whom she beat. She wore Le Coq Sportif back then (I have this weird memory for sports fashion) and had on a hat (which she continued to sport throughout her career). She was not as powerful and polished back then. But the one-handed backhand stuck out. The French Open hand incident against Serena Williams--which I think the press...

American softball player Jennie Finch announced her retirement from softball last week. I have to say, I'm not too sad about this. I was never a fan of the pretty face version of softball she--and others--were promoting. Though it will be a real loss for the game as all those men who tuned in and came out for games to see Finch and her "toothpaste commercial" smile will now abandon the game as it loses its sexiest star. Oh wait...sex appeal doesn't sell women's sports...never mind. Maybe the loss of Finch will make the game a little less heterosexual? People are hoping that Finch will stay involved in the fight to get softball back into the Olympics, thinking, I would presume, that her "pretty face" will have some kind of wooing effect on the male-dominated IOC. Let's note that softball didn't get cut from the Olympic roster because the players were ugly. It got too closely associated with baseball and did not--allegedly--have enough of an intern...

You know, Lorena Ochoa, I went to bat for you . When that idiot commentator asked whether you were thinking retirement when you announced your engagement last summer, I noted that no man would ever be asked that question. And your response that you would continue to play made my rant seem justified. So, really? You're retiring ? At age 28? To concentrate on your family duties and charitable work? I mean, I think you're good and all, and I know your new new husband, like, owns an airline and you probably don't need the money, but your first name is not Annika. I mean, if you want to pull a Kim Clijsters, I would be fine with that, but I am not so sure I can be as supportive of that comeback. I do have to thank you, though, for getting me out of this blogging slump I have been in. I was just whining about the lack of blog-worthy sport news when I casually glanced and Yahoo! sports and there you were! Ochoa will hold a press conference Friday to share more details about this ...

Amelie Mauresmo announced her retirement today, shedding tears in the process. I think we need to do some mutual comforting. Was sad I didn't get to see her play in the 2009 French Open when I was there but glad I had the opportunity to see her in both New Haven and New York.

So of course the tennis world is all atwitter with Justine Henin's not-so-surprising announcement last week that she would be returning to tennis. And so begins an even more fervent discussion of the player sabbatical or the non-retirement or the mental break or the recharge--whatever you want to call it. It's an important discussion to have given the recognized intensity of the sport. (Both the men's and women's tour are making concerted efforts to reduce the playing schedules to offer more down time to players.) But the concept of the sabbatical--an official one--is not one on the table at either tour's next organizational meeting apparently. This means that the current practice of retiring and staging a comeback remains the only option for players who need a break. Pam Shriver finds it wrong--of course. She told USA Today : I'm tired of them announcing retirement when what they are really doing is leaving the tour for a period of time. Well, Pammy, what choic...

Even though she didn't win the European Tour's Dubai Ladies Masters ( another women's sporting event in Dubai--this is very interesting. What is it about Dubai?) Annika Sorenstam ended her competitive career with a very nice putt for birdie on the 18th last weekend. I missed all but the highlights of Sorenstam's day because I tuned in only in time to see the last groups finish the last few holes. But the Golf Channel had a little Annika segment during their news show right after the coverage ended. And, for once, I was glad that women's sports get the short shrift from the media. Because the half hour news show which provides scores, highlights, etc. did the Annika segment first, which meant I did not have to wait around through all the boring stuff like the little tiff between Tiger Woods's caddy and someone else whose name I don't remember (Phil Mickelson's maybe) caddy. (Good reminder that the term "drama" should not just be applied to wome...

So RP calls this afternoon and says, "have you heard the BIG tennis news?" And I say "no, when did it break?" (I had been away from my computer for a few hours). But no, it was hours and hours ago that Justine Henin announced her immediate retirement . R says, well they say she's been in a slump. Yeah, a slump that any other player would kill for. She goes out on top--the only woman to ever retire in the #1 position. As much as I thought Henin subverted some of the dominant paradigms of the game, and as much as I liked her backhand, and as much as I like saying that I remember her when she was just starting to become something other than an unknown (I saw her upset Kournikova at the US Open on Arthur Ashe many years ago when she was still wearing Le Coq Sportif*), I was never really a true fan. I never thought she was a true sportswoman and I think the whole hand up not ready yet signal at Roland Garros against Serena Williams incident really tainted her in my m...