OMG :o :(

From her website:

Hello Everyone,

I need to address to you very important news, unfortunately it's not good news. I have to withdraw from the Australian tournaments for personal family reasons. A new calender schedule will be made once I have decided, and I will return to you.

I want to thank you in advance for respecting my choices, and my private life.

Justine

http://www.henin-hardenne.be/bin/index.asp?lang=en

Jesus Christ :o

For a moment i thought she might be pregnant or something, but maybe a family member is ill or something?

The most unlikeliest person we thought would pull out though :o

Thats scandolous from her to say the least!

This really depressed me when I read this, this morning.

Just when it looked like she was hitting best form again, reaching number 1, winning the YEC (in stunning fashion in the semi's & final) and now this!

Ever since she started 2004 in incredible fashion it's been a rollercoaster ride - I feel I know now what it's like for all the Williams fans out there!

She'll lose the number 1 spot after the open as well (probably to Sharapova :rolleyes: ) and will struggle to get it back this year.

Can't believe i'm going all the way to Melbourne and won't get to see any of my top 3 faves (Henin, Pierce & Myskina)!

Oh well - hopefully whatever the problem is she'll be be back soon.

What do you consider scandalous about it? That's she's withdrawn? Or that she's withdrawn without feeling obliged to expose the details of whatever family issues she has going on?

Whatever it is it's very sudden. Only a few days ago there was an entry on her website talking about her training plans in Oz!

Illness would seem to be the obvious explanation. Maybe we'll find out further down the line.

It is very dissapointing, you really want all the big names there for the Slam, especially the world number 1. I wish her the best in whatever the circumstances.

If clijsters or Sharapova wins now, i'll scream :rolleyes: roflmao

The fact that she always pulls these shockers out of a hat like a magician.She is entitled to a personal life and owes no one any explanations,but she is relentless with what she says and what she does in sudden bursts of shock.We here in South Africa use the word scandolous as term for either shocking or disgisting but not as a term used for gossip.Its kinda like slang.So apologies if it was interpreted the wrong way!

Please not Clijsters or Sharapova :angry:

I'm really hoping one of the youngsters will win this now.

Would love Jankovic, Ivanovic, Chakvetadze, Golovin, Peer etc to do something special here.

I'll also be supporting Kuznetsova, Hingis & Mauresmo I reckon.

Clijsters in her stupid retirement year, god she's milked that :rolleyes: roflmao

Kuznetsova could be a real threat in oZ, quite a good surface for her, especially if the court becomes slow and sticky, a very kuzy-esque surface :)

I'm just hoping venus turns up before i can expect anything :lol:

Hingis must be regarded as a favourite now surely? :shrug:

JHH :wacko: :cry:

Another slam for Maria ... *sigh*

tell me about it :rolleyes:

erhm, she was before B)

I dunno i've got to lean towards Sharapova here, especially if the court is playing faster as reports have suggested.

Plus Melbourne isn't as hot as usual at the moment so if that continues the courts shouldn't slow down as much as they usually do.

This does really improve Hingis's chances though. Got to put her up there among the favourites with Sharapova & Mauresmo now really.

Sorry DL i've just realised you said Hingis was one of the favourites rather than the favourite which I do agree with.

The rumour is that it's down to severe marital problems.

Whatever it is it's such a shame for her.

a real shame.

The Belgian press are reporting a divorce from Pierre-Yves :o

has she seen one pink shirt too often :o roflmao

Where will Pierre get all his blouses from now roflmao

Congratulations Maria on your 3rd slam :rolleyes:

Im very disappointed about this actually! I was looking forward to seeing how Justine would cope being number one seed again, I also was looking forward to seeing if she could maintain her excellent end of season form.

Hope isnt lost SW19, we still got serena and venus playing with one hand is better than nothing :unsure: roflmao

Divorce settlements? roflmao

Im not too confident about Serena after hearing she lost to Venus on the McDonalds Tour :o roflmao

Still Venus can't do any worse than last year and Serena hasn't pulled out of Hobart yet :D

*crosses fingers and hopes he hasn't jinxed it* :pray:

Yeah up a set and 4-1 against Venus and choked :blink: roflmao

Even as a Venus fan, knew it was more Serena's doing :lol:

I'm sure Venus could beat Pin with a slice :D roflmao

Im sure she could beat Camille Pin blind folded roflmao

We can knock Camille ' Groundstrokes soft as bog roll' Pin anymore, she's the Auckland semis dont you know! roflmao

Dear God! How things have deteriorated in recent times, Amelie being number one for most of last year and now Pin in a semi :rolleyes: roflmao

Sharapova winning a slam.............. roflmao

Its worrying times on the tour isnt it roflmao

O ye, that was the worst part roflmao

I cant believe the threads on JHH on WTAW :lol:

' Will jUstine Henin be as good as Justine Henin-Hardenne'

roflmao

They sad on their aren't they roflmao

A lot of people just call her Justine Henin anyway :lol:

actually, her name is still Justine Henin, because Belgian law doesn't allow you to have your husband's name.

erhm, haven't you seen the results from gold coast? As if it's Sharapova's title :rolleyes:

Yeah cos the Gold Coast winner always goes onto win the open don't they :rolleyes:

Now that she's beaten Bammer, Pratt & Castano I can't see how Hingis can be stopped in Melbourne!

god, you are too serious. I meant it as there are other contenders for the title, not just sharapova, and anyway the other day, everyone said Henin was going to win it, now it's 'definately Sharapova'. Besides, Hingis is winning games like 6-0 6-1 against nobodies, whereas Sharapova is winning 7-5 6-4 against nobodies, so who looks in better form? :rolleyes:

Shara is playing in an exhibition though :P She's hardly giving 100% ;)

C'mon Dav - clearly Sharapova struggling slightly in one exhibition match makes it clear she has no chance at the open ;)


I was impressed with Hinigs's reaction to Justine pulling out. Better than Sharapova's which boiled down to - you can't expect all the top players to be in every slam!.

"I only heard it before I went on court and I'm like: 'Wow'," Hingis said after her 6-3, 6-1 quarter-final victory over Colombia's Catalina Castano in the Mondial Australian Women's hardcourts titles.

"I had to play my match and concentrate on that.

"She will be missing as last year's finalist. For whatever reasons it is, I like her a lot. She is good for tennis. I hope she is back soon."

That was nice of Martina :D She's getting mellow in her old age :lol:

Better that she pulls out now, than part way through the final again.