[Sammo]

You know we all had that impression of her that she was unbeatable and great and all of that and when she came back she kind of prove that she was... how to say it... mortal

[edificio]

Yes, because it damaged her elbow, and now she can't play.

She was never unbeatable anyway.

[Sammo]

We all had the unbeatable impression after the 2007 season was over.

[faboozadoo15]

This woman totally confuses me. To just retire twice out of the blue when near the top of the game is just ridiculous.

[Jane Lane]

The elbow is what screwed up the whole thing really.

[alex.2812]

She kind of screw it when she retired the first time I think.
As soon as she didn't feel unbeatable anymore, she decided to retire. This is, in my opinion, a lack of perseverance and courage and it isn't worthy of a champion like Henin.

[Petkorazzi]

^ Ditto. What harmed her career was the first retirement. She was going through a rough patch but there was absolutely no reason to suggest that she wouldn't go back to her 2007 level if she put the effort in.. but instead, she retired.

[faboozadoo15]

I think there's more to it than meets the eye. Burnout, personal problems, etc.

[Betten]

An Australian Open final, a clay and a grass title, and one more final are more than what most players could hope to accomplish in their entire career. But there's no doubt that her comeback was somewhat disappointing, mostly due to it being cut short by that elbow.

[faboozadoo15]

What I didnt like about her comeback was how hyper aggressive she was.

Martina was way too defensive in her comeback.

[dsanders06]

Originally Posted by MrBrightside.

^ Ditto. What harmed her career was the first retirement. She was going through a rough patch but there was absolutely no reason to suggest that she wouldn't go back to her 2007 level if she put the effort in.. but instead, she retired.

Agreed... I just don't get what the hell she was thinking when she retired the first time. It's understandable that she'd have been feeling burnt out, but why couldn't she have just taken an "indefinite break" and waited to see if her appetite for the game eventually came back? (which of course it did, and pretty quickly too... I get the impression that she was already planning to come back long before she announced it, but didn't want to announce it until a decent amount of time had passed to save some face)

Her second retirement was almost equally inexplicable imo. Her reasons didn't seem to make any sense. Why exactly couldn't she have had elbow surgery?

Tbh I still get the impression that we haven't quite seen the last of her, and I really do think she's going to make another comeback within the next couple of years... but she'll have wasted so much of her physical prime years by then.

[thrust]

Originally Posted by faboozadoo15

What I didnt like about her comeback was how hyper aggressive she was.

Martina was way too defensive in her comeback.

I agree that Justine was much too aggressive on her return, especially on return of serve.

[GAGAlady]

No it isn't . Any comeback u make takes effort guts and work ethic. Her success back was incredible and while it was short lived she managed to
Make the finals of a slam... That's not easy. She should be commended for trying and regardless of of u like her or not she did some great things and shes still a champion.

[justineheninfan]

Not really. First of all nobody ever thought she was unbeatable, other than close to unbeatable for one year maybe (2007) and nearly unbeatable on clay. Any aura of being unbeatable she had was already gone by early 2008, so ruining that was not important in her comeback. Everyone who knows the game also knows her failure to return to her previous success had absolutely nothing to do with the field. She dominated or atleast was #1 against much stronger fields in 2003-2004 and 2006-2007, when the fields were 5x stronger than the clown field where Wozniacki is #1. She simply wasnt able to regain anywhere close to her previous form after several years retired despite her best efforts, but that doesnt take anything away from the player she was for many years, and her excellent career.

[justineheninfan]

I honestly think her whole comeback would have worked out differently had she won that Australian Open final with Serena. Maybe replay one of those break poins in the 3rd set and everything changes. I think at first she viewed that as a good start in her comeback. However that loss, coupled with a couple even closer losses to Kim on hard courts, in the tune up final, and then in the Miami semis which was an event she was seeking to win for the first time, hurt his confidence some. It also created a sense of anxiety, since even though the clay court season was where she was supposed to shine and run roughshed over everyone, I think a part of her had been expecting to have a big win by then and she didnt have it yet, so it put even more pressure on her to win the French Open. Then when that didnt happen, and Wimbledon was coming up which was her stated main objective for her return, she just didnt feel confident anymore at that point, and was trying to press things which led to her career ending injury at Wimbledon.

I think if she had won the Australian Open final she probably would have won Miami and the French Open too. Her draw at Wimbledon would have been different so the fateful fall vs Clijsters wouldnt have happened (although no way was she was winning that Wimbledon IMO). I have no idea if she would have won anything significant after Roland Garros, but she probably would have already done enough to easily end 2010 at #1 over the likes of Wozniacki, and still been playing in 2011 healthy and relatively confident.

Her overall game plan was wrong as well though. She tried to become a combination of all out ballbasher and all out attacker which were things that were melded into her overall game, but not the entire framework when she was playing her best and her most successful. If she had a better game plan she would have also done alot better.