Justine Henin has to be considered in the very top echelon of elite players. And the relatively limited time that her in form play ends up representing does not tarnish that.

Little Mo Connolly had a similar run of successes for an equally short time (1951-1954) where she racked up nine Grand Slam singles titles and a whole lot of respect through history; in her case she was done by 19. These days it takes a little longer to reach full stride and maturity, so Henin came to full steam at an older age, but can claim a comparable run from 2003-2007.

Bjorn Borg retired at 26, though comparative to Justine, she couldnt possibly match his impact or accomplishments. But certainly no one doubts the depth of his legacy based on that early retirement.

It seems like a similar type of burnout to Borg though, in that the central driving motivation was something deep inside, and not as much perhaps simply about tennis. The competition over that inner force had been won; whatever she was fighting, in a sense, had already come over to her side of the net. So the match was over and now she bravely goes into a new unknown; its very poetic.

Now whether Justine — like Borg, like Martina Hingis, even most recently in how Lindsay Davenport came back —  ends up needing some solace, some self-definition, by returning to the game and re-investigating all that tennis brought to her, who knows? Hard to imagine anyone with that much TALENT for something, suddenly and forever giving up what brought them so much joy. Because no one plays THAT well and doesn't enjoy it. The gods are notoriously finicky about who they drop that much genius on. And Justine got plenty.

As for her game, purely — I will admit there were moments when I had to say, she has some of the best of Martina Navratilova and some of the best of Chris Evert. It is hard to ignore her intelligence, patience, and subtlety...and yet her aggression, grace of movement, and agility. She is every bit both the athlete and the poker player.

In a timeless world, I don't know that I would pick her on a good day against Evert on one of those beautific clay courts, but I can think of few that Chris would have liked to play less than Justine Henin! She had some parts Evonne Goolagong (unpredictable shot selection and movement) and some parts Tracy Austin (the "little brat but tough as nails" part). It is only those taunting allez's that would have ensured Evert purse the lip to temperatures below zero, and freeze out the dodgy sprite.

But basically, to think of her already retiring is just...almost beyond words... like losing one of the most worthwhile role-models for the aesthetics of the sport that we still had left. That, to me, is the biggest debit in the whole deal.

I already miss her.