Word: belgians
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...sports fans, there's nothing more disappointing than to see a career end before we want it to. This week, the world learned that two soon would. Belgian tennis player Justine Henin and Swedish golfer Annika Sorenstam both announced their retirements. Sorenstam, a career Grand Slam winner, is 37. Henin, a seven-time Grand Slam champion and current world No. 1, is 25. Neither plays a sport in which youth is at a premium. So it is difficult not to feel cheated: we will never again see Henin's spry figure unleashing shots with such a variety of spins that...
...Even three lifetimes would hardly suffice for Henin's record run in professional tennis. She won a total of seven Grand Slam titles, including four of the last five French Opens. 'Juju,' as she's called by her doting Belgian public, also won 41 WTA singles titles and earned more than $19 million in prize money during her eleven-year career. She headed the WTA rankings for the 117th time this week, and had been No. 1 almost solidly since November 2006. She took the women's singles gold medal at the 2004 Olympics and was Belgium's biggest medal...
...Monday, rumors had spread that she was 're-evaluating' her career. And today, speaking at the Justine Centre named after her in Limelette, just outside the Belgian capital, Henin confirmed that after two decades in the game she'd lost her passion for playing. "It's the end of a wonderful adventure but it's something I have been thinking about for a long time," she said. "I have experienced everything I could have. I have lived completely for tennis. I am relieved and proud of what I achieved...
...years ago, she cut her father, her two brothers and her sister out of her life as she single-mindedly pursued her tennis ambitions. In post-match interviews, her icy mood appeared the same whether she won or lost. Her dour demeanor contrasted poorly with that of her fellow Belgian tennis rival Kim Clijsters, whose joie de vivre and conviviality lit up the women's circuit...
...seemingly normal person can turn out to be a sociopath. In his feature debut, In Bruges, the sociopaths turn out to be as normal as the rest of us. The movie offers up carnage, emotional torment and a racist dwarf as it follows two hit men sent to the Belgian city after a job gone bad - but, in the end, it's really just a tale of love and honor. McDonagh describes the film as the most hopeful thing he has ever written. "It's about guilt, redemption, self-sacrifice, and it could have been much bleaker," he says...