Unacceptable.

Another great female tennis play is burnt out. Is this somehow a backhanded after-effect of punishing the women for wanting equal prize money at the Grand Slams? The WTA makes the women play so much more over the course of a year than the ATP does the men. We end up with injuries taking out Kim Clijsters and the Williams sisters. No way should Hingis have already retired. It just boggles my mind that in what should be the golden age of women's tennis, we're getting sad draws at major events because the women are being pressured to play too much, or too little in some cases because outside promoters get their hands on them as sexpots and non-tennis pros. The Williams' "fashion" venture isn't, and Sharapova being the highest paid female athlete--despite not being number one--is just egregious. And what do we get for it? A couple years of decent playing out of each player. The Grand Slams have recently been spread out among the top female players, not because the field is so competitive as it has the potential to be, but because too many can't or don't compete.

Henin is my favorite female player. Her backhand is friggin' beautiful. Her 2003(?) semi-final match against Jennifer Capriati at the U.S. Open is quite possibly my favorite tennis match of all time. So yeah, I'm personally upset that at 25, she's leaving the scene. Hence the rant, and here it endeth.