JUSTINE HENIN

On the day when defending champion Roger Federer, elegant as ever in white shirt and yellow sweatband, was beaten in the semi-final of the Australian Open tennis tournament, spare a thought for Justine Henin. The diminutive Belgian, a winner of 7 Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal, has been forced to retire from the game at the age of 28 owing to a persistent elbow injury.

This is Henin's second retirement, after she left the game in May 2008 while ranked number one in the world. She came back at the beginning of 2010, not least in order to win Wimbledon, the one major title she had never won. However, during a fourth round loss at the tournament last summer to her great Belgian rival Kim Clijsters, she slipped on the grass, and tore a ligament in her elbow. It is that injury which has now caused her to quit for good.

In the field of female tennis players, 99% of whom play with two-handed backhands, her one-handed backhand stood out for both its effectiveness and beauty. John McEnroe once described it as the best backhand in either the women's or the men's game. Will we ever see its like again?

Walter Blotscher