For tennis fans, May 14 is a special day, on May 14, 2008, Belgian player Andrea Heinen, who was then the number one in the women's world ranking, held a press conference in his native Belgium to officially announce his retirement from professional tennis. At the press conference, Haining burst into tears, although he seemed to walk freely, but the tears still showed his reluctance.
Born in 1982, Haining entered professional tennis in 1999 and broke into the world's top 100 in the same year, and has steadily risen in the ranking since then. In the 2001 season, the 19-year-old Henin reached the women's singles final of the Grand Slam for the first time at Wimbledon, but lost to Dawei; in 2003, she won her first Grand Slam singles title at the French Open, won the US Open the same year, and on October 20, she reached the world number one for the first time, becoming the first year-end No.1 in Belgian history. Over the next two years, Henin suffered injuries and suffered a decline in results, but still regained the French Open title in 2005. In 2006, Henin reached all four Grand Slam finals and defended the French Open, and the Wimbledon final lost to Maurice Mo again. The 2007 season was the most glorious year of Haining's career, winning nine singles titles, including the French Open and the US Open, and winning 63-4 in the season, with a winning percentage of 94.03%. However, she abruptly announced her retirement after losing to Safina at the 2008 Clay Tournament in Berlin, becoming the first player in tennis history to retire as No.1.
In 2007, Haining won three consecutive titles at the French Open
For her sudden retirement, Haining said that she had lost her passion for tennis, but after more than a year, she admitted that she had to choose to leave because of her physical problems. What makes Haining leave the professional tennis world is a disease with a romantic name - "kissing disease", the medical name of "kissing disease" is "mononucleosis", the main symptoms of which are fever, sore throat, accompanied by lymphadenopathy, tonsil enlargement, rash, and the disease period such as strenuous exercise, it is easy to lead to spleen rupture, and the aggravation of viral infections can also lead to meningitis, myocarditis and other conditions. Because it is highly contagious and often transmitted through kissing, it is jokingly called "kissing disease". In terms of contagiousness and transmission routes, "kissing disease" is somewhat similar to the new crown virus that is spreading around the world today.
In 2004, Haining won the Athens Olympic tennis women's singles title
In fact, in the world sports world, there are not a few stars with "kissing disease", Australia's 1500-meter swimming star Hackett was found to have the disease during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games; Snooker star O'Sullivan was also a victim, and even once said that he was considering retirement; Federer also missed the season preparation because of "kissing disease" in early 2008, and the Swiss king was not in the state that year. In September 2008, Sun Yue, who played for the Los Angeles Lakers, was also diagnosed because the disease was contagious, and the Lakers did not hesitate to suspend him indefinitely. It can be seen that although it does not pose a threat to the lives of athletes as other diseases, it has a huge impact on the careers of athletes.
In contrast, "kissing disease" is more common in tennis, the main reasons are three points: first, the annual season cycle of tennis professional players is more than ten months, the long period of competition plus the world rushing around, the possibility of exposure to the virus has increased greatly; second, professional players also have to carry out physical fitness and technical and tactical training that is unimaginable to ordinary people, and the extreme fatigue of the body leads to a decline in immunity; third, professional players want to play across continents uninterruptedly, because of the lack of sleep due to jet lag, which will also weaken the resistance of athletes to the virus.
Ancic retired at the age of 26 due to "kissing disease".
It is worth mentioning that after a year and a half away from professional tennis, Henin was inspired by his good sister Christers to return in the 2010 season. However, Haining did not return to its former glory, although after the comeback of the Grand Slam debut Australian Open to reach the final, but it is difficult to beat the day in the sky, Serena williams, subjugated to the second place, which is also the biggest highlight of her second career. On January 16, 2011, Haining announced his retirement again and completely through his official website.
Today, Haining is a mother of two children, and she also runs a tennis school to train children to play tennis. Recently, Haining also filmed a video calling on Belgian athletes who are about to resume training under the epidemic to do a good job of protection, "Now you will have the opportunity to continue your favorite sport, I hope you can do all the safety measures, this is related to your health, but also related to the health of others, take care of yourself, have fun, please!" ”