Number one tennis player of the world, Belgian Justine Henin, announced that she will leave tennis courts with immediate effect. “This is the end of a beautiful adventure. I’m here to announce my definitive retirement,” Henin said during a press conference held in Limelette. The player was expected to defend her title in the French Open this month.

“I’m starting a new life. It feels like I have already lived three lives. Now I’m starting my life as a woman,” Justin Henin explained. “I’m leaving as number one and that is important. It’s always better to leave at the top. I’m abandoning with no regrets and I know this is the right decision.”

The 25-year-old winner of seven Grand Slam titles is known as the player with the best backhand in the circuit and she changed the cliché that only physically strong players get to the first places. Henin staid at the top of the WTA ranking for 100 weeks, in spite of personal matters and injuries that affected her during that period.

Larry Scott, president of the Women Tennis Association, said the tennis community is sorry about Henin’s unexpected retirement but will always remember her as one of the great champions of all times.