Offseason Sticky: Yer didn’t think tennis is really finished, did ya?

The minute Fed, Rafa, Muzz and Djoko were all out of the competition, I’m guessing you put your feet up in the air and started writing your Christmas shopping list.
 

 
Oh-how-silly-of-you. Does tennis ever really stop? And knowing you freaks, half of you are frazzling over the Australian Open already. 
Posting-wise, thankfully things’ll be quieter around here. [...]

New Zealand, it’s not part of Australia.

… Arguably.
Apologies, Kiwis – looks like Henin has chosen to start her comeback in Brisbane over Auckland.
Understandably, the Kiwi organizers are gutted over the news. Times are tough when Henin turns down your money and even Dementieva ditches you for an invitational tournament offering diamond studded balls.
It’s okay. You still have your tourism posters. 
 

 
“[Henin] has [...]

Already?

Time flies when you’re having fun. It seems just yesterday that Roger was sobbing his nose out at Rod Laver Arena and now we’re already talking about wild cards for the Australian Open.
 
Australian Open 2004 champion Justine Henin has been granted a wildcard into the 2010 tournament.
“I spoke to Justine’s team over the weekend and [...]

Time to P-A-R-T-A-Y!

Midgets of the world REJOICE! Justine Henin is coming back.
AWWW YEAAAH!
 

 
Time to pop open the champaign, down a few beers, or perhaps a round of Fedrinkas is more your thang. Let’s clink our glasses and toast to the return of Justine Henin 2.0!
 
Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
 
In the words of Ms Juju herself: 
 
“I was very impatient and I [...]

Justine Henin Retirement Watch: Salvation is near.

Coming from AP: 
 
Former world No. 1 star Justine Henin is ready to announce her return to the WTA Tour on Tuesday, according to a pair of Belgian newspapers.
Le Soir and La Derniere Heure reported the news on Monday.
 
The ticker on tennis.com:
 
Justine Henin will announce her return to competiton on Tuesday, reports Le Soir.
Belgian press also report that [...]

Justine Henin Retirement Watch: trying not to be optimistic is hard, okay?

Justine ordered some new racquets and suddenly tennis world is all in a twitter about her comeback: 
 
L’ancienne numéro 1 mondiale Justine Henin est toute proche d’annoncer son retour à la compétition et de nombreux indices vont dans ce sens.
Un chose est sûre, la championne avait prévu une communication aux alentours du 16 septembre et un [...]

Quotable Quotes: Oh-that-rumor-machine…

Belgium newspaper quoting Justine’s dad that it’s a 50/50 chance of a comeback:
 
…sans être dans le secret des dieux  », concède-t-il, son papa José admet «  qu’il y a peut-être des signes. Il y a deux mois, je vous aurais dit qu’il n’y avait qu’une chance sur cinq de revoir Justine sur les courts. Maintenant, je [...]

Juju Retirement Watch: like hell we care about UNICEF?!

Alright alright, we do. But that’s not what we want from Justine Henin.
 

 
The retired Henin was asked again Thursday if she would return to the sport. The answer is no longer the definitive “no” it once was. It is now something more like, “Come back and ask me later.”
A UNICEF goodwill ambassador, she tried to [...]

FINE. Excite me for nothing.

I feel weird posting this, but we all need a little wishful thinking, no? 
A Belgian newspaper La Libre reported this week that Justine Henin has “made her decision” to stage a comeback to competitive tennis in January 2010.
Her entourage confirmed that she has been training for a few months now for exhibition matches in December.
Elke [...]

Picket Fence Picspam: the Baby Quiz

With so little tennis to inspire me, it’s time for a bit of fluff with some baby photos I’ve collected over the years of tennis players. Sorry about the size and quality of some of these, baby photos are hard to come by! 
Guess who these cuties grew up to be? Go on! You know you [...]