A 19 year-old girl barely 5" 5 and a half inches tall. The lady exuded an arcane aura that left many guessing what nestled deep in the cockles of her heart.

Justine Henin, all of 25, decided to throw in the towel at an age when some of the greatest sport stars were in their full bloom. Citing no specific reason, Justine Henin quit, when she felt her life goals have taken a diversion, where tennis was no longer in the scheme of things.

Henin is the first woman in tennis to call it quits, while still sitting pretty on topmost rung of the WTA. At the press conference she convened, Henin announced stoically, "I'm at the end of the road. This is the end of a child's dream." "I started thinking about (retirement) late last year," she said. "I was at the end of the road. I leave with my head held high."

It's a pity though. Women's tennis has lost one of its biggest challenges. A lady known for her ravaging backhands, this jolting departure leaves a deep void on the tour. None of the other women players seem to have the wares to become a dominant force. The top 10 itself has just about four players who have won a Grand Slam. Others rest on the points garnered through ATP titles. Biggest example is Jelena Jankovic.

When it came to Henin at least you knew you could look forward to a "pretty" game as against those "pretty" faces. Powerful strokes, coalesced with clinical backhands and unerring serves.

She looked frail. It did look as if even a whiff of air was enough to uproot her from her place of chosen roost. But when she got moving, as those supposedly muscular limbs got on to their natural calling, those benign signs of possible capitulation seemed to wane.

However, it is a pretty spectre as a spectator enjoying those heart-thumps, when your favourite player is oozing liquid sodium out there, while you implore the ubiquitious overseer to help out for the smooth conduct of the proceeding of course heavily disposed to suit your sentimental yearnings.

But then it may be not be as pretty for the player out there. It may be deeper. Possibly it doesn't end with the victory. There is much more they yearn for.

If Henin is done with tennis, it is time we are done with Henin too. Of course she will be missed greatly. But then again it willl be for a month or two. A year at the most.

Soon she too will adorn the history books, placed among those discerning tennis masters, who did what mattered. A cute, small piece of history.