Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
I'm not sure who first came up with those immortal words "it is better to retire when people are asking why and not why not". Surely, not George Best then or George Bush now. No, it can't be George Foreman either, who at 45 won a major heavyweight title.
But by bowing out at 25 and while still at the summit of women's tennis, Justine Henin has given a new meaning to the art of retiring. No farewell year, no final Grand Slam appearance and no ceremony to mark the occasion. A simple press conference and it's all over.
Henin has gone in the same way as she first appeared on the tennis horizon. No fanfare, no chest beating and no excess baggage. As she said after announcing her retirement, she only had a dream in her eyes and a strong will to make it a reality.
Seven Grand Slam titles, a Fed Cup and an Olympic gold medal apart from being the world No 1 for 118 weeks are ample testimonies to the fact that Henin did indeed realise her dream. She may have failed to join the ranks of Court, King, Evert, Navratilova, Graf and Serena who have a full set of Grand Slam silverware, but the Belgian cannot be denied a special place in the tennis Hall of Fame.
My abiding memory of Henin is her indomitable spirit which seemed permanently plastered all over her face. It looked out of place on a frail and almost infantile figure but it was evident in triumph and adversity. That indomitable spirit was the fountainhead of her all-conquering game plan.
I realised the essence of Henin and her impact on the game not while watching her play at Wimbledon or her faovurite Roland Garros, but while speaking to young players taking part in a ITF tournament at the Bahrain Tennis Federation a few years ago.
It was a typical tour event where prepubescent teenagers scrambled for precious points to make the WTA grade. Players from the fragmented former Soviet Union jostled with Americans and Asians and each had their own favourites, own idols and own ideas for success.
As I spoke to more than a dozen girls over a week, one thing common among them was their admiration for Henin's resilience and more importantly respect for her quiet nature on and off the court. And yes, each one feared her awesome single-fisted backhand, the trademark of her game.
"It's like a whiplash and we can feel it even while watching her on TV," I remember one of the girls telling me. "It's unbelievable coming from someone who is so small and frail."
Unbelievable indeed.
Henin was a stark contrast in a game dominated by big players packing incredible punch and power and pounding balls from the backcourt with precision. She brought to the game her own brand of tennis which was fashioned on body balance, angles and swift movement. And, of course, the whiplash backhand.
Henin was a purist's delight and her biggest contribution to tennis was that she made people come to watch her play and not hear her like so many of her moaning and groaning contemporaries.
With Henin's retirement, the game of tennis will miss this endearing contrast.
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The Indian Premier League cricket rumbles on and with each passing game the pointless aspect of the whole drama is becoming apparent.
It has already lost some of its star names who are back playing for their respective countries and it is fast losing its competitive edge as well.
But I believe there is still one lesson to be learnt from the IPL, particularly for the Indian cricket board. And that is 'accountabilty'.
Poor performance has already cost the CEO of Bangalore Royal Challengers his job and many more heads are said to be on the chopping blocks. Other franchises are also pulling up their socks or tightening their belts, depending on the form of the team, with so much money and brand equity at stake.
Some are dismissing it as knee-jerk reaction or crass corporate ethics. Whatever the viewpoint, the Indian cricket board is getting a close look at the 'accountability factor'. That to me is a lesson worth learning.
