Chapter 25--When it is time to quit

The recent announcements of the retirement of 2 great women champions- Justin Henin of the WTA tour and Annika Sorenstam of the LPGA tour came as a shock to the sporting world. Both of them are great players in their own respective fields, Justin who is currently the world number 1 women tennis player and Annika who had have won 72 LPGA tournaments. For Justin especially, chosing to bow out when she is at the top and with just barely 1 month left before the French open grand slam where she is the defending champion seems to puzzle many and critics has even labelled her as irresponsible and clueless. Yet hearing from her side of explanation does seems to suggest to me that she has made the correct decision. I mean, she mentioned that she feel that she had already earn enough in prize money to last her for at least 3 life times( for info, she earns close to 5 millions in prize money alone!) and that she has already lost interest in trying to stay at the top and would like to instead engage in other activities beside tennis such as studying could have more than justify her decision to quit the sport. The fact that she has already accompolised so much in tennis winning a total of 7 grand slams and more than 40 WTA tour titles at an age of just 25 makes it all the more reasonable for her to want to try somethings else.

Perhaps why Justin had received so much attention about her decision to quit the sport has something to do with most people's perception of the word "quit". To this group of people, to quit is always linked to a negative action and perception regardless of the situation. However, I personally feel that quitting may not necessary be a bad thing especially when one is very certain and clear about why he or she would want to do it. Quitting seems easy in the sense that all it takes could be just a simple action such as bingeing on food when one is supposed to be dieting or a single sentence saying "I quit" but yet most of us ignore the very vital process that leads one to the action of quitting. I believe that quitting always involve a mixture of emotions as the consequences of quitting may be huge or devastrating depending once again on the situation. For Justin, the decision to quit is so that she could focus on other things and elements that have been missing in her life since playing competitive tennis and therefore I do not see why people could be so critical about it. Since she has already achieve what she set out to achieve in tennis , why shouldn't she be allow to move on? Isn't it common as well for people to set other goals in their life when they have had achieved their current goals too? Anyway, using the word irresponsible to quote her just because she is now the world number 1 player is also ridiculous. Must she really wait till she is old or for new competitiors who will play much better than her to appear before she has the right to quit? Isn't it even better for her to quit when she is still a legend( like what other great champions such as pete sampras and Martina Navratilova did also) rather than quitting at a time when nobody really cares about her anymore? Even Maria Sharapova said that she would do the same thing if she is Justin. In addition, from the look on her face when she is anncouncing her retirement, I could not help but feel that she is absolutely determine and certain about her decision. Not a single tear was shed and in fact she seems relieve now that one of the m sjor chapter in her life have closed. Based on this, should we not wish her all the best in her future endeavor rather than jeer about it?

Nevertheless, I must also stress that I do not advocate quitting especially when one has not really try his or her best at all. In this case, it only reflect how undiscipline one is. Such people are unlikely to succeed in life as they are scared of obstacles and give up without even trying to overcomes their difficulties. Beside feeling sorry for these people, I feel even more pitiful for them. They will forever be at the bottom if they refuse to change. Have I encountered such people before? Hmm....I reserved my comments for that...

Best Regards,
Yongster

Still many more good years ahead...