Justine Henin calls it a day after injury worsens

She returned to tennis dreaming of Wimbledon glory and emulating Roger Federer but Justine Henin yesterday laid down her racket for good with those targets unfulfilled.

Little over a year after she ended her brief period in retirement, the supremely talented Belgian has been forced to quit for a second time because of an elbow injury she first sustained at Wimbledon last summer.

Henin took the rest of the season off and the signs were good when she returned to action earlier this month at the Hopman Cup. But after her third-round Australian Open exit to Svetlana Kuznetsova, she underwent further tests that confirmed the elbow is too weak to stand the rigours of professional tennis.

The seven-time grand slam champion wrote in a letter on her website, www.justine-henin.be: "After my loss at Wimbledon in June, I knew it would be difficult to come back. But I decided to keep playing and to give everything to overcome the injury.

"In these recent months, I have rarely been spared from the pain, those last months were very hard. Time has passed, and the doubts have grown, and only returning to the courts would give me answers. Unfortunately I suffered a lot the last week and every day gave me more and more pain, but I believed that my will would take the upper hand.

"Today, the examinations are clear and the doctors formally said my elbow is too fragile and hurt, so that my passion and my profession at a high level cannot continue to exist.

"I'm in shock, of course, but after having considered and followed the advice of doctors, it is now clear and I accept that my career here finally ends."

During her early career, Henin established herself as one of the best players of her generation, particularly on clay, where she was a four-time champion at the French Open.

Despite her diminutive stature - she stands less than 5ft 5in tall and weighs 9st - the 28-year-old was able to compete with and frequently beat much more powerful players thanks to her one-handed backhand, all-court game and mental strength.

The strain of competing at the top of her sport in what was often an unequal physical struggle eventually told and when the then 25-year-old announced her retirement when ranked number one in the world in May 2008, she was adamant she would not be back.

She changed her mind, though, in 2009, citing the desire to win Wimbledon, the one major title to elude her. But in the end it was not to be for Henin, with her run to the Australian Open final 12 months ago the highlight of her second spell.