Factbox on Belgium's Justine Henin, who announced her retirement with immediate effect on Wednesday.

* Born June 1, 1982 in Liege, Belgium.

* Turned professional in 1999, and captured 41 singles titles, including seven grand slams during her career.

* Won her debut WTA Tour event in Antwerp.

* Became first Belgian to reach a singles final at Wimbledon in 2001, where she was beaten by Venus Williams. Went on to become the first Belgian to win a grand slam title when she overwhelmed compatriot Kim Clijsters to win the 2003 French Open.

* Overcame Clijsters to win her second grand slam title at the U.S. Open in 2003 and then again in the 2004 Australian Open final.

* Won a gold medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics despite being plagued by an energy-sapping viral illness.

* Won the French Open in 2005 and 2006, only the fifth woman to win back-to-back Roland Garros titles in the professional era.

* Reached the final of all four grand slam tournaments in 2006, becoming the first player to achieve such a feat and reach the final of the end-of-season Championships since Steffi Graf in 1993.

* Secured the year-end number one spot on her way to winning her first WTA Championships in Madrid.

* Began 2007 by missing the Australian Open to deal with the breakdown of her four-year marriage to Pierre-Yves Hardenne, but went on to win her third consecutive French Open in May with victory over Ana Ivanovic of Serbia.

* Won grand slam title number seven with victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova for her second U.S. Open trophy.

* Ended season by beating Maria Sharapova 5-7 7-5 6-3 in an epic final lasting three hours and 24 minutes to win her second consecutive WTA Championships.

* Began the 2008 season with victories in Sydney and Antwerp but was soundly beaten by Sharapova in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open between those triumphs. Failed to advance past the quarter-finals of last three tournaments and withdrew from this week's Italian Open citing fatigue.

* May 14, Still ranked number one in the world, announced her retirement with immediate effect at a press conference.

Reuters