Louisa Wall: Reality hits home in abandoned final

The universal and one-sided condemnation of 2006 Australian Open women's tennis finalist Justine Henin-Hardenne, who retired injured, has been rather vicious to say the least.

And those who have called her gutless and judged her actions harshly seem to need a reality check.

This would have been Henin-Hardenne's fifth Grand Slam title and it became the first for her opponent, Amelie Mauresmo, in only her second Grand Slam final. Mauresmo lost her first seven years ago to Martina Hingis, also at the Australian Open.

Henin-Hardenne has had a terrible few years with injury and she had to take anti-inflammatory medication for her shoulder throughout the tournament. Before the final she had had little sleep, had no energy and said that she knew at the beginning of the match that she couldn't win it.

So, she fronted and lasted as long as she could and eventually the reality of the situation forced her to make a decision in terms of cutting her losses and getting herself ready for the next series of matches.

So, she chose the best option which she said was very hard to do.

ESPN tennis analyst Pam Shriver, who won 21 singles and 112 doubles crowns, including 22 Grand Slam titles, said Henin Hardenne had been the biggest warrior in the women's game the last three years and she too felt disappointed at her decision to retire, but who are we to judge?

This Australian Open the temperatures went beyond the borders of extreme and the players had to endure 35C-plus heat with matches postponed if this threshold was met.

On her way to the final, Mauresmo played 17-year old Michaella Krajicek who retired from their match because of heat stress (having lost the first set 6-2) and who was so hot that her eyes were burning and she couldn't see the ball. Other symptoms included wanting to throw up.

Some negative side-effects of taking anti-inflammatory medication are abdominal pain, nausea, seizures and vomiting. Taking it can also worsen the effects of dehydration. Maybe, Henin Hardenne should have thrown up or had a fit to justify her decision to pull the pin but why should she have had to physically deteriorate to that level of fatigue and obvious stress to justify her decision?

Imagine if she had have played on until such an act of obvious physical desperation? Would she then have been classified by some of us as a hero, or maybe by others as an idiot if she had demonstrated such lack of physical control?

This brought back memories of the sight of New Zealand walker Craig Barrett collapsing at the 1998 Commonwealth Games within one kilometre of the finish line while leading for most of the 50km event.

Did we love to see him stumble and fall and try to win when he was in such obvious physical agony?

I didn't, so thank you Henin Hardenne for sparing me the vomit, fit or further injury with images of you collapsed on the court in tears. That sounds too much like reality TV, orchestrated for the cameras, which just isn't my ideal sporting experience.

* Louisa Wall is a former New Zealand rugby and netball representative.