THE determination that helped Justine Henin beat bigger, stronger opponents time and again was fading.

“I decided,” the 25-year-old Belgian said, “to stop fooling myself and accept it.”

Henin retired from tennis Wednesday, an abrupt ending to a career in which she won seven Grand Slam singles titles and spent more than 100 weeks ranked No. 1.

She announced her decision at a news conference 1 1/2 weeks before the start of the French Open, where she has won the past three titles and four overall.

Put simply, she realized she was burned out, and became the first woman to quit the sport while atop the WTA rankings.

“I always based everything on this motivation — this flame — that was in me. And once I lost that, I lost many, many things,” Henin said.

“I had reached my limits, and I feel strong and relieved that I could take this decision,” she said. “There are plenty of things that I can do. There are no regrets. I did everything I had to do in tennis.”

In addition to her four French Open titles, Henin won the Australian Open in 2004, and the U.S. Open in 2003 and 2007.

The only Grand Slam title to elude Henin is Wimbledon, where she was runner-up in 2001 and 2006.

The news conference was at the Justine N1 academy in a village about 20 miles outside of Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday.

(SD-Agencies)