A business trip has gotten the better of me this week, so I apologize for being late on the topic of Justine Henin’s retirement, but it really is the big tennis news of the week. And I was really stunned to learn of it.

This is a sad day for our sport and for her millions of fans around the world, but I know that I speak for so many in wishing Justine the very best in her future endeavors and hope that she will stay connected to the sport to which she gave so much.

MEMPHIS MOVING?: The Memphis Commercial Appeal reports that a deal to sell the combined ATP/WTA event to keep it in the city fell through, and now the event could be sold to outside interests who could move the event (see: Middle East, Asia, the usual suspects — goodbye to another U.S. event).

“This completes a five-year process of reinventing the television and digital landscape for the sport of tennis in North America,” said Arlen Kantarian, CEO Pro Tennis, USTA. “Tennis will now be prominently featured for eight straight weeks on ESPN — the premiere destination in sports; Tennis Channel — our sport’s namesake network; and CBS — our longtime network partner. This new partnership will provide more tennis, to more people, in more ways than ever before.”

Thanks to his impressive performance in Rome, Novak Djokovic is nipping at the heals of Rafael Nadal for that No. 2 ranking spot, and by this time next week he just might get it.

Disaster Series it sure has been. The last three singles matches in Rome have all ended abruptly in retirement.

Now be honest, who would really have believed that after four days of tennis in Rome that Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Nikolay Davydenko and David Nalbandian would out and Andy Roddick and James Blake would still be in? There’s no one on the planet who would have thought that four days ago. No one.

After scoring a touchdown, the football player jumped up and down, did a little jig in the end zone, followed by a spike of the ball and a round of high-fives to his teammates. He finally made it over to the sidelines and bounded up to his coach who was standing there looking over a clipboard. After a moment the coach looked up at his players and calmly said, “Son, next time you score a touchdown, act like you’ve done it before.”

Has there ever been a more forgotten former World No. 1 than Juan Carlos Ferrero? Just after the turn of this century Ferrero was not just the King of Clay, he was the King of Tennis, winning the French Open, reaching the US Open final and then a few weeks later finally ascending to the No. 1 Ranking. But then poof, just like that he’s gone.

Best Case Scenario: A player such as David Ferrer or Juan Monaco gets a shot at Nadal on a day when Rafa is feeling low. Maybe he had a tough match, maybe he is a little sick, maybe he got dumped … but a day where Nadal is not at his steely best. On that day, Ferrer especially could come through.