Two to stop climbing all-time lists

Women's pro sports took a couple of hits this week with the announcement golfer Annika Sorenstam would retire at the end of the season and tennis star Justine Henin would put down her racket immediately.

Of the two, Henin is much more surprising. She was still ranked No. 1 and has clearly been the top player, winning three major titles in 2006 and 2007 and making the finals in three more.

There are some rumors that perhaps there is something else behind her retirement than burnout. We'll see. If it is just burnout, my guess is she'll be like Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis and make a comeback in a couple of years.

Sorenstam on the other hand has been talking about retiring for several years. She's 37 and quirky enough that I doubt we'll see her again after this year. When she announced the retirement many writers cast her as the greatest women's golfer ever. I still have her at No. 2 and the only way she can overtake Mickey Wright in my rankings is to win the last three majors.

I doubt that will happen, but I wouldn't put it past her to win two of the last three.

Here are the top 16 women's tennis players and top 10 women's golfers, to refresh your memory.

Tennis:

Rank, Player, Country, Years, Points
1. Martina Navratilova, Czechoslovakia, 1974-2006, 1308.50
2. Steffi Graf, Germany, 1987-1999, 1215.50
3. Chris Evert-Lloyd, United States, 1973-1988, 953.50
4. Monica Seles, Yugoslavia, 1990-1998, 684.00
5. Margaret Smith-Court, Australia, 1968-1975, 675.00
6. Billie Jean King, United States, 1968-1979, 650.50
7. Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, Australia, 1971-1980, 579.50
8. Serena Williams, United States, 1999-2007, 503.00
9. Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario, Spain, 1989-1998, 468.50
10. Martina Hingis, Switzerland, 1996-2006, 449.00
11. Venus Williams, United States, 1997-2007, 440.00
12. Justine Henin, Belgium, 2001-2007, 429.00
13. Hana Mandlikova, Czechoslovakia, 1980-1987, 334.00
14. Lindsay Davenport, United States, 1998-2005, 312.00
15. Virginia Wade, England, 1968-1977, 197.00
16. Mary Pierce, France, 1994-2005, 194.00

GOLF

Rank, Player, Years, Points
1. Mickey Wright, 1958-1973, 150.19
2. Annika Sorenstam, 1995-2008, 142.82
3. Karrie Webb, 1996-2007, 128.43
4. Pat Bradley, 1977-1996, 118.66
5 Kathy Whitworth, 1963-1984, 117.39
6. Patty Berg, 1937-1965, 112.83
7. Julie Inkster, 1984-2006, 107.39
8. Patty Sheehan, 1981-1997, 99.77
9. Louise Suggs, 1946-1969, 97.69
10. Amy Alcott, 1976-1994, 94.56