By Matthew Cronin
PARIS - The clay-court pretenders have left Paris again, while
2006 Roland Garros champion Justine Henin-Hardenne donned the
queen’s robe once more like it was originally sewed in her petite
size.
Gone was gritty Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova after Henin outgutted
her 6-4, 6-4 in the final.
Gone were the tall, fashionable blondes Nicole Vaidisova and
Maria Sharapova, the intimidating Venus Williams, Henin’s more
athletic countrywoman Kim Clijsters and the emotionally wrecked
No. 1, Amelie Mauresmo.
For the third time in the past four years, the scrappy, smart
and win-at-all-costs Belgian stood on the podium with the silver
Suzanne Lenglen trophy grasped firmly in her small yet able hands.
The sometimes cold and selfish Henin may not be the world’s most
clicked on women’s athlete, but since she first won the French
Open title in 2003, she’s been her sport’s most accomplished
player.
And that’s all she cares about.
“I’m very different from a lot of players,” Henin said. “And
that’s good to have different personalities and styles of game
in women’s tennis. But what I love in the life is just to be
on court, to fight and to push my limits. The other things, I’m
not really interested [in them]. I’m playing because of these
very close situations. Today, this tightness, when you’re nervous,
on the crucial points, on break points, that’s what I love.”
Henin-Hardenne never played great in the final and wasn’t even
close to the level that saw her steamroll Clijsters with a remarkable
offensive display in the semifinals. No. 2 Clijsters, who turned
23 on the day of the semis, never believed she could hang with
her countrywoman and fell 6-3, 6-2. “She’s by far the best clay-court
player,’ Clijsters said. “She’s really consistent. The difference
is between her and any other player is not that she hits the
ball harder than any of us, it’s just that she moves so well.
You can hit two, three winners and you think now you have a winner,
but against her they just keep coming back. “
As expected by many, Clijsters froze again against Henin. She
doesn’t believe in herself against her Fed Cup teammate on clay
and midway through the first set, once Justine had pumped up
the volume, Clijsters forgot that extending rallies on occasion
might be beneficial to her. So she punched back hard at times
and was occasionally impressive, but too often was drawn into
errors. Henin served better, was much more consistent off her
forehand side and far better defensively. She absolutely torched
her returns.
She simply outclassed Kimmy, who really could have used a coach
for this occasion. She’s done okay without Marc Dehous since
she canned him last October, but he would have drawn up a far
better plan then Kim and her dad, Lei, brought out. You have
to work over Justine to beat her on clay, because there’s no
way you can hit straight through her. Clijsters made that mistake
and for the fourth time in their six Slam meetings, Henin walked
away with the victory and would play for her third Slam crown.
With her towering height, huge serve, big forehand and go-for-broke
attitude, Vaidisova was the tournament’s surprise, knocking off
Mauresmo and Venus in three-setters. But the 17-year-old folded
under the pressure against Kuzentsova, falling apart 5-7, 7-6
(5), 6-2. The so-called new “It Girl “ was tagged out.
Kuznetsova, the ‘04 U.S. Open champ, then had a chance to avenge
her choke to Henin last year and her gag to Anastasia Myskina
two years ago. She has come a long way from the fragile woman
who couldn’t buy a win late last summer and was stunned in the
first round of the U.S. Open by a Czech no-name. “I went through
low year but I’ve been working hard,” she said. “ I never was
thinking to stop doing something. I just had little doubts if
it’s gonna come the way I want to, if I’m gonna make it through.
But I’ve always been there.”
Kuznetsova wasn’t anywhere in the final. She had Henin wheezing
early in the second set after winning the first 10 points in
some brutish rallies, but the Russian still doesn’t have the
inner confidence to believe that she can push through the steely
Belgian when a title is on the line. Her head got all messed
up in the final, even when she briefly had the edge, because
she knew that Henin would respond by changing tactics and she
wasn’t sure if she could follow suit.
All Henin had to do was be offensive on the big points that called
for her to step up, and be steady on defense during the big points
when Kuznetsova was shaky. Henin has the lungs, the heart, the
variety and most off all, the confidence to will herself through
tough spots. That’s what Slam triumphs are all about - finding
ways to win to even when your magical genie refuses to come out
of the bottle.
The 24-year-old Belgian is the best dirt baller this century
and on a great day, could have challenged Graf, Seles and Sanchez-Vicario
for titles. She may never grab six Roland Garros crowns like
the all- time- great Graf did, but she’s already tied Sanchez
and Seles with three.
At a somewhat slight 5-foot-5, Henin doesn’t have any of those
women’s natural power, but what she does have is an unswerving
commitment to improve and unquenchable thirst for big titles.
“I will never be with all these players,” Henin said. “ But I
give my best all the time. I’m very proud.... Everyone has a
different history. Now my results are starting to be more numerous,
and it’s wonderful because it’s been more than 20 years that
I’ve been giving everything for that. I started playing tennis
when I was five and since then, my life depended on tennis and
was guided by tennis, so it’s important to know those big moments
of happiness.”
Henin has come a long way from the ‘06 Aussie Open final, where
she was savaged for retiring in the second set against Mauresmo
with stomach problems. Many analysts thought she did herself
a great disservice by not finishing the match and accused her
of giving up because she knew that she was going to lose. There’s
no worse label for a player than being called a quitter and Henin
— who has won numerous titles while looking like she should be
carried off the court on a stretcher - resented the remarks.
Now by winning in Paris, the sting is partly gone. “It wasn’t
a kind of revenge,” Henin said “[But] it’s been very frustrating.
I wanted to forget about what happened in Melbourne, but it was
a little in my mind. But it was more motivation than a revenge.”
What Henin would really like to be called is the best player
of her generation. With five Slams, she’s tied Venus Williams
and Martina Hingis. Lindsay Davenport has three, as does Jennifer
Capriati. Mary Pierce has two. Clijsters, Mauresmo, Sharapova
and Myskina each have one. There’s only one current player who’s
ahead of her, the now part-time competitor Serena Williams, who
has seven.
Henin has won on every surface except for one extremely important
one - grass. She reached the Wimbledon final six years ago and
has reached the semifinals two others times. She certainly has
the variety in her game to triumph there.
But after contracting a vicious virus two years ago, she hasn’t
shown the kind of recovery speed necessary to go from the Roland
Garros winner’s circle to the Wimbledon one in a month’s time.
But if she wants to make a push at Serena, she must discover
that extra gear within herself to go the distance even when her
body is telling her to take an extended post French Open snooze.
She seems to be waking up to that fact. “I’m dreaming of winning
Wimbledon one day,” she said. “It would be the cherry on the
cake.”
© 2006
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