Justine Henin-Hardenne
Encyclopedia
Justine Henin formerly known as Justine Henin-Hardenne (2002–2007), is a retired professional Belgian tennis player and former World No. 1.
Henin won 43 WTA
singles titles and seven Grand Slam
singles titles, including four French Open
titles, one Australian Open title, and two US Open
titles. She has also won the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships twice and the singles gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics
.
Tennis experts cite her mental toughness, the completeness and variety of her game, her footspeed and footwork, and her one-handed backhand
(which John McEnroe
has described as the best single-handed backhand in the women's or men's game) as the principal reasons for her success.
Critics and all-time-great players have made testament to Henin's talent. Upon Henin's first retirement from the WTA in the early part of the 2008 season, Billie Jean King
said that "pound for pound, Henin is the best tennis player of her generation." as well as that "Justine is the best women's athlete I've ever seen." Andre Agassi
said of Henin, "Justine Henin is one of the most talented women ever to have played the game of tennis." In 2007, 18 time Grand Slam winner Martina Navratilova said that "She is head and shoulders above everyone else right now." John McEnroe
concurred, saying that Henin is "The player I most like to watch." Henin made a return to the WTA in early 2010, losing the final of the Australian Open in only her 2nd tournament back.
On 26 January 2011, she announced that she had been forced to retire from professional tennis once again because of an elbow injury.
In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time
.
, Martina Navratilova said that "Henin's offense is just phenomenal ... it's sort of like we've got 'the female Federer', or maybe the guys have 'the male Justine Henin', because she is just head and shoulders above everyone else right now." Henin's footwork, balance, and court coverage—and she is adept at changing from a defensive style to an aggressive one.
Despite her relatively small size, Henin has a powerful serve, which has been measured at a top speed of 196 km/h (122 mph) at the 2005 Family Circle Cup
. Henin's single-handed backhand, is one of the most powerful and accurate in the game. She can hit her backhand 'flat', with heavy topspin, or slice [underspin]. Her backhand can also be used to surprise her opponents with dropshots, breaking up the pattern of a groundstroke rally. Her slice backhand is regarded as one of the best of all time. However, Henin's forehand
is generally regarded as her most dangerous weapon, and the stroke that she normally uses to dictate the play of a match.
When Justine was two, her family moved to a house in Rochefort
, situated next to the local tennis club, where she played tennis for the first time.
Henin's mother routinely took the young Henin across the border to France to watch the French Open. Henin saw the 1992 final involving her idol Steffi Graf
and Monica Seles
. Although Graf lost, the experience impressed Henin.
In 1995, shortly after her mother's death, Henin met her coach Carlos Rodriguez
who guided her career both before her retirement in 2008 and during her 2010 comeback. Following a conflict between Justine and her father over her tennis career and her relationship with Pierre-Yves Hardenne, Rodriguez soon became not only her trainer but in some ways a second father figure.
On 16 November 2002, Henin married Pierre-Yves in the Château de Lavaux-Sainte-Anne
. On 4 January 2007, Henin withdrew from the upcoming tournaments in Australia, including the Australian Open, due to personal problems. and she also resumed her maiden name, Justine Henin, instead of Justine Henin-Hardenne.
. In 1997, she won the junior girl's singles title at the French Open. Early in her senior career, she regularly reached the late rounds of international competitions and won five International Tennis Federation
tournaments by the end of 1998.
She began her professional career on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour in May 1999 as a wild card entry in the Belgian Open clay tournament at Antwerp and became only the fifth player to win her debut WTA Tour event. She defeated three top 50 players on the road to the title.
Henin established herself as a major competitor in 2001 when she reached the women's singles semifinals of the French Open and then upset the reigning Australian Open and French Open champion Jennifer Capriati
in the semifinals of Wimbledon, losing to defending champion Venus Williams
in three sets in the final. By the end of the year, Henin was ranked seventh in singles, with three titles to her name. Also that year, she reached the French Open women's doubles semifinals with Elena Tatarkova
and helped Belgium
win the 2001 Fed Cup
.
In 2002, she reached four WTA finals, winning two of them, and finished the year ranked World No. 5. Her German Open
victory, her first win at a Tier I tournament, was noteworthy as she beat Jennifer Capriati
in a semifinal and Serena Williams
in the final, the then number two and number five ranked players, respectively.
Henin started the year as the fifth ranked player in the world but lost to Kim Clijsters
in the semifinals of the Medibank International in Sydney. In the fourth round of the Australian Open in Melbourne, Henin defeated Lindsay Davenport
7–5, 5–7, 9–7. In a match lasting more than three hours, Henin overcame a 4–1 final set deficit, high temperatures, and muscle cramps to defeat Davenport for the first time in her career. Henin then lost to Venus Williams
in the semifinals in straight sets.
Henin then lost to Clijsters in the semifinals of the Proximus Diamond Games
in Antwerp. At the Dubai Tennis Championships
one week later, Henin defeated former World No. 1 Monica Seles
in the final 4–6, 7–6, 7–5 after Seles had a match point at 5–4 in the second set. It was Henin's first victory over Seles.
Henin's next tournament was the Tier I Miami Masters
. She lost in the quarterfinals to World No. 10 Chanda Rubin
6–3, 6–2.
At the clay court Family Circle Cup
in Charleston, South Carolina
, Henin defeated World No. 1 Serena Williams
in the final. This was Williams' first loss of the year after 22 wins.
The following week, Henin reached the semifinals of the Bausch & Lomb Championships
in Amelia Island, Florida, losing to eventual winner Elena Dementieva
3–6, 6–4, 7–5. Henin then helped Belgium defeat Austria 5–0 in a first round tie of the Fed Cup
.
In May, Henin successfully defended her Tier I title at the Qatar Telecom German Open
in Berlin. In the final, Henin saved three match points in the third set before defeating Clijsters.
At the French Open, Henin was the fourth seeded player. She defeated the defending champion, Serena Williams
, in a semifinal 6–2, 4–6, 7–5 after Henin trailed 4–2 in the third set. In the final, Henin defeated Clijsters in straight sets. This was Henin's first Grand Slam
title, and she was the first Belgian ever to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Henin then began her preparations for Wimbledon
. At the grass court Ordina Open
in Rosmalen
, Henin lost in the final to Clijsters when Henin was forced to retire from the match after injuring her finger.
At Wimbledon
, Henin was the third seeded player. She defeated Mary Pierce
in the fourth round and Svetlana Kuznetsova
in the quarterfinals before losing to Serena Williams in a straight sets semifinal.
Henin's first competition after Wimbledon was the Fed Cup tie against Slovakia
. Henin won both her singles matches to help Belgium win the tie 5–0.
Henin then played two tournaments during the North American summer hard court season before the US Open. At the Tier I Acura Classic in San Diego, the third-seeded Henin defeated the top-seeded Clijsters in the final. Two weeks later at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto, Henin defeated Russia's Lina Krasnoroutskaya
in the final.
Henin was the second-seeded player at the US Open. She won her first four matches against unseeded players before defeating seventh-seeded Anastasia Myskina
in the quarterfinals. Henin then defeated sixth-seeded Jennifer Capriati
in the semifinals 4–6, 7–5, 7–6(4) in a match that lasted more than three hours and stretched to midnight. Henin recovered from a 5–3 deficit in the second set and a 5–2 deficit in the final set and was just two points from defeat eleven times. She was treated for muscle cramps and dehydration overnight but returned to play in the final the next day. In the final, Henin defeated Clijsters in straight sets. The win raised Henin's ranking to World No. 2, just behind Clijsters.
Henin next played the indoor Sparkassen Cup in Leipzig, Germany where she lost to Myskina in the final. This ended Henin's 22-match winning streak. Two weeks later at the indoor Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
in Filderstadt
, Germany, Henin lost in the final to Clijsters. Had Henin won this match, she would have immediately replaced Clijsters as the World No. 1.
At the Tier I Zurich Open
the following week, Henin reached her sixth consecutive final where she defeated Serbia's Jelena Dokić
. This win caused Henin to become the thirteenth World No. 1 on the Women's Tennis Association computer on 20 October 2003. Henin, however, held this ranking for only one week as she declined to defend her title at the Generali Ladies Linz
tournament in Linz, Austria.
At the WTA Tour Championships
in Los Angeles, Henin defeated Myskina and Capriati but lost to Japan's Ai Sugiyama
in her round robin matches. In the semifinals, Henin lost to Amélie Mauresmo
7–6(2), 3–6, 6–3.
Henin was named the International Tennis Federation
's women's singles World Champion for 2003. She ended the year as the World No. 1.
As of 22 March 2004, Henin had accumulated the highest point total (7626) in the history of the WTA rankings. Because the awarding of quality points was eliminated in 2006, this point total may never be exceeded.
By the end of the 2004 spring hard court season, Henin had built a 25-match Tier I winning streak and a 22–1 win-loss record (winning her first 16 matches).
At the start of the 2004 spring clay court season, Henin's health was adversely affected by infection with a strain of cytomegalovirus
and an immune system problem. She often slept up to 18 hours a day and barely had the strength to brush her teeth, let alone play competitive tennis.
Although she decided to defend her French Open title and was seeded first in the tournament, she lost her second round match to a much lower-ranked player, Tathiana Garbin
of Italy. At the time, the loss marked only the second time in 15 Grand Slam
events that she'd lost before the fourth round.
After months of layoff because of a virus, Henin returned to competition in August and won the women's singles gold medal
at the Summer Olympics
in Athens, Greece, defeating Amélie Mauresmo
of France in the final 6–3, 6–3. Henin reached the gold medal match by defeating reigning French Open champion Anastasia Myskina
in a semifinal 7–5, 5–7, 8–6 after having trailed 1–5 in the final set. Her medal ceremony was attended by fellow countryman and IOC president Jacques Rogge
.
In September, she was unsuccessful in her defence of her US Open title, losing to Nadia Petrova
in the fourth round. This defeat caused her to lose the World No. 1 ranking, which she had held for 45 non-consecutive weeks. She then withdrew from the 10 remaining tournaments of the year in an effort to recover her health and improve her fitness.
On 25 March, after more than six months away from competition, Henin returned to the Women's Tennis Association
tour at the Miami Masters
. She lost to second ranked Maria Sharapova
in a quarterfinal. She rebounded at her next tournament, winning the clay court Family Circle Cup
in Charleston, South Carolina
. She won two more clay court titles before the start of the 2005 French Open
. Her victories over top ranked Lindsay Davenport
, Sharapova, Elena Dementieva
, Svetlana Kuznetsova
, and Petrova made her a top contender for the title there.
Henin was seeded tenth at the French Open and defeated the French player Mary Pierce
in the final in straight sets to take her second title at Roland Garros. The win marked Henin's 24th consecutive clay court win and her tenth consecutive final win, a streak dating back to Zurich in October 2003. In capturing the title, she defeated Kuznetsova in the fourth round, Sharapova in a quarterfinal, and Petrova in a semifinal. Henin saved two match points to defeat Kuznetsova in the fourth round 7–6(6), 4–6, 7–5 and thus became only the second woman to win the French Open after saving a match point.
With her French Open victory, Henin moved from World No. 12 to World No. 7 in the women's singles rankings. Henin was a perfect 24–0 on clay this year and joined Monica Seles
as the only two currently active (in 2005) players on the WTA Tour to have won the French Open at least twice.
At Wimbledon 2005
, Henin's win streak of 24 matches was snapped in the first round by Greek Eleni Daniilidou
7–6, 2–6, 7–5. It was the first time that a reigning French Open champion failed to win a match at Wimbledon
. A hamstring
injury sustained earlier in the year eventually limited her to playing only 11 more matches for 2005.
Henin next played the Rogers Cup in Toronto, where she reached the final after beating Mauresmo in a semifinal before losing to Clijsters in straight sets.
She lost in the fourth round of the US Open to eventual finalist Mary Pierce
6–3, 6–2.
Following this, she played in Filderstadt, but after losing her first round match to Flavia Pennetta
, she decided not to play for the rest of 2005.
In 2005, TENNIS Magazine
placed her in 31st place on its list of the 40 Greatest Players for the period 1965 through 2005.
In November, at the 2005 WTA Tour Championships
, she was named the inaugural winner of the Whirlpool 6TH SENSE Player of the Year, which honors the player who has demonstrated the most sixth sense intuition, that is to say "heightened intelligence, unbeatable performance and pinpoint precision".
In January, Henin returned to competitive tennis at the tournament in Sydney, a tune-up for the Australian Open
. She was seeded fifth and played former World No. 1 (and newly returned to competitive tennis) Martina Hingis
in a much hyped first round match. Henin won 6–3, 6–3. She then defeated former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova
in a semifinal before defeating Francesca Schiavone
in the final.
At the Australian Open, Henin defeated top ranked Lindsay Davenport
and fourth ranked Maria Sharapova
in three-set matches to set up a final against third ranked Amélie Mauresmo
. While trailing 6–1, 2–0, Henin retired from the match, citing intense stomach pain caused by over-use of anti-inflammatories for a persistent shoulder injury. Henin stated afterwards that she feared possible injury had she continued to play. Henin was criticized by the press because she had stated after her semifinal win against Sharapova that she was at the "peak of her fitness" and was playing the "best tennis of her life". This was only the fourth Grand Slam
women's singles final to end by retirement since 1900 and the first in the open era.
Henin captured her second title of the year at a Tier II event in Dubai, defeating Sharapova 7–5, 6–2. This was her third Dubai title, having won previously in 2003 and 2004. At the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California
, Henin lost in the semifinals to fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva
2–6, 7–5, 7–5 after leading 6–2, 5–2 and serving for the match twice. Henin also lost in the second round of the Tier I Miami Masters
to Meghann Shaughnessy
7–5, 6–4.
On clay
, Henin failed to retain her title at the Tier I Family Circle Cup
in Charleston, South Carolina
, losing in the semifinals to third-seeded Patty Schnyder
2–6, 6–3, 6–2. It was her first career defeat at this tournament and the end of her 27-match winning streak on clay. Henin then helped Belgium defeat defending champion Russia in a Fed Cup
quarterfinal. She beat fifth ranked Nadia Petrova
6–7, 6–4, 6–3, and ninth ranked Elena Dementieva
6–2, 6–0. Petrova had come into the tie with two consecutive clay court tournament victories and a 10-match clay court winning streak, while Dementieva had defeated Henin in their last meeting in Indian Wells and defeated second ranked Belgian compatriot Kim Clijsters
on the first day of the tie. Three weeks later, Henin played the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open
, defeating Mauresmo in a semifinal 6–1, 6–2 before losing to Petrova in a three-set final.
At the French Open, Henin defeated second seeded Clijsters in the semifinals 6–3, 6–2. She then defeated Kuznetsova in the final to win her third French Open singles title in four years. Henin captured the title without losing a set and became the first French Open champion to defend her title successfully since Steffi Graf
in 1996.
At the Eastbourne grass court tournament just before Wimbledon
, Henin defeated Anastasia Myskina
in the final in three sets.
Henin was the third seed going into Wimbledon and advanced to her third consecutive Grand Slam final without losing a set. She defeated Clijsters (who was seeded second) in a semifinal 6–4, 7–6(4) but lost the final to Mauresmo. The final featured two finesse players who used their all-court games, a break from recent years that featured a succession of power baseliners claiming the title. At almost every point throughout the match, both players approached the net to volley. Tipped as the tournament favorite, Henin won the first set. But Mauresmo recovered to win the next two sets and her second Grand Slam singles title and deny the Belgian a career Grand Slam. This was the only Wimbledon final of the decade that did not involve Venus Williams
and/or Serena Williams
.
Henin withdrew from Tier I events in San Diego and Montreal
because of injury but played the tournament in New Haven, Connecticut
. There, she defeated Kuznetsova and Davenport en route to the title. It was her 28th WTA tour title. She returned to the World No. 2 ranking and crossed over US$12 million in career prize money.
At the US Open, Sharapova defeated Henin in the final after Henin had defeated Davenport in the quarterfinals and Jelena Janković
in the semifinals 4–6, 6–4, 6–0. Henin became the first woman since Hingis in 1997 to reach the finals of all four Grand Slam singles tournaments in a calendar year.
Henin won both of her singles matches during the Fed Cup final against Italy in Charleroi
, Belgium. However, Henin retired from the deciding doubles match because of a knee injury while she and her partner Kirsten Flipkens
were trailing 3–6, 6–2, 2–0, giving Italy the championship.
Henin guaranteed her year-end World No. 1 ranking by reaching the final of the Sony Ericsson Championships, defeating Sharapova in the semifinals 6–2, 7–6(5). Henin then defeated Mauresmo and won the tournament for the first time in her career.
Henin was the first player since Hingis in 2000 to win the WTA Tour Championships and end the year as the top ranked player. Henin was the first woman to win at least one Grand Slam singles title in four consecutive years since Graf from 1993 through 1996. Her prize money earnings for the year totaled $4,204,810.
On 4 January 2007, Henin withdrew from the Australian Open and the warm-up tournament in Sydney to deal with the break-up of her marriage. Not playing those tournaments caused Henin to lose the World No. 1 ranking to Maria Sharapova
.
In Henin's first tournament of the year, she lost in the semifinals of the Open Gaz de France
in Paris to Czech Lucie Šafářová
7–6(5), 6–4. She then won two hardcourt tournaments in the Middle East, the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open (for the fourth time in five years) over Amélie Mauresmo
and her first Qatar Total Open
title in Doha
, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova
in the final. She also reached US$14 million in career prize money and on 19 March, regained the World No. 1 ranking.
At the Miami Masters
, Henin reached the final for the first time in her career, where she lost to Serena Williams
0–6, 7–5, 6–3 after holding two match points at 6–0, 5–4. Her next tournament was the J&S Cup in Warsaw, Poland, which she won, beating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine
in the final, 6–1, 6–3. Later, at the Qatar Telecom German Open
in Berlin, Henin won her quarterfinal against Jelena Janković
3–6, 6–4, 6–4 after being behind 4–0 in the third set, only to lose her semifinal against Kuznetsova 6–4, 5–7, 6–4. The loss was only her second to Kuznetsova in 16 career meetings.
At the French Open, Henin was the two-time defending champion and top seed. In a highly-anticipated quarterfinal match against Serena Williams, Henin won 6–4, 6–3. She then defeated Janković in the semifinals 6–2, 6–2. In the final, Henin defeated Ana Ivanović
in straight sets, 6–1, 6–2 to claim her third consecutive French Open title, equalling Seles's open era record. She also surpassed US$15 million in career prize money earnings. Henin won the tournament without dropping a set and had not lost a set at this tournament since the 2005 French Open
quarterfinals. She had not lost a match at the French Open since 2004
.
The International Women's Open in Eastbourne
was Henin's first grass court tournament of the year. She and Mauresmo reached the final, which was the first time in nearly 30 years that the Eastbourne final included both finalists from Wimbledon the previous year. Henin recovered from a breakdown in the final set to win in a third-set tiebreak for the second consecutive year.
At Wimbledon
, Henin lost to Marion Bartoli
in the semifinals 1–6, 7–5, 6–1, one day after Henin defeated Serena Williams in the quarterfinals. It was Henin's first win over the American on a surface other than clay. In the semifinal, Henin was up a break at 1–0 and 4–3 in the second set, but could not hold the lead.
In August, Henin won the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto, defeating Janković in the final. The tournament championship was Henin's 35th on the WTA tour, moving her past Clijsters who retired with 34 tournament championships.
At the US Open
, Henin defeated her first four opponents in straight sets, with a 6–0 set in each match. Henin then faced Serena Williams in the quarterfinals for the third consecutive time in a Grand Slam tournament, and for the third time, Henin won, 7–6(3), 6–1. In the semifinals against Venus Williams
, Henin was up a break in the first set but could not hold it. She finally won the set in a tiebreak. In the second set, Henin was ahead 3–0 before Williams leveled the set at 3–3. Williams then had three break points on Henin's service but could not convert and lost the game. Henin then broke Williams's serve and held her own serve to go up 5–3. Williams then broke Henin to pull within 5–4 but Henin broke Williams again in the last game to win the match 7–6(2), 6–4. Henin became only the second player to defeat both Williams sisters in the same Grand Slam tournament (after Martina Hingis
at the 2001 Australian Open
). In the final, Henin won her second US Open singles title, defeating Kuznetsova in straight sets, 6–1, 6–3. Henin won the tournament without dropping a set.
Henin won her next tournament, the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
, defeating Tatiana Golovin
in the final. Two weeks later, Henin won the Zurich Open
, her ninth title of the year, by again defeating Golovin in the final.
At the WTA Tour Championships
, Henin won all three of her round robin matches, defeating Anna Chakvetadze
, Janković, and Bartoli. Going into the match against Bartoli, Henin had won 22 consecutive matches since Bartoli defeated her in the 2007 Wimbledon semifinals. Although Henin had already clinched a spot in the semifinals, both Henin and Bartoli did not know Bartoli had to replace Serena Williams until several hours before the match and lost 6–0, 6–0. In the semifinals, Henin defeated Ivanović 6–4, 6–4. In the final, Henin overcame Sharapova in three sets in a match that lasted 3 hours, 24 minutes. Sharapova won the first set on her eighth set point in the 12-minute last game. Henin won the match on her fifth match point in the final game of the match. This was Henin's longest ever match, the longest final in tournament history, and the twelfth longest women's match ever.
This victory extended Henin's winning streak to 25 matches. She only lost three sets after Wimbledon. This victory made her the sixth player to successfully defend her title at the WTA's season-ending championship and the first player to claim at least 10 tour titles in a year since Hingis won 12 in 1997. She also became the first woman to break the US$5 million barrier in prize money in a year, and by crossing US$19 million, Henin is now ranked fifth on the all time prize money list.
Henin ended the year ranked World No. 1 for the third time in her career, having done so previously in 2003 and 2006. She was the first player since Martina Hingis
to end the year ranked World No. 1 consecutively for two years (Hingis was ranked year-end World No. 1 in 1999–2000). She also ended the year with a 63–4 record, having lost to only four players: Lucie Šafářová
, Serena Williams
, Svetlana Kuznetsova
, and Marion Bartoli
. She had the best win percentage record in 15 years, since Steffi Graf
in 1995.
The Medibank International in Sydney was Henin's first tournament of the year. She defeated Ana Ivanović in the semifinals 6–2, 2–6, 6–4. She then defeated World No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova
4–6, 6–2, 6–4, overcoming an 0–3 deficit in the final set.
At the Australian Open
in Melbourne, Henin won her 32nd consecutive match in the fourth round, defeating Hsieh Su-wei
of Taiwan
6–2, 6–2. The winning streak ended in the quarterfinals when Sharapova, the eventual winner, defeated Henin 6–4, 6–0. This was Henin's first 6–0 loss since the 2002 French Open
and the first time since the 2005 US Open that Henin had been defeated in a Grand Slam singles tournament before the semifinals.
At the Proximus Diamond Games
in Antwerp, Henin defeated Karin Knapp
in the final. This was Henin's second singles title in her native Belgium. Two weeks later at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, Henin was the defending champion but lost for the first time in eight meetings to Francesca Schiavone
in the quarterfinals 7–6(3), 7–6(4). Henin had struggled for three hours in her first match against Katarina Srebotnik
, eventually winning 7–5, 6–7, 6–3.
After taking a four week break, Henin's next tournament was the Tier I Miami Masters
. She lost in the quarterfinals to Serena Williams
6–2, 6–0. Henin then withdrew from the Tier I Family Circle Cup
in Charleston, South Carolina
because of an injury to her right knee.
At the Tier I, clay court Qatar Telecom German Open
in Berlin, Henin lost in the third round to Dinara Safina
5–7, 6–3, 6–1, in what turned out to be her last match before retirement. In their five previous career matches, Henin had never lost a set to Safina. The day after her defeat, Henin withdrew from the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, citing fatigue.
Henin announced her immediate retirement from professional tennis on 14 May 2008, and requested the Women's Tennis Association
to remove her name from the rankings immediately. Her announcement was a surprise because Henin was still ranked World No. 1 and was considered the favorite for the 2008 French Open
, where she would have been the 3-time defending champion. She said she felt no sadness about her retirement because she believed it was a release from a game she had focused on for twenty years. She also said that in the future, she will be concentrating on charity and her tennis school.
Henin mentioned seeing Roger Federer finally complete the grand slam of titles by winning the French Open in 2009 had been an inspiration, as had Kim Clijsters return to the tour and her victory at the US Open.
Henin made her return to tennis at the 2010 Brisbane International
where she was given a wildcard. She defeated No. 2 seed Nadia Petrova
, Sesil Karatantcheva
, No. 7 seed Melinda Czink
and No. 3 seed Ana Ivanović
to make it to the final. She then lost to her Belgian
compatriot Kim Clijsters
in the final, 6–3, 4–6, 7–6(6) in a 2 hour, 23 minute match.
At the 2010 Australian Open, Henin was given a wildcard as an unranked player. Henin started off with a straight sets victory over Belgian Kirsten Flipkens
. She set up the most highly anticipated second round match of the tournament with No. 5 seed Elena Dementieva
, whom she defeated 7–5, 7–6(5). Lasting two hours and fifty minutes, commentators felt this match was worthy of a final. Henin approached the net forty-three times, winning thirty-five of those points. In the third round, she defeated No. 28 seed Alisa Kleybanova
from Russia; where she made a comeback to win 3–6, 6–4, 6–2. In the fourth round she faced World No. 16 and fellow Belgian
, Yanina Wickmayer
, defeating her in 3 sets 7–6, 1–6, 6–3. She then defeated No. 19 seed Nadia Petrova
from Russia in the quarter-finals. Henin won 7–6, 7–5 after having been down 0–3 in the second set. She then went on to defeat Zheng Jie
from China in the semi-finals in convincing fashion 6–1, 6–0, setting up a clash with World No. 1 Serena Williams
in the 2010 Australian Open
ladies final. This was the first time in their long rivalry that Henin and Serena Williams
met in a Grand Slam
Final. Henin would eventually fall to Serena Williams
in 3 sets 6–4, 3–6, 6–2.
A wildcard was granted for Henin to compete at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open
in Indian Wells
, a Premier Mandatory tournament. In the first round, Henin defeated Magdaléna Rybáriková
6–2, 6–2 in a little over an hour. Henin then lost to Gisela Dulko
, 2–6, 6–1, 4–6, in a 2 hour match. The result gave her a new rank of World No. 33 as of 22 March 2010.
She defeated Jill Craybas
of USA 6–2,6–2 in the first round of Sony Ericsson Open. In the second round, Henin defeated World No. 6 Elena Dementieva
6–3, 6–2 in 90 minutes. In the third round, Henin defeated Dominika Cibulková
in 93 minutes, 6–4, 6–4 advancing to the quarterfinals where Henin thrashed Vera Zvonareva
6–1, 6–4 to set up a meeting in the quarterfinals with World No.2 Caroline Wozniacki
. After defeating World No. 2 Wozniacki in a three-set match, she fell to compatriot Kim Clijsters
in a semifinal battle, 2–6, 7–6 (3), 6–7 (6). Following her Sony Ericsson Open performance, Henin moved into the top 25 for the first time since her comeback.
Henin's next tournament was the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
in Stuttgart. Henin played through this tournament injured, having previously broken her left pinkie during Fed Cup practice. In the first round, Henin saw off German qualifier Julia Görges
7–6 (3), 6–1. In her second round, she defeated World No. 12 and fellow Belgian Yanina Wickmayer
, defeating her for the 2nd consecutive time, 6–3, 7–5. In the quarterfinals, she defeated fourth seed and World No. 7 Jelena Janković
3–6, 7–6 (4), 6–3 for the tenth time in her career. She defeated World No. 20 Shahar Pe'er
in the semifinals, 6–3, 6–2, and reached her third final in five tournaments this year. She faced World No. 10 Samantha Stosur
. Henin won the final 6–4, 2–6, 6–1 in 100 minutes, to procure her first title in 2010 (in her 3rd final). Winning this tournament also sent Henin into the Top 20 for the first time since her comeback.
At the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open
she was defeated in the first round by eventual champion Aravane Rezaï
4–6, 7–5, 6–0. As a result of this shock loss, Henin dropped out of the Top 20 to No.23. Henin then participated at the 2010 French Open
, seeded 22nd, the second grand slam of the year where she has won four previous titles. In the 1st round, she defeated Tsvetana Pironkova
in 89 minutes, 6–4, 6–3. In the 2nd round, Henin faced Klára Zakopalová and defeated her 6–3, 6–3. In the third round, facing former World No. 1 Maria Sharapova
, Henin ended her streak of consecutive sets at 40, losing the 2nd set to Sharapova but going on to win 6–2, 3–6, 6–3. She had then tied the number of consecutive sets won at the French Open with Helen Wills Moody
. She lost to World No. 7 Samantha Stosur
2–6, 6–1, 6–4 in the fourth round, her first defeat at Roland Garros since 2004.
Henin began the grass court season at the 2010 UNICEF Open
, where she was the top seed for the first time since her return. In the first three rounds she defeated Angelique Kerber
, Roberta Vinci
, and Kristina Barrois
in straight sets. She then demolished No. 5 seed Alexandra Dulgheru
in the semifinals, 6–2, 6–2. In the final, she defeated No. 7 seed Andrea Petkovic
to win her 43rd career title and second of the year.
At the 2010 Wimbledon Championships
, Henin was the No. 17 seed. In the third round, she had a convincing victory over Nadia Petrova
, winning 6–1, 6–4. Justine was eventually defeated in the fourth round by Kim Clijsters
2–6, 6–2, 6–3, after claiming a convincing first set win. Midway through the first set, Henin slipped on the court, injuring her right elbow. Further examinations revealed a partial ligament fracture in her elbow, causing her to end her 2010 season prematurely.
. She did not lose any sets in the competition earning comfortable victories over Alicia Molik
from Australia, Sesil Karatantcheva
from Kazakhstan
, Ana Ivanović
of Serbia
and Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the USA in the final.
Henin was the 11th seed and a defending finalist at the 2011 Australian Open
. Henin defeated Sania Mirza
from India
in the first round 5–7, 6–3, 6–1 and Elena Baltacha
in the second round, 6–1, 6–3. She then fell to 23rd seed Svetlana Kuznetsova
in the third round 4–6, 6–7(8).
After that defeat, Henin announced her definitive retirement from professional tennis on 26 January 2011, due to a new injury of the elbow that she had injured the year before at Wimbledon.
tennis player Maryna Zanevska
became the first "6th Sense player" to win a Grand Slam title.
On 30 November 2007, Henin opened her own tennis academy Club Justine N1 (in French, "N1" is pronounced almost exactly the same as "Henin").
On 14 May 2008, Henin announced her immediate retirement from professional tennis. She was 25 years old and ranked World No. 1 at the time. She announced her return to competitive tennis on 22 September 2009.
After retiring, Henin became involved in two Belgian reality shows in 2009. In May, she starred in De Twaalf Werken van Justine Henin – Les 12 travaux de Justine Henin (The 12 Labors of Justine Henin). The show followed Henin as she completed 12 personal challenges. In June 2009, she hosted a musical TV show that revolved around Belgian-Italian singer Lara Fabian
.
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2010
Henin won 43 WTA
Women's Tennis Association
The Women's Tennis Association , founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King, is the principal organizing body of Women's Professional Tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women. Its counterpart organization in the men's professional game is the Association of...
singles titles and seven Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
singles titles, including four French Open
French Open (tennis)
The French Open |Roland Garros]]) is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks between late May and early June in Paris, France, at the Stade Roland Garros. It is the premier clay court tennis tournament in the world and the second of the four annual Grand Slam tournaments – the other three are...
titles, one Australian Open title, and two US Open
U.S. Open (tennis)
The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881...
titles. She has also won the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships twice and the singles gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Tennis at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Tennis at the 2004 Summer Olympics took place on ten separate courts at the Olympic Tennis Centre. The surface was hardcourt, specifically DecoTurf....
.
Tennis experts cite her mental toughness, the completeness and variety of her game, her footspeed and footwork, and her one-handed backhand
Backhand
The backhand is a tennis shot in which one swings the racquet around one's body in the direction where one wants the ball to go, usually performed from the baseline or as an approach shot. The term is also used in other racquet sports, and other areas where a similar motion is employed...
(which John McEnroe
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles , nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title...
has described as the best single-handed backhand in the women's or men's game) as the principal reasons for her success.
Critics and all-time-great players have made testament to Henin's talent. Upon Henin's first retirement from the WTA in the early part of the 2008 season, Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...
said that "pound for pound, Henin is the best tennis player of her generation." as well as that "Justine is the best women's athlete I've ever seen." Andre Agassi
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi is a retired American professional tennis player and former world no. 1. Generally considered by critics and fellow players to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Agassi has been called the best service returner in the history of the game...
said of Henin, "Justine Henin is one of the most talented women ever to have played the game of tennis." In 2007, 18 time Grand Slam winner Martina Navratilova said that "She is head and shoulders above everyone else right now." John McEnroe
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles , nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title...
concurred, saying that Henin is "The player I most like to watch." Henin made a return to the WTA in early 2010, losing the final of the Australian Open in only her 2nd tournament back.
On 26 January 2011, she announced that she had been forced to retire from professional tennis once again because of an elbow injury.
In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
.
Playing style
At the 2007 French Open2007 French Open
The 2007 French Open was held in Paris, France from 27 May through to 10 June 2007. Followed two weeks later, as usual, by Wimbledon in London, United Kingdom. Rafael Nadal became the first man to win the tournament 3 times consecutively since Björn Borg, 1978–81; and maintained his unbeaten run...
, Martina Navratilova said that "Henin's offense is just phenomenal ... it's sort of like we've got 'the female Federer', or maybe the guys have 'the male Justine Henin', because she is just head and shoulders above everyone else right now." Henin's footwork, balance, and court coverage—and she is adept at changing from a defensive style to an aggressive one.
Despite her relatively small size, Henin has a powerful serve, which has been measured at a top speed of 196 km/h (122 mph) at the 2005 Family Circle Cup
Family Circle Cup
The Family Circle Cup is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. The tournament is currently played on the green clay courts at the Daniel Island Tennis Center in Charleston, South Carolina, USA...
. Henin's single-handed backhand, is one of the most powerful and accurate in the game. She can hit her backhand 'flat', with heavy topspin, or slice [underspin]. Her backhand can also be used to surprise her opponents with dropshots, breaking up the pattern of a groundstroke rally. Her slice backhand is regarded as one of the best of all time. However, Henin's forehand
Forehand
The forehand in tennis and other racket sports such as table tennis, squash and badminton is a shot made by swinging the racquet across one's body in the direction of where the player wants to place the shot...
is generally regarded as her most dangerous weapon, and the stroke that she normally uses to dictate the play of a match.
Personal life
Justine Henin was born in Liège. Her father is José Henin; her mother, Françoise Rosière, was a French and history teacher who died when Justine was 12 years old. She has two brothers (David and Thomas) and a sister (Sarah).When Justine was two, her family moved to a house in Rochefort
Rochefort, Belgium
Rochefort is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Namur close to the Ardennes. On January 1, 2006 Rochefort had a total population of 12,038. The total area is 165.27 km² which gives a population density of 73 inhabitants per km²...
, situated next to the local tennis club, where she played tennis for the first time.
Henin's mother routinely took the young Henin across the border to France to watch the French Open. Henin saw the 1992 final involving her idol Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
and Monica Seles
Monica Seles
Monica Seles is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She was born in Novi Sad, Serbia, former Yugoslavia to Hungarian parents. She became a naturalized United States citizen in 1994 and also received Hungarian citizenship in June 2007...
. Although Graf lost, the experience impressed Henin.
In 1995, shortly after her mother's death, Henin met her coach Carlos Rodriguez
Carlos Rodriguez (tennis coach)
Carlos Rodriguez is a tennis coach most notable for his longtime tenure with former World No. 1 Justine Henin. As of 2011, the pairing has been together for 15 years, but a portion of that span includes Henin's brief retirement from the pro circuit. Upon Henin's comeback, she insisted that she...
who guided her career both before her retirement in 2008 and during her 2010 comeback. Following a conflict between Justine and her father over her tennis career and her relationship with Pierre-Yves Hardenne, Rodriguez soon became not only her trainer but in some ways a second father figure.
On 16 November 2002, Henin married Pierre-Yves in the Château de Lavaux-Sainte-Anne
Château de Lavaux-Sainte-Anne
The Château de Lavaux-Sainte-Anne is located in Belgium near Rochefort, in the province of Namur, Wallonia. In 1450, Jean II de Berlo commissioned the building of the castle....
. On 4 January 2007, Henin withdrew from the upcoming tournaments in Australia, including the Australian Open, due to personal problems. and she also resumed her maiden name, Justine Henin, instead of Justine Henin-Hardenne.
Tennis career
Justine Henin is a globally recognized tennis player, who has had huge success on all surfaces of the game, and has so far achieved Grand Slam success on clay and hard courts, winning four French Open titles, including three consecutive titles between 2005 and 2007, which ties Monica Seles' record of most consecutive Roland Garros titles won by a woman. This achievement has made her the most successful female clay court player of the last decade (2000–2009). She has also won three Grand Slam titles on hard court, winning the US Open title in 2003 and 2007, and the Australian Open title in 2004. She has also reached the Wimbledon final twice, in 2001 and 2006; it is the only Grand Slam singles title she has not won.Early career
Henin, known as "Juju" to many of her fans, was coached by Carlos Rodriguez of ArgentinaArgentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. In 1997, she won the junior girl's singles title at the French Open. Early in her senior career, she regularly reached the late rounds of international competitions and won five International Tennis Federation
International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 205 national tennis associations.It was established as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by 12 national associations meeting at a conference in Paris, France on 1 March 1913...
tournaments by the end of 1998.
She began her professional career on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour in May 1999 as a wild card entry in the Belgian Open clay tournament at Antwerp and became only the fifth player to win her debut WTA Tour event. She defeated three top 50 players on the road to the title.
Henin established herself as a major competitor in 2001 when she reached the women's singles semifinals of the French Open and then upset the reigning Australian Open and French Open champion Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Marie Capriati is a former world number one ranked professional tennis player, and the winner of three women's singles championships in Grand Slam tournaments. Capriati made her professional debut in 1990 at the age of 14 when she reached the finals of the hard court tournament in Boca...
in the semifinals of Wimbledon, losing to defending champion Venus Williams
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...
in three sets in the final. By the end of the year, Henin was ranked seventh in singles, with three titles to her name. Also that year, she reached the French Open women's doubles semifinals with Elena Tatarkova
Elena Tatarkova
Elena Tatarkova is a professional female tennis player from Ukraine. Now retired, she won four ITF singles titles, four WTA doubles titles, and 25 ITF doubles titles...
and helped Belgium
Belgium Fed Cup team
The Belgian Fed Cup team has been competing in the International Tennis Federation sanctioned Fed Cup since the very beginning: 1963. It has won the competition once, in 2001...
win the 2001 Fed Cup
2001 Fed Cup
The 2001 Fed Cup was the 39th edition of the most important competition between national teams in women's tennis. The World Group was reduced to 8 teams, divided into two pools, with the winners meeting in the finals. 90 nations participated in the tournament. The World Group was held at the...
.
In 2002, she reached four WTA finals, winning two of them, and finished the year ranked World No. 5. Her German Open
Qatar Telecom German Open
The German Open, sponsored from 2006 through 2008 as the Qatar Telecom German Open, was a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women played in Berlin, Germany. Held since 1896, it was one of the oldest tournaments for women...
victory, her first win at a Tier I tournament, was noteworthy as she beat Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Marie Capriati is a former world number one ranked professional tennis player, and the winner of three women's singles championships in Grand Slam tournaments. Capriati made her professional debut in 1990 at the age of 14 when she reached the finals of the hard court tournament in Boca...
in a semifinal and Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...
in the final, the then number two and number five ranked players, respectively.
2003
Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 7 November 2011, Clijsters is ranked No. 13 in singles. Clijsters is a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles....
in the semifinals of the Medibank International in Sydney. In the fourth round of the Australian Open in Melbourne, Henin defeated Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Ann Davenport is a former World No. 1 American professional tennis player. She has won three Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked her as the 29th-best player of the preceding forty years...
7–5, 5–7, 9–7. In a match lasting more than three hours, Henin overcame a 4–1 final set deficit, high temperatures, and muscle cramps to defeat Davenport for the first time in her career. Henin then lost to Venus Williams
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...
in the semifinals in straight sets.
Henin then lost to Clijsters in the semifinals of the Proximus Diamond Games
Proximus Diamond Games
The Proximus Diamond Games was a professional tennis tournament held in Antwerp, Belgium. Held since 2002, the tournament takes place in the Sportpaleis, and was played at the beginning of February...
in Antwerp. At the Dubai Tennis Championships
Dubai Tennis Championships
The Dubai Tennis Championships is a professional tennis tournament owned and organized by Dubai Duty Free and held annually in Dubai, United Arab...
one week later, Henin defeated former World No. 1 Monica Seles
Monica Seles
Monica Seles is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She was born in Novi Sad, Serbia, former Yugoslavia to Hungarian parents. She became a naturalized United States citizen in 1994 and also received Hungarian citizenship in June 2007...
in the final 4–6, 7–6, 7–5 after Seles had a match point at 5–4 in the second set. It was Henin's first victory over Seles.
Henin's next tournament was the Tier I Miami Masters
Miami Masters
The Miami Masters is an annual tennis tournament for men and women held in Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida. It is an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the men's tour and a Premier Mandatory event on the women's tour and is played on hard courts at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park...
. She lost in the quarterfinals to World No. 10 Chanda Rubin
Chanda Rubin
Chanda Rubin is an American tennis player. Winning seven WTA Tour singles titles, she reached her highest ranking World No. 6 on April 8, 1996, after reaching semifinals at the 1996 Australian Open. Rubin is also former World No...
6–3, 6–2.
At the clay court Family Circle Cup
Family Circle Cup
The Family Circle Cup is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. The tournament is currently played on the green clay courts at the Daniel Island Tennis Center in Charleston, South Carolina, USA...
in Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, Henin defeated World No. 1 Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...
in the final. This was Williams' first loss of the year after 22 wins.
The following week, Henin reached the semifinals of the Bausch & Lomb Championships
Bausch & Lomb Championships
The MPS Group Championships was a women's tennis tournament held in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, United States. The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event was an International series tournament played on outdoor green clay courts from 1980 to 2010.-History:...
in Amelia Island, Florida, losing to eventual winner Elena Dementieva
Elena Dementieva
Elena Viatcheslavovna Dementieva is a retired Russian professional tennis player. Dementieva is most notable for winning the singles gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She won 16 WTA singles titles and reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open. Dementieva achieved a...
3–6, 6–4, 7–5. Henin then helped Belgium defeat Austria 5–0 in a first round tie of the Fed Cup
Fed Cup
Fed Cup is the premier team competition in women's tennis, launched in 1963 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the International Tennis Federation...
.
In May, Henin successfully defended her Tier I title at the Qatar Telecom German Open
Qatar Telecom German Open
The German Open, sponsored from 2006 through 2008 as the Qatar Telecom German Open, was a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women played in Berlin, Germany. Held since 1896, it was one of the oldest tournaments for women...
in Berlin. In the final, Henin saved three match points in the third set before defeating Clijsters.
At the French Open, Henin was the fourth seeded player. She defeated the defending champion, Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...
, in a semifinal 6–2, 4–6, 7–5 after Henin trailed 4–2 in the third set. In the final, Henin defeated Clijsters in straight sets. This was Henin's first Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
title, and she was the first Belgian ever to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Henin then began her preparations for Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
. At the grass court Ordina Open
Ordina Open
The Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, now sponsored by UNICEF and called the UNICEF Open, is a tennis tournament on the ATP Tour and WTA Tour held in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.-Singles:-Doubles:-Singles:-Doubles:-External links:*...
in Rosmalen
Rosmalen
Rosmalen is a city in the province of North Brabant, in the south of the Netherlands. It is located near 's-Hertogenbosch and has belonged to its municipality since 1996. In 2005 the city began construction of a new neighbourhood, De Groote Wielen...
, Henin lost in the final to Clijsters when Henin was forced to retire from the match after injuring her finger.
At Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
, Henin was the third seeded player. She defeated Mary Pierce
Mary Pierce
Mary Pierce is a French-American tennis professional playing on the Women's Tennis Association tour. She is a citizen of France, Canada, and the United States but plays for France in team competitions and the Olympics.Pierce has won four Grand Slam titles, two in singles and two in doubles...
in the fourth round and Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ; born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of October 10, 2011 ranked No. 21 in the WTA singles and No. 90 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in six doubles...
in the quarterfinals before losing to Serena Williams in a straight sets semifinal.
Henin's first competition after Wimbledon was the Fed Cup tie against Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
. Henin won both her singles matches to help Belgium win the tie 5–0.
Henin then played two tournaments during the North American summer hard court season before the US Open. At the Tier I Acura Classic in San Diego, the third-seeded Henin defeated the top-seeded Clijsters in the final. Two weeks later at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto, Henin defeated Russia's Lina Krasnoroutskaya
Lina Krasnoroutskaya
Lina Vladimirovna Krasnoroutskaya is a former Junior World Number 1 tennis player. In addition to gaining the coveted top spot, Lina won the US Open Junior title...
in the final.
Henin was the second-seeded player at the US Open. She won her first four matches against unseeded players before defeating seventh-seeded Anastasia Myskina
Anastasia Myskina
Anastasiya Andreyevna Myskina is a professional tennis player from Russia. She won the 2004 French Open singles title, becoming the first Russian female tennis player to win a Grand Slam main draw singles title. Subsequent to this victory she rose to number 3 on the WTA ranking, becoming the first...
in the quarterfinals. Henin then defeated sixth-seeded Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Marie Capriati is a former world number one ranked professional tennis player, and the winner of three women's singles championships in Grand Slam tournaments. Capriati made her professional debut in 1990 at the age of 14 when she reached the finals of the hard court tournament in Boca...
in the semifinals 4–6, 7–5, 7–6(4) in a match that lasted more than three hours and stretched to midnight. Henin recovered from a 5–3 deficit in the second set and a 5–2 deficit in the final set and was just two points from defeat eleven times. She was treated for muscle cramps and dehydration overnight but returned to play in the final the next day. In the final, Henin defeated Clijsters in straight sets. The win raised Henin's ranking to World No. 2, just behind Clijsters.
Henin next played the indoor Sparkassen Cup in Leipzig, Germany where she lost to Myskina in the final. This ended Henin's 22-match winning streak. Two weeks later at the indoor Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix is a tennis tournament held in Stuttgart, Germany . Held since 1978, the tournament is the oldest women's indoor tournament in Europe. Currently it is a Tier II tournament on the WTA Tour. The singles champion also receives a Porsche 911 Carrera sports car in addition...
in Filderstadt
Filderstadt
Filderstadt is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located approximately 13 km south of Stuttgart.Filderstadt is located next to the Stuttgart Airport and the new Trade Fair...
, Germany, Henin lost in the final to Clijsters. Had Henin won this match, she would have immediately replaced Clijsters as the World No. 1.
At the Tier I Zurich Open
Zurich Open
The Zurich Open was a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, formerly held every winter in Zurich, Switzerland. It was classified on the WTA Tour as a Tier I tournament from 1993 until 2007. In its final year, 2008, it was downgraded to a Tier II event.The Open was held at...
the following week, Henin reached her sixth consecutive final where she defeated Serbia's Jelena Dokić
Jelena Dokic
Jelena Dokić is an Australian female professional tennis player.During the height of her career, she played for Serbia and Montenegro and reached a career-high ranking of World No. 4 on 19 August 2002. After several family-related difficulties , she slowly slipped down the rankings in 2006...
. This win caused Henin to become the thirteenth World No. 1 on the Women's Tennis Association computer on 20 October 2003. Henin, however, held this ranking for only one week as she declined to defend her title at the Generali Ladies Linz
Generali Ladies Linz
The Generali Ladies Linz is a tennis tournament held in Linz, Austria. Held since 1987, this WTA Tour event is a Tier II-tournament and is played on indoor hardcourts...
tournament in Linz, Austria.
At the WTA Tour Championships
WTA Tour Championships
The WTA Tour Championships is a tennis tournament played annually at the end of the season for the top-ranked players on the Women's Tennis Association tour. The month, city and number of players has changed since the first edition in 1972...
in Los Angeles, Henin defeated Myskina and Capriati but lost to Japan's Ai Sugiyama
Ai Sugiyama
is a retired Japanese professional tennis player. She reached No. 1 in women's doubles on the WTA Tour. Her career-high singles ranking was No. 8, achieved on February 9, 2004. She turned professional in 1992...
in her round robin matches. In the semifinals, Henin lost to Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Simone Mauresmo ; is a French former professional tennis player, and a former World No. 1. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam singles titles at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon....
7–6(2), 3–6, 6–3.
Henin was named the International Tennis Federation
International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 205 national tennis associations.It was established as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by 12 national associations meeting at a conference in Paris, France on 1 March 1913...
's women's singles World Champion for 2003. She ended the year as the World No. 1.
2004
Henin started 2004 by winning a warm-up tournament in Sydney. She then won the Australian Open in Melbourne, defeating Kim Clijsters in three sets.As of 22 March 2004, Henin had accumulated the highest point total (7626) in the history of the WTA rankings. Because the awarding of quality points was eliminated in 2006, this point total may never be exceeded.
By the end of the 2004 spring hard court season, Henin had built a 25-match Tier I winning streak and a 22–1 win-loss record (winning her first 16 matches).
At the start of the 2004 spring clay court season, Henin's health was adversely affected by infection with a strain of cytomegalovirus
Cytomegalovirus
Cytomegalovirus is a viral genus of the viral group known as Herpesviridae or herpesviruses. It is typically abbreviated as CMV: The species that infects humans is commonly known as human CMV or human herpesvirus-5 , and is the most studied of all cytomegaloviruses...
and an immune system problem. She often slept up to 18 hours a day and barely had the strength to brush her teeth, let alone play competitive tennis.
Although she decided to defend her French Open title and was seeded first in the tournament, she lost her second round match to a much lower-ranked player, Tathiana Garbin
Tathiana Garbin
Tathiana Garbin is an Italian tennis player. As of 17 May 2010, she is ranked World No. 56 in singles and No. 38 in doubles. Garbin is probably best known for her shocking defeat of the defending champion and the reigning World No. 1 Justine Henin in the second round of the 2004 French Open...
of Italy. At the time, the loss marked only the second time in 15 Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
events that she'd lost before the fourth round.
After months of layoff because of a virus, Henin returned to competition in August and won the women's singles gold medal
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...
at the Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
in Athens, Greece, defeating Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Simone Mauresmo ; is a French former professional tennis player, and a former World No. 1. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam singles titles at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon....
of France in the final 6–3, 6–3. Henin reached the gold medal match by defeating reigning French Open champion Anastasia Myskina
Anastasia Myskina
Anastasiya Andreyevna Myskina is a professional tennis player from Russia. She won the 2004 French Open singles title, becoming the first Russian female tennis player to win a Grand Slam main draw singles title. Subsequent to this victory she rose to number 3 on the WTA ranking, becoming the first...
in a semifinal 7–5, 5–7, 8–6 after having trailed 1–5 in the final set. Her medal ceremony was attended by fellow countryman and IOC president Jacques Rogge
Jacques Rogge
Jacques Rogge, Count Rogge , is a Belgian sports bureaucrat. He is the eighth and current President of the International Olympic Committee .-Life and career:...
.
In September, she was unsuccessful in her defence of her US Open title, losing to Nadia Petrova
Nadia Petrova
Nadezhda Viktorovna Petrova is a Russian professional tennis player.Overall, she has won 28 WTA Titles, ten in singles and eighteen in doubles. In singles, Petrova has reached a career high ranking of World No. 3 in May 2006 and has reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2003 and 2005...
in the fourth round. This defeat caused her to lose the World No. 1 ranking, which she had held for 45 non-consecutive weeks. She then withdrew from the 10 remaining tournaments of the year in an effort to recover her health and improve her fitness.
2005
Her plan to rejoin the tour at the beginning of 2005 was delayed when she fractured her kneecap in a December 2004 training session.On 25 March, after more than six months away from competition, Henin returned to the Women's Tennis Association
Women's Tennis Association
The Women's Tennis Association , founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King, is the principal organizing body of Women's Professional Tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women. Its counterpart organization in the men's professional game is the Association of...
tour at the Miami Masters
Miami Masters
The Miami Masters is an annual tennis tournament for men and women held in Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida. It is an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the men's tour and a Premier Mandatory event on the women's tour and is played on hard courts at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park...
. She lost to second ranked Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ,. is a Russian professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. A US resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open...
in a quarterfinal. She rebounded at her next tournament, winning the clay court Family Circle Cup
Family Circle Cup
The Family Circle Cup is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. The tournament is currently played on the green clay courts at the Daniel Island Tennis Center in Charleston, South Carolina, USA...
in Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
. She won two more clay court titles before the start of the 2005 French Open
2005 French Open
The 2005 French Open was the 104th edition of the tournament. Rafael Nadal, seeded fourth in his first French Open, was a strong favorite after winning the Rome and Monte Carlo Masters, with Guillermo Coria, a 2004 finalist and runner-up in Monaco, calling Nadal the best clay-court player in the...
. Her victories over top ranked Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Ann Davenport is a former World No. 1 American professional tennis player. She has won three Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked her as the 29th-best player of the preceding forty years...
, Sharapova, Elena Dementieva
Elena Dementieva
Elena Viatcheslavovna Dementieva is a retired Russian professional tennis player. Dementieva is most notable for winning the singles gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She won 16 WTA singles titles and reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open. Dementieva achieved a...
, Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ; born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of October 10, 2011 ranked No. 21 in the WTA singles and No. 90 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in six doubles...
, and Petrova made her a top contender for the title there.
Henin was seeded tenth at the French Open and defeated the French player Mary Pierce
Mary Pierce
Mary Pierce is a French-American tennis professional playing on the Women's Tennis Association tour. She is a citizen of France, Canada, and the United States but plays for France in team competitions and the Olympics.Pierce has won four Grand Slam titles, two in singles and two in doubles...
in the final in straight sets to take her second title at Roland Garros. The win marked Henin's 24th consecutive clay court win and her tenth consecutive final win, a streak dating back to Zurich in October 2003. In capturing the title, she defeated Kuznetsova in the fourth round, Sharapova in a quarterfinal, and Petrova in a semifinal. Henin saved two match points to defeat Kuznetsova in the fourth round 7–6(6), 4–6, 7–5 and thus became only the second woman to win the French Open after saving a match point.
With her French Open victory, Henin moved from World No. 12 to World No. 7 in the women's singles rankings. Henin was a perfect 24–0 on clay this year and joined Monica Seles
Monica Seles
Monica Seles is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She was born in Novi Sad, Serbia, former Yugoslavia to Hungarian parents. She became a naturalized United States citizen in 1994 and also received Hungarian citizenship in June 2007...
as the only two currently active (in 2005) players on the WTA Tour to have won the French Open at least twice.
At Wimbledon 2005
2005 Wimbledon Championships
The 2005 Wimbledon Championships was the 119 edition. It was held at the All England Club between 20 June and 3 July.Roger Federer successfully defended the men's singles crown defeating Andy Roddick in straight sets. Whilst Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport played the longest women's final in...
, Henin's win streak of 24 matches was snapped in the first round by Greek Eleni Daniilidou
Eleni Daniilidou
Eleni Daniilidou is a Greek tennis player born in Chania, on the island of Crete.As of 2011, she has won five WTA singles titles and three doubles titles. In 2003, she reached the Australian Open mixed doubles final. Her highest singles ranking has been 14th...
7–6, 2–6, 7–5. It was the first time that a reigning French Open champion failed to win a match at Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
. A hamstring
Hamstring
In human anatomy, the hamstring refers to any one of the three posterior thigh muscles, or to the tendons that make up the borders of the space behind the knee. In modern anatomical contexts, however, they usually refer to the posterior thigh muscles, or the tendons of the semitendinosus, the...
injury sustained earlier in the year eventually limited her to playing only 11 more matches for 2005.
Henin next played the Rogers Cup in Toronto, where she reached the final after beating Mauresmo in a semifinal before losing to Clijsters in straight sets.
She lost in the fourth round of the US Open to eventual finalist Mary Pierce
Mary Pierce
Mary Pierce is a French-American tennis professional playing on the Women's Tennis Association tour. She is a citizen of France, Canada, and the United States but plays for France in team competitions and the Olympics.Pierce has won four Grand Slam titles, two in singles and two in doubles...
6–3, 6–2.
Following this, she played in Filderstadt, but after losing her first round match to Flavia Pennetta
Flavia Pennetta
Flavia Pennetta is an Italian professional tennis player. She became Italy's first top 10 female singles player on 17 August 2009 and also the first ever Italian Tennis player to be ranked No.1 in Doubles on 28 February 2011. As of 10 October 2011, Pennetta is ranked World No. 18 in singles and...
, she decided not to play for the rest of 2005.
In 2005, TENNIS Magazine
TENNIS Magazine
Tennis Magazine is an American sports magazine owned by the Miller Publishing Group, LLC. It is a monthly magazine which covers news from the world of tennis.-History:...
placed her in 31st place on its list of the 40 Greatest Players for the period 1965 through 2005.
In November, at the 2005 WTA Tour Championships
2005 WTA Tour Championships
The 2005 Sony Ericsson Championships were held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, United States from 8 November to 13 November 2005.-Singles: Amélie Mauresmo def. Mary Pierce, 5–7, 7–6, 6–4-Doubles:...
, she was named the inaugural winner of the Whirlpool 6TH SENSE Player of the Year, which honors the player who has demonstrated the most sixth sense intuition, that is to say "heightened intelligence, unbeatable performance and pinpoint precision".
2006
2006 Australian Open
The 2006 Australian Open was played between 16 and 29 January 2006.- Leadup :Several leading men's players declined to attend the Open due to injury, including Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal and defending champion Marat Safin....
. She was seeded fifth and played former World No. 1 (and newly returned to competitive tennis) Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
in a much hyped first round match. Henin won 6–3, 6–3. She then defeated former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ; born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of October 10, 2011 ranked No. 21 in the WTA singles and No. 90 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in six doubles...
in a semifinal before defeating Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone is an Italian tennis player who turned professional in 1998. She won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles. She was also runner-up at the 2011 French Open. As of 24 October 2011, Schiavone's ranking is World...
in the final.
At the Australian Open, Henin defeated top ranked Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Ann Davenport is a former World No. 1 American professional tennis player. She has won three Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked her as the 29th-best player of the preceding forty years...
and fourth ranked Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ,. is a Russian professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. A US resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open...
in three-set matches to set up a final against third ranked Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Simone Mauresmo ; is a French former professional tennis player, and a former World No. 1. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam singles titles at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon....
. While trailing 6–1, 2–0, Henin retired from the match, citing intense stomach pain caused by over-use of anti-inflammatories for a persistent shoulder injury. Henin stated afterwards that she feared possible injury had she continued to play. Henin was criticized by the press because she had stated after her semifinal win against Sharapova that she was at the "peak of her fitness" and was playing the "best tennis of her life". This was only the fourth Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
women's singles final to end by retirement since 1900 and the first in the open era.
Henin captured her second title of the year at a Tier II event in Dubai, defeating Sharapova 7–5, 6–2. This was her third Dubai title, having won previously in 2003 and 2004. At the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California
Indian Wells, California
Indian Wells is a city in Riverside County, California, in the Coachella Valley , in between Palm Desert and La Quinta. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 4,958....
, Henin lost in the semifinals to fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva
Elena Dementieva
Elena Viatcheslavovna Dementieva is a retired Russian professional tennis player. Dementieva is most notable for winning the singles gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She won 16 WTA singles titles and reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open. Dementieva achieved a...
2–6, 7–5, 7–5 after leading 6–2, 5–2 and serving for the match twice. Henin also lost in the second round of the Tier I Miami Masters
Miami Masters
The Miami Masters is an annual tennis tournament for men and women held in Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida. It is an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the men's tour and a Premier Mandatory event on the women's tour and is played on hard courts at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park...
to Meghann Shaughnessy
Meghann Shaughnessy
Meghann Shaughnessy is an American professional tennis player. She achieved a career-high singles ranking of #11 in 2001, and has won six WTA Tour singles titles...
7–5, 6–4.
On clay
Clay court
A clay court is one of the four different types of tennis court. Clay courts are made of crushed shale, stone or brick. The red clay is slower than the green, or Har-Tru "American" clay. The French Open uses clay courts, making it unique among the Grand Slam tournaments.Clay courts are more common...
, Henin failed to retain her title at the Tier I Family Circle Cup
Family Circle Cup
The Family Circle Cup is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. The tournament is currently played on the green clay courts at the Daniel Island Tennis Center in Charleston, South Carolina, USA...
in Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, losing in the semifinals to third-seeded Patty Schnyder
Patty Schnyder
Patty Schnyder is a retired Swiss professional tennis player. She played on the WTA tour from 1993 to 2011 and is a former World No. 7. She defeated several World No...
2–6, 6–3, 6–2. It was her first career defeat at this tournament and the end of her 27-match winning streak on clay. Henin then helped Belgium defeat defending champion Russia in a Fed Cup
2006 Fed Cup
The 2006 Fed Cup was the 44th edition of the most important competition between national teams in women's tennis. A total of 76 nations participated in the tournament...
quarterfinal. She beat fifth ranked Nadia Petrova
Nadia Petrova
Nadezhda Viktorovna Petrova is a Russian professional tennis player.Overall, she has won 28 WTA Titles, ten in singles and eighteen in doubles. In singles, Petrova has reached a career high ranking of World No. 3 in May 2006 and has reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2003 and 2005...
6–7, 6–4, 6–3, and ninth ranked Elena Dementieva
Elena Dementieva
Elena Viatcheslavovna Dementieva is a retired Russian professional tennis player. Dementieva is most notable for winning the singles gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She won 16 WTA singles titles and reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open. Dementieva achieved a...
6–2, 6–0. Petrova had come into the tie with two consecutive clay court tournament victories and a 10-match clay court winning streak, while Dementieva had defeated Henin in their last meeting in Indian Wells and defeated second ranked Belgian compatriot Kim Clijsters
Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 7 November 2011, Clijsters is ranked No. 13 in singles. Clijsters is a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles....
on the first day of the tie. Three weeks later, Henin played the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open
Qatar Telecom German Open
The German Open, sponsored from 2006 through 2008 as the Qatar Telecom German Open, was a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women played in Berlin, Germany. Held since 1896, it was one of the oldest tournaments for women...
, defeating Mauresmo in a semifinal 6–1, 6–2 before losing to Petrova in a three-set final.
At the French Open, Henin defeated second seeded Clijsters in the semifinals 6–3, 6–2. She then defeated Kuznetsova in the final to win her third French Open singles title in four years. Henin captured the title without losing a set and became the first French Open champion to defend her title successfully since Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
in 1996.
At the Eastbourne grass court tournament just before Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
, Henin defeated Anastasia Myskina
Anastasia Myskina
Anastasiya Andreyevna Myskina is a professional tennis player from Russia. She won the 2004 French Open singles title, becoming the first Russian female tennis player to win a Grand Slam main draw singles title. Subsequent to this victory she rose to number 3 on the WTA ranking, becoming the first...
in the final in three sets.
Henin was the third seed going into Wimbledon and advanced to her third consecutive Grand Slam final without losing a set. She defeated Clijsters (who was seeded second) in a semifinal 6–4, 7–6(4) but lost the final to Mauresmo. The final featured two finesse players who used their all-court games, a break from recent years that featured a succession of power baseliners claiming the title. At almost every point throughout the match, both players approached the net to volley. Tipped as the tournament favorite, Henin won the first set. But Mauresmo recovered to win the next two sets and her second Grand Slam singles title and deny the Belgian a career Grand Slam. This was the only Wimbledon final of the decade that did not involve Venus Williams
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...
and/or Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...
.
Henin withdrew from Tier I events in San Diego and Montreal
Canada Masters
The Canada Masters , currently sponsored as the Rogers Cup, is an annual tennis tournament held in Canada. The men's competition is a Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour. The women's competition is a Premier 5 tournament on the Women's Tennis Association tour...
because of injury but played the tournament in New Haven, Connecticut
Pilot Pen Tennis
This article is about the former New Haven joint tennis event. It is now a women's-only event. For the New Haven men's tennis event known as Volvo International , click here....
. There, she defeated Kuznetsova and Davenport en route to the title. It was her 28th WTA tour title. She returned to the World No. 2 ranking and crossed over US$12 million in career prize money.
At the US Open, Sharapova defeated Henin in the final after Henin had defeated Davenport in the quarterfinals and Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from Serbia. She reached the final of the 2008 US Open and won the 2007 Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title. Janković is ranked world no...
in the semifinals 4–6, 6–4, 6–0. Henin became the first woman since Hingis in 1997 to reach the finals of all four Grand Slam singles tournaments in a calendar year.
Henin won both of her singles matches during the Fed Cup final against Italy in Charleroi
Charleroi
Charleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. , the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of and had a total population of 522,522 as of 1 January 2008, ranking it as...
, Belgium. However, Henin retired from the deciding doubles match because of a knee injury while she and her partner Kirsten Flipkens
Kirsten Flipkens
Kirsten Flipkens is a professional female Belgian tennis player since 2003. Her career high rank for singles is No. 59 . She won 10 ITF Singles titles, and 1 ITF Doubles title....
were trailing 3–6, 6–2, 2–0, giving Italy the championship.
Henin guaranteed her year-end World No. 1 ranking by reaching the final of the Sony Ericsson Championships, defeating Sharapova in the semifinals 6–2, 7–6(5). Henin then defeated Mauresmo and won the tournament for the first time in her career.
Henin was the first player since Hingis in 2000 to win the WTA Tour Championships and end the year as the top ranked player. Henin was the first woman to win at least one Grand Slam singles title in four consecutive years since Graf from 1993 through 1996. Her prize money earnings for the year totaled $4,204,810.
2007
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ,. is a Russian professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. A US resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open...
.
In Henin's first tournament of the year, she lost in the semifinals of the Open Gaz de France
Open Gaz de France
Open GDF Suez, formerly Open Gaz de France, is a Premier level tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held in Paris, France. Held since 1993, the tournament is played on indoor hardcourts....
in Paris to Czech Lucie Šafářová
Lucie Šafárová
Lucie Šafářová is a professional Czech tennis player. She was born in Brno.Šafářová has won four WTA tour singles titles and reached the quarterfinals of the 2007 Australian Open, upsetting defending champion Amélie Mauresmo en-route...
7–6(5), 6–4. She then won two hardcourt tournaments in the Middle East, the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open (for the fourth time in five years) over Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Simone Mauresmo ; is a French former professional tennis player, and a former World No. 1. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam singles titles at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon....
and her first Qatar Total Open
Qatar Total Open
The Qatar Ladies Open , known as the Qatar Total Open for sponsorship reasons, is tennis tournament held in Doha, Qatar. Held since 2001, this WTA Tour event was a Tier I-tournament in 2008, and was played on outdoor hardcourts. Total S.A. was the main tournament sponsor...
title in Doha
Doha
Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...
, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ; born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of October 10, 2011 ranked No. 21 in the WTA singles and No. 90 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in six doubles...
in the final. She also reached US$14 million in career prize money and on 19 March, regained the World No. 1 ranking.
At the Miami Masters
Miami Masters
The Miami Masters is an annual tennis tournament for men and women held in Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida. It is an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the men's tour and a Premier Mandatory event on the women's tour and is played on hard courts at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park...
, Henin reached the final for the first time in her career, where she lost to Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...
0–6, 7–5, 6–3 after holding two match points at 6–0, 5–4. Her next tournament was the J&S Cup in Warsaw, Poland, which she won, beating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
in the final, 6–1, 6–3. Later, at the Qatar Telecom German Open
Qatar Telecom German Open
The German Open, sponsored from 2006 through 2008 as the Qatar Telecom German Open, was a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women played in Berlin, Germany. Held since 1896, it was one of the oldest tournaments for women...
in Berlin, Henin won her quarterfinal against Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from Serbia. She reached the final of the 2008 US Open and won the 2007 Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title. Janković is ranked world no...
3–6, 6–4, 6–4 after being behind 4–0 in the third set, only to lose her semifinal against Kuznetsova 6–4, 5–7, 6–4. The loss was only her second to Kuznetsova in 16 career meetings.
At the French Open, Henin was the two-time defending champion and top seed. In a highly-anticipated quarterfinal match against Serena Williams, Henin won 6–4, 6–3. She then defeated Janković in the semifinals 6–2, 6–2. In the final, Henin defeated Ana Ivanović
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanović is a former world no. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of November 7, 2011, she is ranked 22th on the WTA rankings. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open...
in straight sets, 6–1, 6–2 to claim her third consecutive French Open title, equalling Seles's open era record. She also surpassed US$15 million in career prize money earnings. Henin won the tournament without dropping a set and had not lost a set at this tournament since the 2005 French Open
2005 French Open
The 2005 French Open was the 104th edition of the tournament. Rafael Nadal, seeded fourth in his first French Open, was a strong favorite after winning the Rome and Monte Carlo Masters, with Guillermo Coria, a 2004 finalist and runner-up in Monaco, calling Nadal the best clay-court player in the...
quarterfinals. She had not lost a match at the French Open since 2004
2004 French Open
The 2004 French Open was the 103rd edition of the tournament. Gastón Gaudio became the first men's Open Era Grand Slam title winner to save match points in the final; the last time that had happened was 70 years earlier. Gaudio also became the first Argentine man since Guillermo Vilas to win a...
.
The International Women's Open in Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
was Henin's first grass court tournament of the year. She and Mauresmo reached the final, which was the first time in nearly 30 years that the Eastbourne final included both finalists from Wimbledon the previous year. Henin recovered from a breakdown in the final set to win in a third-set tiebreak for the second consecutive year.
At Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
, Henin lost to Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli is a French professional tennis player and the current French no. 1. She has won seven Women's Tennis Association singles titles and three doubles titles. She was also a runner-up at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships....
in the semifinals 1–6, 7–5, 6–1, one day after Henin defeated Serena Williams in the quarterfinals. It was Henin's first win over the American on a surface other than clay. In the semifinal, Henin was up a break at 1–0 and 4–3 in the second set, but could not hold the lead.
In August, Henin won the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto, defeating Janković in the final. The tournament championship was Henin's 35th on the WTA tour, moving her past Clijsters who retired with 34 tournament championships.
At the US Open
2007 U.S. Open (tennis)
The 2007 US Open was held from 27 August to 9 September 2007, at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows, New York City....
, Henin defeated her first four opponents in straight sets, with a 6–0 set in each match. Henin then faced Serena Williams in the quarterfinals for the third consecutive time in a Grand Slam tournament, and for the third time, Henin won, 7–6(3), 6–1. In the semifinals against Venus Williams
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...
, Henin was up a break in the first set but could not hold it. She finally won the set in a tiebreak. In the second set, Henin was ahead 3–0 before Williams leveled the set at 3–3. Williams then had three break points on Henin's service but could not convert and lost the game. Henin then broke Williams's serve and held her own serve to go up 5–3. Williams then broke Henin to pull within 5–4 but Henin broke Williams again in the last game to win the match 7–6(2), 6–4. Henin became only the second player to defeat both Williams sisters in the same Grand Slam tournament (after Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
at the 2001 Australian Open
2001 Australian Open
The 2001 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts from 15 to 28 January.-Men's Singles: Andre Agassi def. Arnaud Clément, 6–4, 6–2, 6–2...
). In the final, Henin won her second US Open singles title, defeating Kuznetsova in straight sets, 6–1, 6–3. Henin won the tournament without dropping a set.
Henin won her next tournament, the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix is a tennis tournament held in Stuttgart, Germany . Held since 1978, the tournament is the oldest women's indoor tournament in Europe. Currently it is a Tier II tournament on the WTA Tour. The singles champion also receives a Porsche 911 Carrera sports car in addition...
, defeating Tatiana Golovin
Tatiana Golovin
Tatiana Golovin is an inactive French professional tennis player. She is best known for her explosive forehand, which was said to be one of the best at the time. She notably won the 2004 French Open mixed doubles event with Richard Gasquet, and reached the singles quarterfinal at the 2006 U.S....
in the final. Two weeks later, Henin won the Zurich Open
2007 Zürich Open
2007 Zurich Open is a Tier I tennis event on the 2007 WTA Tour.Justine Henin won her second title here, her first coming in 2003. Tatiana Golovin reached her first Tier I tournament final.-Women's Singles:...
, her ninth title of the year, by again defeating Golovin in the final.
At the WTA Tour Championships
2007 WTA Tour Championships
The 2007 WTA Tour Championships, officially Sony Ericsson Championships, is the thirty seventh season-ending WTA Tour Championships, the annual tennis tournament for the eight best female tennis players in singles, and four teams in doubles, on the 2007 WTA Tour...
, Henin won all three of her round robin matches, defeating Anna Chakvetadze
Anna Chakvetadze
Anna Djambulilovna Chakvetadze is a Russian professional tennis player . On September 10, 2007, she reached her career-high professional singles ranking of World No. 5. She has won eight WTA Singles Titles and appeared in the 2007 US Open semifinals. As of July 4, 2011, Chakvetadze is ranked World...
, Janković, and Bartoli. Going into the match against Bartoli, Henin had won 22 consecutive matches since Bartoli defeated her in the 2007 Wimbledon semifinals. Although Henin had already clinched a spot in the semifinals, both Henin and Bartoli did not know Bartoli had to replace Serena Williams until several hours before the match and lost 6–0, 6–0. In the semifinals, Henin defeated Ivanović 6–4, 6–4. In the final, Henin overcame Sharapova in three sets in a match that lasted 3 hours, 24 minutes. Sharapova won the first set on her eighth set point in the 12-minute last game. Henin won the match on her fifth match point in the final game of the match. This was Henin's longest ever match, the longest final in tournament history, and the twelfth longest women's match ever.
This victory extended Henin's winning streak to 25 matches. She only lost three sets after Wimbledon. This victory made her the sixth player to successfully defend her title at the WTA's season-ending championship and the first player to claim at least 10 tour titles in a year since Hingis won 12 in 1997. She also became the first woman to break the US$5 million barrier in prize money in a year, and by crossing US$19 million, Henin is now ranked fifth on the all time prize money list.
Henin ended the year ranked World No. 1 for the third time in her career, having done so previously in 2003 and 2006. She was the first player since Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
to end the year ranked World No. 1 consecutively for two years (Hingis was ranked year-end World No. 1 in 1999–2000). She also ended the year with a 63–4 record, having lost to only four players: Lucie Šafářová
Lucie Šafárová
Lucie Šafářová is a professional Czech tennis player. She was born in Brno.Šafářová has won four WTA tour singles titles and reached the quarterfinals of the 2007 Australian Open, upsetting defending champion Amélie Mauresmo en-route...
, Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...
, Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ; born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of October 10, 2011 ranked No. 21 in the WTA singles and No. 90 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in six doubles...
, and Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli
Marion Bartoli is a French professional tennis player and the current French no. 1. She has won seven Women's Tennis Association singles titles and three doubles titles. She was also a runner-up at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships....
. She had the best win percentage record in 15 years, since Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
in 1995.
2008: Retirement
Henin started the year as the World No. 1. 14 January marked Henin's 100th career week as World No. 1, and on 10 March, Henin became only the seventh female player to be ranked World No. 1 for 12 consecutive months.The Medibank International in Sydney was Henin's first tournament of the year. She defeated Ana Ivanović in the semifinals 6–2, 2–6, 6–4. She then defeated World No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ; born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of October 10, 2011 ranked No. 21 in the WTA singles and No. 90 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in six doubles...
4–6, 6–2, 6–4, overcoming an 0–3 deficit in the final set.
At the Australian Open
2008 Australian Open - Women's Singles
Serena Williams was the defending champion, but lost in the quarterfinals to Jelena Janković.Maria Sharapova won in the final 7–5, 6–3, against Ana Ivanović to win her third Grand Slam title and her first at the Australian Open. She was also the first Russian woman to win this tournament...
in Melbourne, Henin won her 32nd consecutive match in the fourth round, defeating Hsieh Su-wei
Hsieh Su-wei
Hsieh Su-wei is a Taiwanese professional female tennis player. As of July 12, 2010 she is ranked 322nd in the WTA Tour singles rankings and is the fourth-highest ranked Taiwanese women's singles player. -2006–2007:...
of Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
6–2, 6–2. The winning streak ended in the quarterfinals when Sharapova, the eventual winner, defeated Henin 6–4, 6–0. This was Henin's first 6–0 loss since the 2002 French Open
2002 French Open
The 2002 French Open was the second Grand Slam event of 2002 and the 101st edition of the French Open. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from late May through early June, 2002.-Men's singles:...
and the first time since the 2005 US Open that Henin had been defeated in a Grand Slam singles tournament before the semifinals.
At the Proximus Diamond Games
Proximus Diamond Games
The Proximus Diamond Games was a professional tennis tournament held in Antwerp, Belgium. Held since 2002, the tournament takes place in the Sportpaleis, and was played at the beginning of February...
in Antwerp, Henin defeated Karin Knapp
Karin Knapp
Karin Knapp is an Italian female tennis player. She was ranked World No. 35 on 25 February 2008.-Career:...
in the final. This was Henin's second singles title in her native Belgium. Two weeks later at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, Henin was the defending champion but lost for the first time in eight meetings to Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone is an Italian tennis player who turned professional in 1998. She won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles. She was also runner-up at the 2011 French Open. As of 24 October 2011, Schiavone's ranking is World...
in the quarterfinals 7–6(3), 7–6(4). Henin had struggled for three hours in her first match against Katarina Srebotnik
Katarina Srebotnik
Katarina Srebotnik is a Slovenian professional tennis player. Srebotnik is right-handed, 1.80 m, weighs 65 kg and lives in Dubai. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 20 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour on August 7, 2006.Srebotnik won 4 singles titles on the WTA-tour and was a steady top 30...
, eventually winning 7–5, 6–7, 6–3.
After taking a four week break, Henin's next tournament was the Tier I Miami Masters
Miami Masters
The Miami Masters is an annual tennis tournament for men and women held in Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida. It is an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the men's tour and a Premier Mandatory event on the women's tour and is played on hard courts at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park...
. She lost in the quarterfinals to Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...
6–2, 6–0. Henin then withdrew from the Tier I Family Circle Cup
Family Circle Cup
The Family Circle Cup is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. The tournament is currently played on the green clay courts at the Daniel Island Tennis Center in Charleston, South Carolina, USA...
in Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
because of an injury to her right knee.
At the Tier I, clay court Qatar Telecom German Open
Qatar Telecom German Open
The German Open, sponsored from 2006 through 2008 as the Qatar Telecom German Open, was a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women played in Berlin, Germany. Held since 1896, it was one of the oldest tournaments for women...
in Berlin, Henin lost in the third round to Dinara Safina
Dinara Safina
Dinara Mikhailovna Safina , born April 27, 1986 in Moscow, is a Russian professional tennis player of Tatar background. Safina's career high ranking is World No. 1....
5–7, 6–3, 6–1, in what turned out to be her last match before retirement. In their five previous career matches, Henin had never lost a set to Safina. The day after her defeat, Henin withdrew from the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, citing fatigue.
Henin announced her immediate retirement from professional tennis on 14 May 2008, and requested the Women's Tennis Association
Women's Tennis Association
The Women's Tennis Association , founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King, is the principal organizing body of Women's Professional Tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women. Its counterpart organization in the men's professional game is the Association of...
to remove her name from the rankings immediately. Her announcement was a surprise because Henin was still ranked World No. 1 and was considered the favorite for the 2008 French Open
2008 French Open
The 2008 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 107th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from May 25 through June 8, 2008....
, where she would have been the 3-time defending champion. She said she felt no sadness about her retirement because she believed it was a release from a game she had focused on for twenty years. She also said that in the future, she will be concentrating on charity and her tennis school.
2010: Comeback
Belgian newspaper, Vers l'Avenir, reported on Tuesday 22 September 2009 that Henin would formally announce her return to competitive tennis after 16 months of retirement. Later that day, Justine Henin confirmed her return to competition.Henin mentioned seeing Roger Federer finally complete the grand slam of titles by winning the French Open in 2009 had been an inspiration, as had Kim Clijsters return to the tour and her victory at the US Open.
Henin made her return to tennis at the 2010 Brisbane International
2010 Brisbane International
The 2010 Brisbane International was a joint ATP and WTA tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 2nd edition of the tournament and was played at the Queensland Tennis Centre in Tennyson, Brisbane. The centre court, Pat Rafter Arena is named in honour of Australian tennis hero...
where she was given a wildcard. She defeated No. 2 seed Nadia Petrova
Nadia Petrova
Nadezhda Viktorovna Petrova is a Russian professional tennis player.Overall, she has won 28 WTA Titles, ten in singles and eighteen in doubles. In singles, Petrova has reached a career high ranking of World No. 3 in May 2006 and has reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2003 and 2005...
, Sesil Karatantcheva
Sesil Karatantcheva
Sesil Karatantcheva is a Bulgarian-born Kazakhstani tennis player. Karatantcheva played for Bulgaria until February 2, 2009, when she changed nationality. She will play for Kazakhstan until at least 2012....
, No. 7 seed Melinda Czink
Melinda Czink
Melinda Czink is a Hungarian professional female tennis player. On September 21, 2009 Czink reached her career-high singles ranking of World No. 37....
and No. 3 seed Ana Ivanović
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanović is a former world no. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of November 7, 2011, she is ranked 22th on the WTA rankings. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open...
to make it to the final. She then lost to her Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
compatriot Kim Clijsters
Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 7 November 2011, Clijsters is ranked No. 13 in singles. Clijsters is a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles....
in the final, 6–3, 4–6, 7–6(6) in a 2 hour, 23 minute match.
At the 2010 Australian Open, Henin was given a wildcard as an unranked player. Henin started off with a straight sets victory over Belgian Kirsten Flipkens
Kirsten Flipkens
Kirsten Flipkens is a professional female Belgian tennis player since 2003. Her career high rank for singles is No. 59 . She won 10 ITF Singles titles, and 1 ITF Doubles title....
. She set up the most highly anticipated second round match of the tournament with No. 5 seed Elena Dementieva
Elena Dementieva
Elena Viatcheslavovna Dementieva is a retired Russian professional tennis player. Dementieva is most notable for winning the singles gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She won 16 WTA singles titles and reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open. Dementieva achieved a...
, whom she defeated 7–5, 7–6(5). Lasting two hours and fifty minutes, commentators felt this match was worthy of a final. Henin approached the net forty-three times, winning thirty-five of those points. In the third round, she defeated No. 28 seed Alisa Kleybanova
Alisa Kleybanova
Alisa Mikhaelovna Kleybanova is a Russian professional tennis player. Her highest WTA world ranking to date is No. 20, achieved on February 21, 2010...
from Russia; where she made a comeback to win 3–6, 6–4, 6–2. In the fourth round she faced World No. 16 and fellow Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Yanina Wickmayer
Yanina Wickmayer
Yanina Wickmayer is a Belgian professional tennis player who is currently ranked world no. 22 and is the second-highest ranked female Belgian tennis player. She reached her career-high ranking of world no. 12 on 19 April 2010...
, defeating her in 3 sets 7–6, 1–6, 6–3. She then defeated No. 19 seed Nadia Petrova
Nadia Petrova
Nadezhda Viktorovna Petrova is a Russian professional tennis player.Overall, she has won 28 WTA Titles, ten in singles and eighteen in doubles. In singles, Petrova has reached a career high ranking of World No. 3 in May 2006 and has reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2003 and 2005...
from Russia in the quarter-finals. Henin won 7–6, 7–5 after having been down 0–3 in the second set. She then went on to defeat Zheng Jie
Zheng Jie
Zheng Jie is a Chinese professional tennis player. Her career high ranking is World No. 15 which she achieved on May 18, 2009. As of August 15, 2011, Zheng is ranked World No. 65 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles....
from China in the semi-finals in convincing fashion 6–1, 6–0, setting up a clash with World No. 1 Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...
in the 2010 Australian Open
2010 Australian Open
The 2010 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place in Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 18 to 31 January. It was the 98th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year....
ladies final. This was the first time in their long rivalry that Henin and Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...
met in a Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
Final. Henin would eventually fall to Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...
in 3 sets 6–4, 3–6, 6–2.
A wildcard was granted for Henin to compete at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open
2010 BNP Paribas Open
The 2010 BNP Paribas Open was a tennis tournament played at Indian Wells, California in March 2010. It was the 36th edition of the event, known this year as the BNP Paribas Open, and is classified as an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the 2010 ATP World Tour and a Premier Mandatory event on...
in Indian Wells
Indian Wells, California
Indian Wells is a city in Riverside County, California, in the Coachella Valley , in between Palm Desert and La Quinta. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 4,958....
, a Premier Mandatory tournament. In the first round, Henin defeated Magdaléna Rybáriková
Magdaléna Rybáriková
Magdaléna Rybáriková is a Slovak professional tennis player. On June 22, 2009, she achieved her career-high WTA singles ranking of 40th.-Biography:...
6–2, 6–2 in a little over an hour. Henin then lost to Gisela Dulko
Gisela Dulko
Gisela Dulko is an Argentine female tennis player, who will, as of 4 July 2011, be ranked World No. 51 in singles and No. 4 in doubles. Although she enjoyed a modest success in singles, reaching No. 26 on November 21, 2005, and winning four WTA Tour titles, her speciality has been doubles, where...
, 2–6, 6–1, 4–6, in a 2 hour match. The result gave her a new rank of World No. 33 as of 22 March 2010.
She defeated Jill Craybas
Jill Craybas
- Early years :Craybas was born in Providence, Rhode Island. She received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, where she played for coach Andy Brandi's Florida Gators women's tennis team in National Collegiate Athletics Association competition from 1993 to...
of USA 6–2,6–2 in the first round of Sony Ericsson Open. In the second round, Henin defeated World No. 6 Elena Dementieva
Elena Dementieva
Elena Viatcheslavovna Dementieva is a retired Russian professional tennis player. Dementieva is most notable for winning the singles gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She won 16 WTA singles titles and reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open. Dementieva achieved a...
6–3, 6–2 in 90 minutes. In the third round, Henin defeated Dominika Cibulková
Dominika Cibulková
Dominika Cibulková is a Slovak professional tennis player. She is also a former World Junior No. 3, achieving that ranking in May 2005. Her career-high ranking of World No. 12 was achieved on 6 July 2009...
in 93 minutes, 6–4, 6–4 advancing to the quarterfinals where Henin thrashed Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva
Vera Zvonareva is a professional tennis player from Russia. She was introduced to tennis at the age of six and turned professional in 2000. Her career high is World No. 2 by the WTA, and she is currently ranked as the World No. 7. Zvonarёva has won twelve WTA Tour singles titles and reached the...
6–1, 6–4 to set up a meeting in the quarterfinals with World No.2 Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki is a Danish professional tennis player. She is the current world no. 1 on the WTA Tour. As of 7 November 2011, she has held this position for 56 weeks...
. After defeating World No. 2 Wozniacki in a three-set match, she fell to compatriot Kim Clijsters
Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 7 November 2011, Clijsters is ranked No. 13 in singles. Clijsters is a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles....
in a semifinal battle, 2–6, 7–6 (3), 6–7 (6). Following her Sony Ericsson Open performance, Henin moved into the top 25 for the first time since her comeback.
Henin's next tournament was the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix is a tennis tournament held in Stuttgart, Germany . Held since 1978, the tournament is the oldest women's indoor tournament in Europe. Currently it is a Tier II tournament on the WTA Tour. The singles champion also receives a Porsche 911 Carrera sports car in addition...
in Stuttgart. Henin played through this tournament injured, having previously broken her left pinkie during Fed Cup practice. In the first round, Henin saw off German qualifier Julia Görges
Julia Görges
Julia Görges is a professional tennis player from Germany. Görges reached career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 16 on 6 June 2011 and a doubles ranking of 31 on 6 June 2011...
7–6 (3), 6–1. In her second round, she defeated World No. 12 and fellow Belgian Yanina Wickmayer
Yanina Wickmayer
Yanina Wickmayer is a Belgian professional tennis player who is currently ranked world no. 22 and is the second-highest ranked female Belgian tennis player. She reached her career-high ranking of world no. 12 on 19 April 2010...
, defeating her for the 2nd consecutive time, 6–3, 7–5. In the quarterfinals, she defeated fourth seed and World No. 7 Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković
Jelena Janković is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from Serbia. She reached the final of the 2008 US Open and won the 2007 Wimbledon Mixed Doubles title. Janković is ranked world no...
3–6, 7–6 (4), 6–3 for the tenth time in her career. She defeated World No. 20 Shahar Pe'er
Shahar Pe'er
Shahar Pe'er is an Israeli professional tennis player. Her career-high singles ranking is World No. 11, which she achieved on January 31, 2011 ....
in the semifinals, 6–3, 6–2, and reached her third final in five tournaments this year. She faced World No. 10 Samantha Stosur
Samantha Stosur
Samantha "Sam" Jane Stosur is an Australian professional tennis player. She won the 2011 US Open singles title and was a finalist at the 2010 French Open. Stosur is ranked World No. 6 and her career high in singles is World No. 4, achieved on 21 February 2011. She is a former world No...
. Henin won the final 6–4, 2–6, 6–1 in 100 minutes, to procure her first title in 2010 (in her 3rd final). Winning this tournament also sent Henin into the Top 20 for the first time since her comeback.
At the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open
2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open
The 2010 Madrid Masters was played on outdoor clay courts at the Park Manzanares in Madrid, Spain from May 7 – May 16. It was the 9th edition of the event on the ATP and 2nd on the WTA...
she was defeated in the first round by eventual champion Aravane Rezaï
Aravane Rezaï
Aravane Rezaï is an Iranian-French tennis player born in Saint-Étienne, France to Iranian parents. She is the current French No. 5 in women's tennis. Rezaï took up tennis after a childhood stint as her older brother's ball girl...
4–6, 7–5, 6–0. As a result of this shock loss, Henin dropped out of the Top 20 to No.23. Henin then participated at the 2010 French Open
2010 French Open
The 2010 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 109th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year...
, seeded 22nd, the second grand slam of the year where she has won four previous titles. In the 1st round, she defeated Tsvetana Pironkova
Tsvetana Pironkova
Tsvetana Kirilova Pironkova is a female Bulgarian tennis player. She was born and lives in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Pironkova is right-handed and plays with a two-handed backhand....
in 89 minutes, 6–4, 6–3. In the 2nd round, Henin faced Klára Zakopalová and defeated her 6–3, 6–3. In the third round, facing former World No. 1 Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ,. is a Russian professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. A US resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open...
, Henin ended her streak of consecutive sets at 40, losing the 2nd set to Sharapova but going on to win 6–2, 3–6, 6–3. She had then tied the number of consecutive sets won at the French Open with Helen Wills Moody
Helen Wills Moody
Helen Newington Wills Roark , also known as Helen Wills Moody, was an American tennis player. She has been described as "the first American born woman to achieve international celebrity as an athlete."-Biography:...
. She lost to World No. 7 Samantha Stosur
Samantha Stosur
Samantha "Sam" Jane Stosur is an Australian professional tennis player. She won the 2011 US Open singles title and was a finalist at the 2010 French Open. Stosur is ranked World No. 6 and her career high in singles is World No. 4, achieved on 21 February 2011. She is a former world No...
2–6, 6–1, 6–4 in the fourth round, her first defeat at Roland Garros since 2004.
Henin began the grass court season at the 2010 UNICEF Open
2010 UNICEF Open
The 2010 UNICEF Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts. It was the 21st edition of the UNICEF Open, and was part of the 250 Series of the 2010 ATP World Tour, and of the WTA International tournaments of the 2010 WTA Tour...
, where she was the top seed for the first time since her return. In the first three rounds she defeated Angelique Kerber
Angelique Kerber
Angelique Kerber is a professional German tennis player of Polish descent, who has considered representing Poland. She began playing tennis aged five. Kerber has a career high ranking of World No. 30 achieved on 3 October 2011...
, Roberta Vinci
Roberta Vinci
Roberta Vinci is an Italian tennis player. As of 29 August 2011, Vinci is ranked World No. 20, on the WTA Tour Rankings. Vinci has won thirteen WTA Tour titles, six in singles and seven in doubles....
, and Kristina Barrois
Kristina Barrois
Kristina Barrois is a professional German tennis player who has won two German Tennis Championships and reached the second round of all four Grand Slam events, as well as the final of two WTA tournaments. She lives in Urexweiler, Marpingen. Her career high rank is World No...
in straight sets. She then demolished No. 5 seed Alexandra Dulgheru
Alexandra Dulgheru
Alexandra Dulgheru is a Romanian professional tennis player. She achieved a singles career high of World No. 26 on April 11, 2011. Her career high in doubles was World No. 47 on March 21, 2011.She is coached by Gabriel Urpi.-Biography:...
in the semifinals, 6–2, 6–2. In the final, she defeated No. 7 seed Andrea Petkovic
Andrea Petkovic
Andrea Petkovic is a professional German tennis player of Serbian origin. She is the highest ranked German tennis player. She lives in Griesheim near Darmstadt, Germany....
to win her 43rd career title and second of the year.
At the 2010 Wimbledon Championships
2010 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Singles
The Women's Singles event at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships saw defending champion and top seed Serena Williams successfully defend her title with a 6–3, 6–2 win over Vera Zvonareva in the final, whilst failing to lose a set throughout the entire tournament...
, Henin was the No. 17 seed. In the third round, she had a convincing victory over Nadia Petrova
Nadia Petrova
Nadezhda Viktorovna Petrova is a Russian professional tennis player.Overall, she has won 28 WTA Titles, ten in singles and eighteen in doubles. In singles, Petrova has reached a career high ranking of World No. 3 in May 2006 and has reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2003 and 2005...
, winning 6–1, 6–4. Justine was eventually defeated in the fourth round by Kim Clijsters
Kim Clijsters
Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 7 November 2011, Clijsters is ranked No. 13 in singles. Clijsters is a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles....
2–6, 6–2, 6–3, after claiming a convincing first set win. Midway through the first set, Henin slipped on the court, injuring her right elbow. Further examinations revealed a partial ligament fracture in her elbow, causing her to end her 2010 season prematurely.
2011: Second retirement
Henin started her season at the 2011 Hopman Cup2011 Hopman Cup
-Serbia vs. Kazakhstan: -Belgium vs. Kazakhstan: -Serbia vs. Australia: -Australia vs. Kazakhstan: -Serbia vs. Belgium: -Standings:...
. She did not lose any sets in the competition earning comfortable victories over Alicia Molik
Alicia Molik
Alicia Molik is a Australian professional female tennis player. She reached a career high singles rank of number 8 and also won a bronze medal for Australia at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Molik also reached a career high doubles ranking of number 6, and won two grand slam doubles titles, at the...
from Australia, Sesil Karatantcheva
Sesil Karatantcheva
Sesil Karatantcheva is a Bulgarian-born Kazakhstani tennis player. Karatantcheva played for Bulgaria until February 2, 2009, when she changed nationality. She will play for Kazakhstan until at least 2012....
from Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
, Ana Ivanović
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Ivanović is a former world no. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of November 7, 2011, she is ranked 22th on the WTA rankings. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open...
of Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
and Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the USA in the final.
Henin was the 11th seed and a defending finalist at the 2011 Australian Open
2011 Australian Open
The 2011 Australian Open was a tennis tournament featuring six different competitions, and part of the 2011 ATP World Tour, the 2011 WTA Tour, ITF Junior Tour and the NEC Tour, as tournaments for professional, junior and wheelchair players were held...
. Henin defeated Sania Mirza
Sania Mirza
Sania Mirza is a professional Indian tennis player. She began her tennis career in 2003 and is well known for her powerful forehand ground strokes. She is the first ever Indian to break into the top 30 WTA rankings...
from India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in the first round 5–7, 6–3, 6–1 and Elena Baltacha
Elena Baltacha
Elena Baltacha is a British professional tennis player of Ukrainian background. Being a four-time winner of the AEGON Award, she is also the long standing British number 1, a position she has held intermittently since 2002. As of 24 November 2011 she holds a current world ranking of No. 50. Her...
in the second round, 6–1, 6–3. She then fell to 23rd seed Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ; born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of October 10, 2011 ranked No. 21 in the WTA singles and No. 90 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in six doubles...
in the third round 4–6, 6–7(8).
After that defeat, Henin announced her definitive retirement from professional tennis on 26 January 2011, due to a new injury of the elbow that she had injured the year before at Wimbledon.
Public life and endorsements
In May 2007, Henin and her coach Carlos Rodriguez started the Academy 6th Sense. At the 2009 US Open – Girls' Doubles the UkrainianUkraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
tennis player Maryna Zanevska
Maryna Zanevska
Maryna Zanevska is a Ukrainian tennis player and winner of the 2009 US Open - Girls' Doubles with her Russian double partner Valeria Solovieva...
became the first "6th Sense player" to win a Grand Slam title.
On 30 November 2007, Henin opened her own tennis academy Club Justine N1 (in French, "N1" is pronounced almost exactly the same as "Henin").
On 14 May 2008, Henin announced her immediate retirement from professional tennis. She was 25 years old and ranked World No. 1 at the time. She announced her return to competitive tennis on 22 September 2009.
After retiring, Henin became involved in two Belgian reality shows in 2009. In May, she starred in De Twaalf Werken van Justine Henin – Les 12 travaux de Justine Henin (The 12 Labors of Justine Henin). The show followed Henin as she completed 12 personal challenges. In June 2009, she hosted a musical TV show that revolved around Belgian-Italian singer Lara Fabian
Lara Fabian
Lara Fabian is a Belgian-Italian international singer who also holds Canadian citizenship. Multilingual, she sings in French, Italian and English....
.
Records
- These records were attained in the open eraOpen eraOpen era or Open Era may refer to:* Open Era , the period since 1968 where professionals can compete in Grand Slams* Glasnost era, the increased openness in the Soviet Union from the mid-1980s...
of tennis.Grand Slam Years Record accomplished Player tied French Open 2005–07 3 consecutive singles titles Monica Seles Monica SelesMonica Seles is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She was born in Novi Sad, Serbia, former Yugoslavia to Hungarian parents. She became a naturalized United States citizen in 1994 and also received Hungarian citizenship in June 2007...French Open 2006, 07 Won the French Open twice without losing a set Stands alone Grand Slam 2006 Reached all four Grand Slam finals in a calendar year Grand Slam (tennis)The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
Margaret Court
Chris EvertChris EvertChristine Marie "Chris" Evert is a former world number 1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open. She was the year-ending World No...
Martina Navratilova
Steffi GrafSteffi GrafSteffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
Monica SelesMonica SelesMonica Seles is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She was born in Novi Sad, Serbia, former Yugoslavia to Hungarian parents. She became a naturalized United States citizen in 1994 and also received Hungarian citizenship in June 2007...
Martina HingisMartina HingisMartina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...Grand Slam 2007 Won two different Grand Slam singles titles in a calendar year without losing a set Billie Jean King Billie Jean KingBillie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...
Martina Navratilova
Steffi GrafSteffi GrafSteffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
Martina HingisMartina HingisMartina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
Serena WilliamsSerena WilliamsSerena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on... - Open era record for most consecutive sets won at the French Open: 40 (2005–2010). Also tied with Helen Wills MoodyHelen Wills MoodyHelen Newington Wills Roark , also known as Helen Wills Moody, was an American tennis player. She has been described as "the first American born woman to achieve international celebrity as an athlete."-Biography:...
for the all-time record for the number of consecutive sets won at the French Open.
Awards and honors
2002- UEPS European Sportswoman of the Year.
2003
- Belgian Sportswoman of the YearBelgian Sportsman of the yearThe Belgian Sportsman of the Year is elected at the end of each year, annually since 1967. A Belgian Sportswoman of the Year title has been given out since 1975...
. - ITF World Champion.
- UEPS European Sportswoman of the Year.
2004
- WTA Player of the Year (for 2003).
- Belgian Sportswoman of the Year.
2005
- Family Circle/State Farm "Player Who Makes A Difference".
- Whirlpool 6th Sense Player of the Year.
2006
- Appointed UNESCOUNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
Champion for Sport. - ITF World Champion.
- Belgian Sportswoman of the Year
- Member of the Belgian Sporting Team of the Year (Fed Cup – Team)
- UEPS European Sportswoman of the Year.
2007
- Whirlpool 6th Sense Player of the Year.
- Belgian Sportswoman of the Year.
- Belgian Sports Personality of the YearBelgian Sports Personality of the YearThe Belgian Sports Personality of the Year is an annual sports award given in January by the Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad to the greatest personality in sports. For this award, not only athletes qualify but everyone who's involved in sports A person can only win this award once in his...
(career award). - ITF World Champion.
- USSA Female Athlete of the Year.
- EFE Sportsperson of the Year.
- UEPS European Sportswoman of the Year.
2008
- Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year
- WTA Player of the Year (for 2007).
2010
- WTA Comeback Player of the Year
See also
- List of female tennis players
- List of Grand Slam Women's Singles champions
- Belgium at the 2004 Summer OlympicsBelgium at the 2004 Summer Olympics-Medalists:-Men:-Women:-Men:-Women:-Mountain biking:-Road:MenWomen-Track:-Equestrian:EventingJumping-Fencing:Men-Artistic Gymnastics:Women-Judo:Women-Men:-Sailing:-Shooting:...
- Henin – S. Williams rivalry
- Clijsters–Henin rivalryClijsters–Henin rivalryJustine Henin and Kim Clijsters are professional tennis players who engaged in a long standing rivalry which spanned twenty-five meetings over a twelve-year period, with eight of those meetings taking place in a Grand Slam tournament...