Justine Henin

Justine Henin

Justine Henin is the current World Number 1 Women's Tennis Player. She was born June 1, 1982 in Liège, the Walloon (French-speaking) region of Belgium. To date she has won six Grand Slam singles titles (including four French Open singles titles) a WTA Tour Championships singles title and the singles gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics. She is now focusing on winning Wimbledon for the first time.

John McEnroe was being serious when he cited her one-handed backhand as the best of any tennis player; male or female. Justine is also considered a tough cookie with a strong mental determination.

Justine Henin Wins Olympic Gold 2004

Personal Life

Justine's personal life has been the subject of much media interest as it has been tinged with sadness although some might say it has given her mental strengh. Henin's trainer, Carlos Rodriguez, has been a strong father figure since her mother died when Henin was 12 years old. Until recently, she was estranged from her father, José Henin but shortly after her divorce in earlier this year, Henin herself announced that she had made contact again with her close family. She has two older brothers and one younger sister. Sadly her elder sister died in a car accident before Justine was born.

Justine married Pierre-Yves Hardenne on November 16, 2002, in the Château de Lavaux-Sainte-Anne. She used the name Justine Henin-Hardenne on the tennis court from January 2003 until December 2006. However, in January 2007, following her withdrawl from the Australian Open she announced her separation from her husband and has reverted to her maiden name, "Justine Henin."

Starting Out

Her mother, Françoise Rosière, was a French and history teacher who routinely took the young the young Justine across the border to France to watch the French Open. Henin watched the 1992 final involving her idol Steffi Graf and Monica Seles. Although Graf lost, the experience impressed Justine, who apparently told her mother, "One day I will play here and I will win." Which of course she did!

Henin, (known as "Juju" to many of her fans) started her professional career on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour in May 1999 as a wild card entry in the Belgian Open at Antwerp bcoming only the fifth player to win her debut WTA Tour event.

Justine established herself as a major contender in 2001 when she reached the women's singles semifinals of the French Open and the women's singles final of Wimbledon, losing to Venus Williams. By the end of the year, she was ranked 7th in singles, with three titles under her belt.

In 2002, Justine rose to 5th in the WTA rankings as she reached four WTA finals, winning two of them. 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.

2003 v Clijsters

In 2003, Justine won her first Grand Slam tournament, the French Open, defeating fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters in the final 6-0, 6-4. Later that year, Henin won her second Grand Slam tournament, the U.S. Open, again beating Clijsters in the final 7-5, 6-1. On October 19, 2003, Justine usurped Clijsters as the top ranked female singles player. Henin was named the International Tennis Federation's women's singles World Champion for 2003.

2007

Henin's withdrawl from the Australian Open and the warm-up tournament in Sydney for personal reasons resulted in her losing the No. 1 ranking to Russian Maria Sharapova. She returned in the Open Gaz de France losing in the semifinals of to Czech Lucie Safarova 7-6, 6-4.

Justine then won two hardcourt tournaments in Dubai and Qatar. She won the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open for the fourth time in the last five years, defeating Amelie Mauresmo in the final 6-4, 7-5. In Doha, she won her first Qatar Total Open title, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final 6-4, 6-2. She also reached US$14 million in career prize money earnings, and on March 19th, she regained the No. 1 ranking.

Justine's next tournament win was the J&S Cup in Warsaw, Poland, where she beat Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-1, 6-3 in the final. At the French Open, Henin was the two-time defending champion and top seed. In the final, Henin defeated Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 6-2 claiming her third consecutive French Open title, equalling Monica Seles's open era record, and surpassed US$15 million in career prize money earnings.

Henin claims title at Eastbourne

In her first Grass Court tournament of the Year, at the International Womens Open in Eastbourne,"Queens" Justine defeated Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-1; Nicole Vaidisova 6-2, 6-2 and Marion Bartoli 6-1, 6-3 on her way to the final. The final was a much closer affair against Amelie Mauresmo. It was the first Eastbourne final in nearly 30 years between the two finalists at the previous years Wimbledon Championships. Henin fought back from a break down in the final set to win in the third set tie-break for the second consecutive year, completing a 7-5, 6-7(4), 7-6(2) victory. Henin was now the top seed and a strong favourite for Wimbledon

At Wimbledon, Henin lost to French outsider Marion Bartoli in the semifinals 1-6, 7-5, 6-1, having defeated Serena Williams in the quarterfinals. In the semifinal, Henin was up a break at 1-0 and 4-3 in the second set but could not hold the lead. The match was very tense and was one of the biggest upsets in Wimbledon history.

Justine put Wimbledon firmly behind her In August when she won the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto, defeating Jankovic in the final. The tournament championship was Henin's 35th on the WTA tour. At the U.S. 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. She then defeated Venus Williams in the semifinals 7-6(4), 6-4. In the final, Henin defeated Kuznetsova in straight sets a 6-1, 6-3, to win her second US Open title.

Henin also won her next tournament, the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, defeating Tatiana Golovin in the final 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 . On October 9, 2007, Henin clinched the year-end World No. 1 ranking for the third time in her career. Two weeks later, Henin won the Zürich Open, her ninth title of the year, by again defeating Golovin in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 in the final. At the WTA Tour Championships, Henin won all three of her round robin matches, defeating Anna Chakvetadze, Jankovic, and Bartoli. In the semifinals, Henin defeated Ivanovic 6-4, 6-4. In the final, Henin overcame Sharapova 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 in a match that lasted over three hours and twenty minutes. The victory extended Henin's winning streak to 25 matches and made her the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1989 to go undefeated in the second half of the year (following Wimbledon).

2008

"Impossible Is Nothing" - Justine Henin for Adidas

Henin started 2008 as the World No. 1. Justine got to a winning start to 2008 at the Medibank International in Sydney. Overcoming Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 in the semifinals, and World No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, inf the final battling back from a 0-3 deficit in the final set. At the Australian Open in Melbourne, Justine was finally defeated by Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-0.

Search For Justine

Link List:

• Justine in the News
• Amelie Mauresmo
• Nicole Vaidisova
• Milan Baros
• Fabregas
• www.racket.in