Justine Henin
Justine Henin ![]() |
|||||||||||||
![]() |
|||||||||||||
Justine Henin at the 2010 French Open | |||||||||||||
Nickname: | JuJu | ||||||||||||
Nation: |
![]() |
||||||||||||
Birthday: | June 1, 1982 | ||||||||||||
Size: | 167 cm | ||||||||||||
1st professional season: | 1999 | ||||||||||||
Resignation: | 2008 and 2011 | ||||||||||||
Playing hand: | Right | ||||||||||||
Prize money: | $ 20,863,335 | ||||||||||||
singles | |||||||||||||
Career record: | 525: 115 | ||||||||||||
Career title: | 43 WTA, 7 ITF | ||||||||||||
Highest ranking: | 1 (October 20, 2003) | ||||||||||||
Weeks as No. 1: | 117 | ||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
Double | |||||||||||||
Career record: | 47:35 | ||||||||||||
Career title: | 2 WTA, 2 ITF | ||||||||||||
Highest ranking: | 23 (January 14, 2002) | ||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
Olympic games | |||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
Sources: official player profiles at the ATP / WTA and ITF (see web links ) |
Justine Henin ( June 1, 1982 in Liège ) is a former Belgian tennis player .
; bornTheir athletic achievements were winning seven Grand Slam -Titeln, the gold medal at the Olympic Games of Athens and victories at the WTA Tour Championships in 2006 and 2007. As the sixth player in the history of professional tennis Henin led a total of over one hundred weeks, the WTA - World rankings , in 2003, 2006 and 2007 also at the end of the season. In May 2008, when she announced her immediate resignation, she resigned as the current number one player in the world rankings as the only player to date. At the beginning of 2010 she returned to the tour again, but in January 2011 she finally ended her career for health reasons.
Henin was considered by many tennis experts to be one of the most complete players on the tour. Their trademark and parade strike, the one-handed backhand, was described by John McEnroe as " the prettiest shot in all of tennis " (German: "the most beautiful shot that tennis ever has").
Life
From November 2002 to January 2007 Justine Henin was married to the Belgian tennis instructor Pierre-Yves Hardenne, during which time she was named Henin-Hardenne . The Walloon woman is the founder of a foundation for children with cancer, Les 20 Cœurs de Justine . When Justine was 12 years old, her mother died of cancer.
Apart from her professional career, she was also involved in tennis. She is the owner of a tennis club in Limelette, located southeast of Brussels , called Club Justine N1 . This is also the headquarters of the 6th Sense Tennis Academy , which she founded together with her long-time coach Carlos Rodriguez and which maintains two further training centers in Belgium and will soon open another facility in Orlando . Henin is also involved in charitable projects; she was on August 10, 2011 in China and denied a small show match with the Olympic champion in double by 2004, Tian Tian Sun .
Henin lived in Monte Carlo for years. She returned to Belgium and now lives in the province of Namur in Ave-et-Auffe, a district of Rochefort.
Career
Henin took her first steps on the international stage at an ITF tournament in Mallorca at the end of 1996 , where she reached the second round. The following year she participated in four ITF events in France and Belgium and won the tournaments of Le Touquet and Koksijde. In addition, the 15-year-old won the junior title at the 1997 French Open and shortly afterwards became the youngest Belgian champion of all time. The Walloon woman was first in the world rankings in 1998 after her next success at an ITF tournament in Gelos, France. She climbed from positions above 500 to 226 by the end of the year. In Grenelefe (Florida) and Ramat Hasharon, she won two more small ones Tournaments; in Israel she defeated her compatriot and future rival Kim Clijsters , with whom she was successful in the doubles competition.
The year 1999
In early 1999 she finally turned pro, but initially played a few tournaments at ITF level. In her sixth success there, she defeated Kim Clijsters again in the final in Reims. In mid-May she took part in the WTA Tour for the first time in Antwerp and immediately won her first WTA tournament (as the fifth player) when she clearly beat Sarah Pitkowski in two sets in the final. With three wins she qualified for the first time at the French Open for the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament ; in the second round she was on the verge of a sensation against world number two Lindsay Davenport , before losing 3: 6, 6: 2 and 5: 7 in the end. She was now directly qualified for the US Open , but lost to Amélie Mauresmo at the start . Then she reached the quarter-finals in Luxembourg and Québec and ended the season in 69th place in the world rankings.
The year 2000
At the beginning of the year, Henin prepared for her first participation in the Australian Open at the tournament in Hobart , where she qualified for the quarter-finals . There she had to compete against world number one Martina Hingis in the second round , against whom she lost significantly. After her second round defeat at the Paris indoor tournament , she took a break and then missed the French Open due to injury. Back in time for the grass season, she only won her opening match at the preparatory tournament in 's-Hertogenbosch. Her debut at Wimbledon ended in round one (loss of three sets to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario ). While she did not get past the second round at any WTA tournament until the end of the season, she won her seventh and final title at an ITF tournament in Liège at the end of July. Her best result of the season was reaching the round of 16 at the US Open, where she could not defeat Lindsay Davenport again.
The year 2001
Justine Henin got off to a very successful start in 2001, winning the tournaments on the Gold Coast and in Canberra in the run-up to the Australian Open. At the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, she lost in the round of 16 against Monica Seles in just three sets . It was nowhere near as good after returning from the fifth continent. At the tournaments in Nice, Scottsdale, Indian Wells and Miami, she won at most one match each. Only at the beginning of the clay court season did things improve again, in Estoril Henin just missed the finals and after the quarter-finals in Hamburg she reached the semifinals in Berlin, where she was in the lead against Jennifer Capriati in the third set because of an ankle injury. At the French Open, the Belgian reached her first Grand Slam semi-final without losing a set, in which she led against Kim Clijsters 6: 2 and 4: 2 before losing to her compatriot in three sets. After the tournament, Henin was included in the top ten of the world rankings for the first time.
About two weeks later she returned the favor in the final of 's-Hertogenbosch at Clijsters and celebrated her first tournament win on grass. At Wimbledon she was able to defeat the reigning Australian and French Open winner in three sets in the semi-finals with Jennifer Capriati and thus reached her first Grand Slam final, which she, however, against the big favorite Venus Williams with 1: 6, 6: 3 and 0: 6 lost. After failing in the round of eight in Toronto and New Haven, she lost the last 16 of the US Open against Serena Williams . In Hawaii, the Belgian played in the final of the small event, but had to give up against Sandrine Testud . Between two first round defeats in Moscow and Linz, she once again lost out against Lindsay Davenport in the Filderstadt final. When she first participated in the WTA Tour Championships , Henin was eliminated in the quarterfinals against Serena Williams.
The year 2002
At the beginning of the year, Venus Williams prevented Henin from successfully defending his title in the Gold Coast final , but Henin won her first of two double titles on the WTA Tour together with Meghann Shaughnessy . In Sydney and at the Australian Open, the quarter-finals (against Clijsters) were the final destination, as was the indoor tournament in Paris (against Seles). Henin suffered two more defeats in the final against Venus Williams, in Antwerp and a good two months later in Amelia Island, in between there was a round of 16 participation in Indian Wells and a first round defeat in Miami. As in the previous year, she failed in the quarter-finals in Hamburg before she finally celebrated her first victory in a Tier I event in Berlin when she prevailed against Serena Williams in the tie-break of the third set. Just a week later, the two faced each other again in the final in Rome, this time with the better ending for the American, who won in two tight sets.
As one of the favorites for the title at the French Open, Henin, suffering from flu, had to bury all hopes after the first round. In the lawn season she did not quite match the successes of the previous year; both in 's-Hertogenbosch and in Wimbledon, she was eliminated in the semifinals. At the third Grand Slam tournament of the year, she was again lost to Venus Williams. The quarterfinal participation in Montreal was still the best result of a mixed preparation for the US Open, in which she once again did not get past the second round (out against Daniela Hantuchová ). Between two semi-final defeats in Leipzig and Zurich, where she won the doubles competition together with Jelena Bowina, Henin failed in Filderstadt in her opening match. She celebrated her third tournament victory of the year in Linz , a few days before the WTA Tour Championships , where she lost to Clijsters in the quarter-finals.
The year 2003
Justine Henin opened the season in Sydney, where she reached the semifinals as well as the Australian Open. There she defeated Lindsay Davenport 7: 5, 5: 7 and 9: 7 for the first time in a heated battle, but then failed again at Venus Williams. In Antwerp, too, the semifinals were the final destination, as in Sydney they lost to Kim Clijsters. The Belgian had her first success of the year in Dubai, in the final she fended off a match point against Monica Seles and turned the match in her favor. In Miami, she surprisingly lost to Chanda Rubin in the quarter-finals - it was the only tournament that year in which Henin did not reach at least the semi-finals. On clay she secured her next title in Charleston with a clear win over Serena Williams, in the semi-finals at Amelia Island she was defeated by Jelena Dementjewa a week later . In Berlin, Henin repeated her previous year's success, against Clijsters she prevailed after defending three match points. With 15,000 spectators behind them, Henin first defeated defending champion Serena Williams in three sets at the French Open in an emotionally charged semi-final, after which she gave Clijsters no chance in the final and secured the first Grand Slam title 6: 0 and 6: 4 her career.
On the way to the second tournament victory on grass, she suffered a slight injury on her left hand in the final of 's-Hertogenbosch and gave up the match as a precaution. At Wimbledon she reached the semifinals against Serena Williams without any problems, in which she had no chance. After winning the San Diego and Toronto events in August, she made it almost effortlessly to the semifinals of the US Open, where she triumphed over Jennifer Capriati in a three-hour match at the highest level in the tie-break of the third set. Due to the total exhaustion - Henin was treated with infusions after the game - her participation in the final was briefly in doubt, but around 19 hours later she beat Kim Clijsters 7: 5 and 6: 1 and won her second Grand Slam title. In the final in Leipzig, Anastassija Myskina stopped her winning streak after 20 successes. With the eighth tournament victory of the year in Zurich, Henin achieved what she had just missed a week earlier in Filderstadt with the final defeat against Clijsters - the jump to the top of the world rankings. Although she had to let her compatriot pass again a week later, when she reached the semifinals at the WTA Tour Championships, in which she was defeated by Amélie Mauresmo, she was again number 1 in the world at the end of the season.
The year 2004
Right at the beginning of 2004, Henin won the tournament in Sydney and played her way to the final of the Australian Open without losing a set, in which she faced Clijsters again. In an initially one-sided and later balanced game, Henin secured her third Grand Slam title 6: 3, 4: 6 and 6: 3. In Doha she then conceded her first defeat of the season after 16 victories in the semifinals against Svetlana Kuznetsova ; she had beaten the Russian in the final in Dubai the week before. In Indian Wells she celebrated her fourth tournament victory against Lindsay Davenport, but it was to remain the last highlight for her for a long time. At the semi-final against Mauresmo in Amelia Island, she first felt symptoms of the viral disease cytomegaly ; because of exhaustion, she canceled her starts in Charleston and Berlin. At the French Open, she made a comeback attempt and was eliminated in round two against Tathiana Garbin .
She had to sit out for over two months until the doctors gave her the green light again shortly before the Olympics . In the semi-finals in Athens against Anastassija Myskina, she was able to turn a 1: 5 deficit in the third set into an 8: 6 and win the only gold medal for Belgium the following day with a final victory over Amélie Mauresmo in these games. However, her performance caused a relapse, at the US Open Henin had to admit defeat to Nadja Petrowa in the round of 16 . A little later she canceled all of the remaining tournaments of the year in order to fully recover. After the US Open, after 44 weeks of “reign”, she had to hand over the leadership in the world rankings to Mauresmo, and at the end of the year she was finally ranked 8th.
The year 2005
Justine Henin suffered another setback right at the start of the season when she sustained a knee injury in preparation. It was not until March that she returned to the tour in Miami after a forced break for almost half a year - now no longer among the top 40 in the world rankings. She reached the quarter-finals, in which she forced Maria Sharapova to defend match points in a third set. Her second success in Charleston marked the beginning of an extraordinary winning streak on clay, during which Henin won 24 matches in a row. After winning the tournament in Warsaw, she won two sets of three matches in one day and finally the temporarily interrupted final against Nadja Petrowa. Only with difficulty did she survive the first rounds at the French Open, in the round of 16 she even had to fend off two match points against Svetlana Kuznetsova. Then she dealt with Marija Sharapova, Nadja Petrowa and an over-nervous Mary Pierce in the final with seemingly effortlessness and received the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen for the second time since 2003 .
Problems with the muscles in the right thigh as a result of the heavy strain from the many matches after the long break determined the further course of the season. The Walloon, who returned to the top ten after the triumph, involuntarily renounced the lawn tournament in Eastbourne and then failed in the first round at Wimbledon to Eleni Daniilidou , which had never happened to a reigning French Open winner. She took another long break before playing for the US Open in Toronto. Henin was still handicapped, but had no real chance in the final against Clijsters or in the second round in New York, where Mary Pierce retaliated for the defeat in Paris. When Henin failed in the opening match in Filderstadt, she ended the season prematurely and missed the WTA Tour Championships for the second time in a row despite qualifying.
The year 2006
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Justine_henin_hardenne_medibank_international_2006_02.jpg/220px-Justine_henin_hardenne_medibank_international_2006_02.jpg)
Again Justine Henin started the season well on the fifth continent, in Sydney she won the tournament for the second time in a marathon match against Francesca Schiavone . At the Australian Open, she also demonstrated her usual fighting qualities, when she won the quarter-finals and semi-finals against Lindsay Davenport and Marija Sharapova after falling behind in sets. In the final against Amélie Mauresmo, stomach cramps caused by taking painkillers because of a damaged shoulder caused the Belgian to give up in the second set, for which she was sharply criticized afterwards. After she had recovered, she secured the title in Dubai for the third time with the final victory over Maria Sharapova. In Indian Wells she failed in the semifinals despite a clear lead (6: 2, 5: 2) to Jelena Dementjewa and in Miami at the beginning of her former doubles partner Meghann Shaughnessy. As in 2003, the tournament in Florida was the only one in which Henin did not at least reach the semifinals. In Charleston, Patty Schnyder ended the round of the last four Henins in the previous year's winning streak on clay after 27 matches, in the final in Berlin Nadja Petrowa prevented a possible fourth success for Henin. The third triumph at the French Open, on the other hand, she did not let anyone dispute, she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final 6: 4 and 6: 4 and defended her title without losing a set.
After a short break she won her second tournament victory on grass in Eastbourne and later reached the final of Wimbledon, in which she had to admit defeat to Amélie Mauresmo. A knee injury messed up her preparation for the US Open - instead of as planned in San Diego and Montreal, she was only able to gain match practice in advance in New Haven, which was nevertheless rewarded with the fifth success of the season. Despite back problems, Henin also reached the fourth big final of the year in Flushing Meadows, in which she could not prevail against Marija Sharapova. Because she injured her knee again in the Fed Cup final , she had to cancel her appearances at the indoor tournaments in Stuttgart and Zurich and long worried about her participation in the WTA Tour Championships in Madrid. She got fit again just in time and qualified for the semi-finals, in which she retaliated against Sharapova for the defeat in New York. In the final, she dethroned last year's winner Amélie Mauresmo 6: 4, 6: 3 and crowned her season with the first Masters title and the return to the top of the world rankings.
The year 2007
At the beginning of January Justine Henin surprisingly canceled her start in Sydney and at the Australian Open, only three weeks later did she give the separation from her husband Pierre-Yves Hardenne as the official reason. After the reorganization of her private life, she made her season debut at the Paris indoor tournament in February, where she had to admit defeat to Lucie Šafářová in the semifinals . In the desert state of Dubai, she secured the 30th individual title of her career in the final against Amélie Mauresmo and remained unbeaten in her fourth participation in this event. In Doha she celebrated the next success. Two weeks later she was world number one again after she had to relinquish the top position to Maria Sharapova without a fight at the end of January. Only one point separated the Belgian from another tournament victory in Miami before Serena Williams decided the final in three sets in her favor after defending two match points. After a one-month break, Henin made up for what she had missed in Warsaw on clay against Aljona Bondarenko , but in Berlin she just missed her fifth participation in the final. At the French Open Henin did not lose a set for the second time in a row and made the title hat trick in the final with a 6: 1, 6: 2 over Ana Ivanović .
In Eastbourne, the French Open winner repeated the previous year's success against Amélie Mauresmo in her 50th final on the professional tour. With a surprising and bitter defeat against Marion Bartoli , on the other hand, she missed the re-entry into the finals in Wimbledon. After a five-week break due to a wound on his wrist, Henin returned in time for the US Open with the sixth tournament win of the year in Toronto. At the last Grand Slam tournament of the season she reached the final for the third time in Flushing Meadows with victories over both Williams sisters, where she secured the title 6: 1 and 6: 3 for the second time after 2003 against Svetlana Kuznetsova. Because of repeated respiratory problems, Henin decided not to attend the “Olympic dress rehearsal” in Beijing. After a three-week break, she continued her triumphant advance in the halls of Stuttgart and Zurich and won her next tournament in the finals against Tatiana Golovin . At the Masters in Madrid she defended the title in a marathon final against Marija Sharapova with 5-7, 7-5 and 6-3, and with her tenth tournament victory she ended the best year of her career, which she had like in 2003 and 2006 also finished as number 1 in the world.
Resignation in 2008
At the beginning of the tenth season of her professional career, Henin picked up where she left off in 2007 and fought for her 40th individual title in Sydney, one day after her 500th match on the tour, against Svetlana Kuznetsova. In the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, Maria Sharapova finally ended the 32-game winning streak of the Belgian, who has now been at the top of the world rankings for a total of 100 weeks. At the last tournament in Antwerp, Henin withstood the high expectations and triumphed in front of a home crowd. At the point where she celebrated her first success in 1999, she achieved her 41st and, for the time being, last individual title. After that, the world number one appeared only sporadically, in Dubai and Miami she failed in the quarter-finals before she played her last match in Berlin in the second round against Dinara Safina .
A few days later, Henin announced her immediate resignation. On May 14, 2008, she said at a press conference that she had "come to the end of her path" and that the decision to quit had gradually matured in her since the 2007 Masters triumph. Since that success, with which she had reached the peak of her career, she no longer felt the emotion on the tennis court that had driven her career for years, and now wants to devote herself more to other things in her life.
Comeback 2010
In September 2009, Henin announced that she would return to the WTA tour. On the Belgian TV station RTL-TVI she said: “I am really happy and deeply moved to announce tonight that I will be returning on the tour. (...) When I come back, it will not just be for a year, but for three to four years, and then there will be an important date, the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the year in which I will be 30. " To motivate her to come back, she said: "The past fifteen months have enriched my life ... and now there is a flame that I thought was extinguished forever."
After her return she was looked after by Carlos Rodriguez again. Henin had received a wildcard for the Australian Open 2010 and went to Brisbane to prepare , where she immediately reached the final. There she was defeated by Kim Clijsters in a high-class match in three sets. At the Australian Open she defeated unseeded player than in the second round the set of 5 Elena Dementieva and finally reached her first Grand Slam tournament after two years, the final , Serena Williams in which she was beaten in three sets himself. Four weeks later she played in Indian Wells , but lost in round 2 against Gisela Dulko in three sets. In Miami she reached the semi-finals (including successes over Wera Swonarjowa , Jelena Dementjeva and Caroline Wozniacki ), but lost there in three sets against the eventual winner Clijsters. Henin celebrated her first tournament victory after her comeback in May at the WTA tournament in Stuttgart, where she defeated Samantha Stosur 6: 4, 2: 6 and 6: 1 in the final. At the French Open, however, she lost 6: 2, 1: 6 and 4: 6 against Stosur in the round of 16. She won her second title after her comeback at the grass tournament in Hertogenbosch , where she defeated Andrea Petković in three sets in the final . At Wimbledon, she lost to Clijsters in the round of 16 in three sets and injured her elbow. She had to end the season early.
Retired 2011
At the Hopman Cup she returned and reached the final with her compatriot Ruben Bemelmans, which was won by the US team. In this tournament, Henin won all four singles without losing a set. At the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, she was eliminated in the third round against Svetlana Kuznetsowa. On January 26th, Henin finally retired from professional tennis due to persistent problems with her elbow.
Awards
- 2001: Member of Team of the Year in Belgium (Fed Cup Team)
- 2002: Trophée national du Mérite sportif
- 2003: Europe's Sportswoman of the Year (vote by the European Union of Sports Journalists UEPS)
- 2003: Sportswoman of the year in Belgium
- 2003: ITF World Champion
- 2003: Player of the Year (chosen by the International Tennis Writers Association)
- 2004: Grand-Croix de l'Ordre de la Couronne (presented by King Albert II.)
- 2004: Sportswoman of the year in Belgium
- 2006: Europe's Sportswoman of the Year (UEPS)
- 2006: Sportswoman of the year in Belgium
- 2006: Member of Team of the Year in Belgium (Fed Cup Team)
- 2006: ITF World Champion
- 2007: Europe's Sportswoman of the Year (UEPS)
- 2007: Sportswoman of the year in Belgium
- 2007: ITF World Champion
- 2007: Player of the Year
- 2007: World Sportswoman of the Year ( La Gazzetta dello Sport )
- 2008: Laureus World Sports Awards - World Sportswoman of the Year
- 2016: Induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame
successes
Single track
Double title
No. | date | competition | category | Partner | Final opponents | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 2002 |
![]() |
WTA Tier III |
![]() |
![]() ![]() |
6: 1, 7: 6 6 |
2. | 2002 |
![]() |
WTA Tier I |
![]() |
![]() ![]() |
6: 2, 7: 6 2 |
Final participation
Statistics - single
Grand Slam tournaments
Grand Slam | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | Match balance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Open | 3R | F. | - | VF | - | F. | - | S. | HF | VF | AF | 2R | - | 38: 8 |
French Open | - | AF | - | - | S. | S. | S. | 2R | S. | 1R | HF | - | 2R | 38: 5 |
Wimbledon | - | AF | - | - | HF | F. | 1R | - | HF | HF | F. | 1R | - | 30: 8 |
US Open | - | - | - | - | S. | F. | AF | AF | S. | AF | AF | AF | 1R | 35: 7 |
Match balance | 2: 1 | 12: 3 | 0-0 | 4: 1 | 19: 1 | 25: 3 | 10: 2 | 11: 2 | 24: 2 | 12: 4 | 17: 4 | 4: 3 | 4: 2 | 141: 28 |
Tour dates
Tour dates (1) | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tournaments | 9 | - | 6th | 14th | 13 | 9 | 9 | 18th | 23 | 21st | 13 | 7th | 133 |
Victories | 2 | - | 2 | 10 | 6th | 4th | 5 | 8th | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 41 |
Final participation | 2 | - | 2 | 11 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 6th | 6th | 0 | 1 | 57 |
Match balance | 32: 8 | - | 16: 4 | 63: 4 | 56: 8 | 34: 5 | 35: 4 | 72:11 | 50:21 | 56:18 | 28:13 | 14: 6 | 456: 102 |
WTA ranking (2) | 12 | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6th | 8th | 1 | 5 | 7th | 48 | 69 |
1 Statistics only include WTA and Grand Slam tournaments
2 Placement at the end of the season or at the time of resignation in 2008
Number 1 in the world
rank | Tennis player | Weeks |
---|---|---|
1. |
![]() |
377 |
2. |
![]() |
332 |
3. |
![]() |
319 |
4th |
![]() |
260 |
5. |
![]() |
209 |
6th |
![]() ![]() ![]() |
178 |
7th |
![]() |
117 |
As of October 9, 2017 |
Period | predecessor | Successor | Weeks |
---|---|---|---|
10/20/2003 - 10/26/2003 |
![]() |
![]() |
1 |
11/10/2003 - 9/12/2004 |
![]() |
![]() |
44 |
11/13/2006 - 01/28/2007 |
![]() |
![]() |
11 |
03/19/2007 - 05/18/2008 |
![]() |
![]() |
61 |
Stakes in the Fed Cup
Justine Henin not only represented the Belgian colors at the Olympic Games in Athens, she was also used for her country several times in the Fed Cup . In 1999, at the age of 16, she made her Fed Cup debut in World Group II at the Belgian away game in the Netherlands, and with victories over Miriam Oremans and Amanda Hopmans contributed two points to the clear 5-0 victory of her team. A year later she was used in the semi-finals of World Group I in the USA, where she conceded her only defeat in the individual against Monica Seles . In 2001, together with Kim Clijsters , she ensured Belgium's first triumph in this team competition when they defeated Nadja Petrowa and Jelena Dementjewa's Russian team in the final in Madrid . After she was also used in 2002 and 2003, Henin was unable to help her team in the following two years due to illness and injury problems.
In 2006 she celebrated her comeback in Liège with the new edition of the 2001 final and helped the Belgian team to advance to the semifinals with victories over Petrowa and Dementjewa. Henin renounced her participation there after exhausting tournament weeks in Paris, Eastbourne and London, which resulted in quarrels, which is why her coach Carlos Rodriguez initially questioned her participation in the final game against Italy. In Charleroi, the Belgians, who had to do without the injured Kim Clijsters, unfortunately missed their second Fed Cup victory when Henin had to retire in the third set of the decisive double at Kirsten Flipkens' side with a knee injury. With successes over Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone , she had previously preserved her team's chances of winning the team competition.
useful information
- On October 20, 2003, Justine Henin became the 14th player to be number 1 in the world rankings. One day after winning the tournament in Zurich, she replaced her compatriot Kim Clijsters at the top. Since Henin did not defend his title in Linz, the Belgians swapped places again seven days later - it was the first time that a player had topped the ranking for just one week.
- As the fourth player in the tournament's history, Henin won the French Open for the third time in a row in 2007, her fourth triumph at the Stade Roland Garros within five years. As in the previous year, she did not make a sentence on the way to her first successful title defense in Paris since Steffi Graf in 1996. A tournament victory in Paris without losing a set was last achieved by Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in 1994.
- In 2006, Henin reached the five major finals (Grand Slam tournaments and WTA Tour Championships), following her great role model Steffi Graf, who had made it 13 years earlier as the last player.
- After the Wallon celebrated her first victory over a top ten player in Berlin against Venus Williams in 2001, she suffered seven defeats in a row against the American (personal negative record) before she was able to stop this series in the semifinals of the US Open in 2007. One round earlier, she had already defeated Serena Williams and was the second player after Martina Hingis to defeat both Williams sisters in a Grand Slam tournament.
- At the age of 15 years and two months, Henin became the youngest ever Belgian champion. She defeated Dominique van Roost , who was listed among the top forty in the world rankings at the time.
- Henin celebrated the most victories against Svetlana Kuznetsova, after 16 of the 18 encounters with the Russian she left the tennis court as the winner. Between the semi-final defeats in Doha in 2004 and in Berlin in 2007, she defeated Kuznetsova ten times in a row.
- Henin had to compete against her compatriot Kim Clijsters most often on the WTA Tour. She won twelve of 25 comparisons, in the most important matches Henin was mostly able to prevail. She won seven of eleven finals and five of the eight clashes at Grand Slam tournaments. The three games after their comeback - in Brisbane, Miami and Wimbledon 2010 - Clijsters won each time
- After losing to Marion Bartoli in the semi-final at Wimbledon, Henin remained undefeated for over half a year in 2007 before losing to Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open after 32 wins in a row.
- With 35 sets won in a row, Justine Henin is the record holder at the French Open of the Open Era. After losing the second round in the round of 16 in 2005 against Swetlana Kuznetsova, she did not give up a set and exceeded the record of 26 sets held by Steffi Graf and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario.
- As number 178 in the world rankings, Henin played her first professional tournament on clay in Antwerp in May 1999, in her opening match she won 6: 2 and 6: 1 against Lubomira Bacheva. With the same result, she defeated the then number 35 in the world rankings, Sarah Pitkowski, in the final, making her the fifth player to win her first tournament on the WTA Tour.
- With a duration of 204 minutes, the 2007 final against Maria Sharapova in Madrid was the longest set of three final in the history of the WTA Tour Championships and at the same time the longest match in Henin's career. The twelfth game in the first set alone, which went ten times over the debut and in which Henin blocked seven set balls, lasted 22 minutes.
- After her success in Indian Wells, Henin set a temporary world number record for women on March 22, 2004 with 7626 points.
- With her annual earnings of 5,429,582 US dollars, Henin set a new prize money record in 2007, despite having skipped one of the highest-endowed tournaments of the year, the Australian Open. As the first ever player, she exceeded the five million mark and the record held by Kim Clijsters by almost exactly one million US dollars.
literature
- Patrick Haumont: Justine Henin-Hardenne. Le bonheur au bout du court. Editions Luc Pire, Brussels 2003, ISBN 2-87415-358-3 .
- Mark Ryan: Tie-Break! Justine Henin-Hardenne, tragedy & triumph. Robson Books, London 2004, ISBN 1-86105-752-0 .
Web links
- Justine Henin's website (English, French, Dutch)
- WTA profile Justine Henin (English)
- ITF profile Justine Henin (English)
- Fed Cup stats by Justine Henin (English)
- Justine Henin in the "International Tennis Hall of Fame" (English; with picture)
Individual evidence
- ↑ quoted from: Exhausted Henin-Hardenne plays on, claims second Grand Slam title ( Memento from January 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) , sportsillustrated.cnn.com , September 7, 2003
- ^ "Justine est de retour:" La flamme s'est ranimée " , RTL.be, 23 September 2009
- ↑ Geen eerste Hopman Cup voor België , sporza.be, January 8, 2011 ( Memento of January 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Justine dit bye bye à l'Open d'Australie , rtbf.be, January 21, 2011
- ↑ Justine Henin stops , sporza.be, January 26, 2011 ( Memento of January 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ WTA Tour Head-To-Head Statistics. (No longer available online.) In: wtatennis.com. Archived from the original on April 4, 2017 ; accessed on April 3, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Henin, Justine |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Belgian tennis player |
DATE OF BIRTH | June 1, 1982 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Liege , Belgium |