Justine Henin

Justine is missed in Australia as she reveals that off court personal problems with marriage has halted her tour activities for the moment

2007

On January 4, 2007, Henin withdrew from the Australian Open and the warm-up tournament in Sydney for personal reasons, which resulted in her losing the No. 1 ranking to Maria Sharapova.

In her first tournament of the year, Henin lost in the semifinals of the Open Gaz de France to Czech Lucie Safarova 7-6(5), 6-4.

Henin then won two hardcourt tournaments in the Middle East. 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 19 March she regained the No. 1 ranking.

At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Henin reached the final for the first time in her career, where she lost to Serena Williams 0-6, 7-5, 6-3 after Henin had two match points at 6-0, 5-4.

Henin withdrew from the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina with an ongoing respiratory problem. Her next tournament was the J&S Cup in Warsaw, Poland, which she won, beating Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-1, 6-3 in the final.

Later at the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, Henin won a marathon quarterfinal against Jelena Janković 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 after being behind 4-0 in the third set. However, she lost her semifinal against Kuznetsova 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, which was only her second loss 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, the current Australian Open champion, Henin won 6-4, 6-3. She then defeated Janković in the semifinals 6-2, 6-2. In the final, Henin defeated Ana Ivanović 6-1, 6-2 to claim her third consecutive French Open title, equalling Monica Seles’s open era record, and surpassed US$15 million in career prize money earnings.

In her first Grass Court tournament of the Year, at the International Women’s Open in Eastbourne, Henin defeated each of her first three opponents in two short sets; Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-1; Nicole Vaidišová 6-2, 6-2 and Marion Bartoli 6-1, 6-3. The final, against Amelie Mauresmo, 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.

At Wimbledon, Justine Henin lost to Marion Bartoli in the semi-finals, 6-1, 5-7, 1-6, one day after defeating an injured Serena Williams in the quarter-finals for her first win over the American outside of clay. During the semi-final encounter Henin had a 6-1, 1-0 break lead, and served in the second at 4-3; she also held a 0-30 advantage against Bartoli’s serve at 5-5 in the second set before squandering two break points to give Marion Bartoli the 6-5, lead, eventually capitulating her serve to love. In the third set Henin came close to an infamous “Bagel” set, dropping the first five games of the decider and seven in a row to go 0-5. After a hold to 15, Bartoli served out the match, and with it a famous victory which has been claimed as one of the most notable shocks of the decade in tennis and one of the biggest upsets in Wimbledon history. She crossed $16 million in prize money after Wimbledon and now stands in 8th position in all time career prize money list ahead of compatriot Kim Clijsters.

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