Justine Henin-Hardenne

Justine Henin-Hardenne () (born June 1, 1982 in Liège) is a former World No. 1 ranked tennis player from the Walloon (French-speaking) region of Belgium. Her mental toughness and her one-handed backhand, a stroke which John McEnroe has called the best backhand of any player, male or female, is one of the reasons why she is one of the world's best tennis players.[http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/28/1075088087727.html?from=storyrhs As of July 2006, she has won five Grand Slam singles titles, including three French Open singles titles and a gold medal in women's singles at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Family life

She married tennis coach Pierre-Yves Hardenne on November 16, 2002, in the Château de Lavaux-Sainte-Anne. Since then, she has used the name Justine Henin-Hardenne on the tennis court. However, since Belgian law does not require a woman to take on her husband's name after marriage, her maiden name — Justine Henin — is still her official name.

Her mother, Françoise Rosière, was a French and history teacher who used to take the young Henin-Hardenne across the border to watch the French Open, until she succumbed to intestinal cancer when Henin-Hardenne was only 12 years old.

Tennis career

Early career

Henin-Hardenne, known as "Juju" to many of her fans, has been coached by Carlos Rodriguez of Argentina since she was 14 years old. Early on she regularly reached the late rounds of international competitions and won five ITF tournaments by the end of 1998.

She started her professional career in the WTA tour in May 1999 as a wild card entry in the Belgian Open at Antwerp and became the fifth player to win her debut WTA Tour event.

Henin-Hardenne established herself as a major competitor in 2001 when she reached the women's singles semi-finals of the French Open and the women's singles final of Wimbledon. By the end of the year, Henin-Hardenne was ranked seventh in women's singles tennis, with three titles to her name.

In 2002, she reached four WTA finals, winning two of them. Henin-Hardenne finished the year ranked fifth in women's singles tennis. Her German Open victory, her first win at a Tier I tournament, was noteworthy as she beat Jennifer Capriati in the semi-final and Serena Williams in the final, the then number two and number five ranked players, respectively.

Grand slam breakthrough

2003 was the year of Henin-Hardenne on the WTA tour. On June 7, she won her first Grand Slam tournament, the French Open, defeating her Flemish compatriot Kim Clijsters in the finals, 6-0, 6-4. On September 7, she won her second Grand Slam tournament, the US Open, again defeating Clijsters in the finals, 7-5, 6-1. In both tournaments, her straight sets finals victories were in contrast with her semi-finals matches (see Famous matches section).

Henin-Hardenne needed three sets to defeat Serena Williams in a controversial semi-finals match in the French Open. In the third set Williams, leading 4-2 at 15-love, started to hit her first serve but Justine put up her hand to indicate that she wasn't ready. Williams netted the serve. The umpire did not see Justine's gesture and when asked Justine indicated that she had not put up her hand. The umpire called for a second serve and a visibly upset Williams lost that game and subsequently the match. The French Open fans booed Serena unmercifully for the remainder of the match.

After the match the replay proved that Serena was correct: Justine had put up her hand just as Williams was serving. Henin-Hardenne's win ended Serena's 33-match win streak in Grand Slam events.

In the US Open, she reached the final by defeating Jennifer Capriati in a historic match, winning 7-6 in the final set. During the match, Henin-Hardenne was two points from defeat no less than 11 times. The match ended well after midnight and Henin-Hardenne, after receiving an IV and treatment for dehydration and cramping, returned the next day to defeat Kim Clijsters in straight sets to take the US Open title. On October 19, Henin-Hardenne replaced Clijsters as the number one ranked women's singles player on the WTA list. She was named the International Tennis Federation's women's singles World Champion for 2003.

2004-2005

She started her 2004 season by winning a warm-up tournament in Sydney, before going on to clinch her third Grand Slam title at the Australian Open on January 31. She once again defeated Clijsters, this time in a three-set final, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. On March 22, Henin-Hardenne accumulated the highest point total (7626) in the history of the WTA rankings. Since the awarding of quality points was eliminated in 2006, this point total may never be bested, as it is not possible to surpass her record point total without the benefit of quality points. By the end of the 2004 spring hard court season, Henin-Hardenne had already 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 clay court season, Justine'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 was severely handicapped by her poor health. She lost her second round match against 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 Henin-Hardenne exited before the fourth round.

She returned to competition in August, somehow finding the strength to win the gold medal in women's singles tennis at the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, defeating Amélie Mauresmo of France in the final, 6-3, 6-3. On the way to the gold, Henin-Hardenne rallied for a miraculous win against Anastasia Myskina of Russia in the semi-final (see Famous matches section). In September, she attempted to defend her US Open title but lost to the Russian Nadia Petrova in the fourth round. As a result, she lost the number one ranking that she had held for 45 non-consecutive weeks. She then withdrew from the 10 remaining tournaments for the season in an effort to recover her health and again be tennis fit. Her plan to rejoin the tour at the beginning of 2005 was delayed when she fractured her kneecap in a training session in December 2004.

On March 25, 2005, after more than six months away from competition, Henin-Hardenne returned to the WTA circuit at the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami. She lost a hard court match to the then women's singles number 2 ranked Maria Sharapova in the quarter-final. She rebounded at her next tournament, winning the clay court Family Circle Cup at Charleston. She went on to win two more clay court titles by the start of the 2005 French Open. Her victories over then number one ranked Lindsay Davenport, Russians Sharapova, Elena Dementieva, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova made her the top contender for the French Open Grand Slam title.

Henin-Hardenne was seeded tenth in the French Open, and went on to defeat the French player Mary Pierce, 6-1, 6-1, to take her second title at Roland Garros. The win marked Henin-Hardenne's 24th consecutive clay court win and her tenth consecutive final win, a streak stretching back to Zurich in October, 2003. In capturing the title, Justine managed a fourth round come back win over Kuznetsova (see Famous matches section). She also badly defeated Maria Sharapova in the quarter-final and Nadia Petrova in the semi-final.

With her French Open victory, Henin-Hardenne moved from number 12 to number seven in the women's singles rankings. She 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 and was a perfect 24-0 in her 2005 clay court season.

At Wimbledon 2005 Henin-Hardenne's win streak of 24 matches was snapped in the first round by Greek Eleni Daniilidou, 6-7, 6-2, 5-7. With this defeat she became the first French Open champion in the Open Era to lose in the opening round of Wimbledon. A hamstring injury sustained earlier in the year eventually limited Henin-Hardenne to playing in only 11 more matches for 2005.

In 2005, TENNIS Magazine put her in 31st place in its list of 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era. In November, at the 2005 Sony Ericsson 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 6th sense intuition, that is to say "heightened intelligence, unbeatable performance and pinpoint precision."

2006

In January 2006, Henin-Hardenne returned to competitive tennis in a tournament in Sydney, a tune-up for the 2006 Australian Open. She was seeded fifth and played former women's singles number one (and newly returned to competitive tennis) Martina Hingis in a much-hyped first round match. Henin-Hardenne bested Hingis in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. In excellent form, she routed former US Open champion Kuznetsova in the semi-final, 6-3, 6-1, before defeating Francesca Schiavone in the final, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.

In her Australian Open campaign, Henin-Hardenne defeated reigning women's singles number one ranked Lindsey Davenport and fourth ranked Maria Sharapova in three-set matches to set up a final match against number three ranked Amélie Mauresmo. While trailing 1-6, 0-2, she retired from the match. Henin-Hardenne's decision to give up, vaguely citing stomach pain but never fully explaining, was seen as extremely controversial. Henin-Hardenne was criticized because she said after her win against Sharapova in the previous round that she was at the "peak of her fitness" and was playing the "best tennis of her life." She was only the second player, and the first woman, to retire from a Grand Slam final in the Open Era.

Henin-Hardenne captured her second title of 2006 in February, defeating Sharapova, 7-5, 6-2 in a Tier II event in Dubai. This was her third Dubai title, having won in 2003 and 2004.

In the following Pacific Life Open Tier I tournament in Indian Wells, Henin-Hardenne lost a hard-fought semifinal match to fourth seed Elena Dementieva, 6-2, 5-7, 5-7. She was also ousted easily from the Miami NASDAQ-100 Open in the second round by Meghann Shaughnessy, 7-5, 6-4. In April, Henin-Hardenne failed in her attempt to defend her title at the Charleston Family Circle Cup, her first clay court event of the season. She lost to third-seeded Patty Schnyder, 6-2, 3-6, 2-6 in the semi-final. It was her first defeat in the Tier I tournament and the end of her 27 match win streak on clay.

However, on April 23 and 24, Henin-Hardenne scored one of the highlights of her career as she led Belgium to victory over defending champion Russia in the Fed Cup. She triumphed over women's singles number five ranked Nadia Petrova, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3, and number nine ranked Dementieva, 6-2, 6-0, helping to send Belgium into the semi-finals. The Fed Cup wins were particularly impressive in that Petrova came into the match with two straight clay court tournament victories and a 10-match clay court win streak, while Dementieva had defeated Henin-Hardenne in their last meeting in Indian Wells and defeated second-ranked Belgian compatriot Clijsters on Day 1 of the tournament.

Henin-Hardenne played at the Tier I event in Berlin as the defending champion and beat reigning world number one Amélie Mauresmo, 6-1, 6-2 in the semi-finals. However, she lost to Nadia Petrova in the final, 6-4, 4-6, 5-7.

At the French Open in June 2006, the defending champion was able to rebound from her loss in Berlin. Henin-Hardenne stormed through her semi-final match by dismissing second seed Clijsters, 6-3, 6-2 in a relentless display of offensive tennis. She then defeated Kuznetsova in the final, 6-4, 6-4 to win her third title in four years at Roland Garros. Henin-Hardenne captured the title without the loss of a set and became the first French Open champion to defend her title successfully since Steffi Graf in 1996.

The grass court season also brought success, as Henin-Hardenne won at Eastbourne in a hotly-contested final against Anastasia Myskina 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(5).

She was third-seeded going into Wimbledon and advanced to her 3rd consecutive Grand Slam final without losing a set. She defeated fellow-Belgian Kim Clijsters (who was seeded 2nd) in the semi-finals 6-4, 7-6 (4), but went on to lose in the final 6-2, 3-6, 4-6 to Amélie Mauresmo.

Awards

2003

Belgian Sportswoman of the Year.
ITF World Champion.

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 UNESCO Champion for Sport. ^*

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (5)

Kim Clijsters|| 6-0, 6-4 Kim Clijsters|| 7-5, 6-1 Kim Clijsters||6-3, 4-6, 6-3 Mary Pierce||6-1, 6-1 Svetlana Kuznetsova||6-4, 6-4

'''Year

'''Championship

'''Opponent in Final

'''Score in Final

Runner-ups (3)

Venus Williams||1-6, 6-3, 0-6 Amélie Mauresmo|| 1-6, 0-2 retired Amélie Mauresmo||6-2, 3-6, 4-6

'''Year

'''Championship

'''Opponent in Final

'''Score in Final

Titles (29)

Singles (27)

Legend
Grand Slam (5)
WTA Championships (0)
Olympic Gold (1)
Tier I Event (9)
WTA Tour (12)

Titles by Surface
Hard (13)
Clay (10)
Grass (2)
Carpet (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	10 May 1999	Antwerp, Belgium	Clay	Sarah Pitkowski-Malcor (France)	6-1 6-2
2.	1 January 2001	Gold Coast, Australia	Hard	Silvia Farina Elia (Italy)	7-6⁵ 6-4
3.	8 January 2001	Canberra, Australia	Hard	Sandrine Testud (France)	6-2 6-2
4.	18 June 2001	's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Kim Clijsters (Belgium)	6-4 3-6 6-3
5.	6 May 2002	Berlin, Germany	Clay	Serena Williams (USA)	6-2 1-6 7-6⁵
6.	21 October 2002	Linz, Austria	Carpet	Alexandra Stevenson (USA)	6-3 6-0
7.	17 February 2003	Dubai, UAE	Hard	Monica Seles (USA)	4-6 7-6⁴ 7-5
8.	7 April 2003	Charleston, South Carolina, USA	Clay	Serena Williams (USA)	6-3 6-4
9.	5 May 2003	Berlin, Germany	Clay	Kim Clijsters (Belgium)	6-4 4-6 7-5
10.	26 May 2003	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Kim Clijsters (Belgium)	6-0 6-4
11.	28 July 2003	San Diego, California, USA	Hard	Kim Clijsters (Belgium)	3-6 6-2 6-3
12.	11 August 2003	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Lina Krasnoroutskaya (Russia)	6-1 6-0
13.	25 August 2003	U.S. Open, New York City, New York, USA	Hard	Kim Clijsters (Belgium)	7-5 6-1
14.	13 October 2003	Zurich, Switzerland	Hard	Jelena Dokic (Serbia & Montenegro)	6-0 6-4
15.	12 January 2004	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Amélie Mauresmo (France)	6-4 6-4
16.	19 January 2004	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Kim Clijsters (Belgium)	6-3 4-6 6-3
17.	23 February 2004	Dubai, UAE	Hard	Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia)	6-3 7-6³
18.	8 March 2004	Indian Wells, California, USA	Hard	Lindsay Davenport (USA)	6-1 6-4
19.	16 August 2004	The Olympics, Athens, Greece	Hard	Amélie Mauresmo (France)	6-3 6-3
20.	17 April 2005	Charleston, South Carolina, USA	Clay	Elena Dementieva (Russia)	7-5 6-4
21.	1 May 2005	Warsaw, Poland	Clay	Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia)	3-6 6-2 7-5
22.	8 May 2005	Berlin, Germany	Clay	Nadia Petrova (Russia)	6-3 4-6 6-3
23.	4 June 2005	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Mary Pierce (France)	6-1 6-1
24.	13 January 2006	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Francesca Schiavone (Italy)	4-6 7-5 7-5
25.	25 February 2006	Dubai, UAE	Carpet	Maria Sharapova (Russia)	7-5 6-2
26.	10 June 2006	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia)	6-4 6-4
27.	24 June 2006	Eastbourne, England	Grass	Anastasia Myskina (Russia)	4-6 6-1 7-6⁵

Singles finalist (14)

2001: Wimbledon (lost to Venus Williams)
2001: Hawaii (lost to Sandrine Testud)
2001: Filderstadt (lost to Lindsay Davenport)
2002: Gold Coast (lost to Venus Williams)
2002: Antwerp (lost to Venus Williams)
2002: Amelia Island (lost to Venus Williams)
2002: Rome (lost to Serena Williams)

2003: 's-Hertogenbosch (retired/lost to Kim Clijsters)
2003: Leipzig (lost to Anastasia Myskina)
2003: Filderstadt (lost to Kim Clijsters)
2005: Toronto (lost to Kim Clijsters)
2006: Australian Open (retired/lost to Amélie Mauresmo)
2006: Berlin (lost to Nadia Petrova)
2006: Wimbledon (lost to Amélie Mauresmo)

Performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table are only updated once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded.

Tournament	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000	1999	Career
Australian Open	F	-	W	SF	QF	4r	2r	-	1
French Open	W	W	2r	W	1r	SF	-	2r	3
Wimbledon	F	1r	-	SF	SF	F	1r	-	0
U.S. Open		4r	4r	W	4r	4r	4r	1r	1
Grand Slam Win-Loss	19-2	10-2	11-2	24-2	12-4	17-4	4-3	1-2	98-21
WTA Tour Championships		-	-	SF	QF	QF	-	-	0
Tokyo	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0
Indian Wells	SF	-	W	-	4r	3r	-	-	1
Miami	2r	QF	-	QF	2r	3r	-	-	0
Charleston	SF	W	-	W	-	-	-	-	2
Berlin	F	W	-	W	W	SF	-	-	3
Rome	-	-	-	-	F	-	-	-	0
San Diego¹		-	-	W	-	-	-	-	1
Montreal/Toronto		F	-	W	QF	QF	2r	-	1
Moscow		-	-	-	-	2r	-	-	0
Zurich		-	-	W	SF	-	-	-	1
Tournaments played	10	9	9	18	23	21	13	7	110
Finals reached	7	5	5	11	6	6	0	1	41
Tournaments Won	'''4	'''4	'''5	'''8	'''2	'''3	'''0	'''1	'''27
Hardcourt Win-Loss	14-3	10-4	31-2	40-6	16-10	31-11	22-7	2-2	166-45
Clay Win-Loss	14-2	24-0	4-2	19-1	14-4	14-4	3-2	9-2	101-17
Grass Win-Loss	10-1	0-1	-	8-2	7-2	10-1	1-2	-	36-9
Carpet Win-Loss	4-0	-	-	5-2	13-5	1-2	2-2	3-2	28-13
Overall Win-Loss	42-6	34-5	35-4	72-11	50-21	56-18	28-14	31-10	331-84²
Year End Ranking		'''6	'''8	'''1	'''5	'''7	'''45	'''69	'''N/A

Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-8 (quarter finals up to finalist).
¹ The San Diego tournament achieved Tier I status only in 2004.
² If ITF women's circuit (Hardcourt: 24-5; Clay: 33-7) and Fed Cup (10-1) participations are included, overall win-loss record stands at 398-97.

Doubles (2)

No.	Date	Partner	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	2002	Meghann Shaughnessy (USA)	Gold Coast, Australia	Hard	Åsa Svensson / Miriam Oremans (SWE/NED)	6-1 7-6⁶
2.	2002	Elena Bovina (Russia)	Zurich, Switzerland	Carpet	Jelena Dokic / Nadia Petrova (SCG/RUS)	6-2 7-6²

Famous matches

2003 Australian Open fourth round: defeated Lindsay Davenport, 7-5, 5-7, 9-7. In a match lasting more than three hours, Henin-Hardenne overcame a 4-1 final set deficit, the Australian summer heat, and muscle cramps to defeat Davenport for the first time in her career. ^*
2003 French Open semi-finals: defeated Serena Williams, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. Henin-Hardenne snapped Williams' 33-match Grand Slam winning streak. The match was hounded by controversy in the third set when Williams led 4-2, at 15-love. While Williams was in the act of delivering a first serve, Henin-Hardenne put up her hand to indicate that she wasn't ready. Hence, Williams' netted first serve would have been replayed. The umpire did not see Henin-Hardenne's gesture and when he asked her about it, she did not respond. The umpire ordered a second serve, and a visibly upset Williams lost the game, and later, the lead and the match. After the match, the replay showed that Henin-Hardenne did put up her hand as Williams was serving. Although she went on to win the tournament, the question of Henin-Hardenne's sportsmanship remained.
2003 U.S. Open semi-finals: defeated Jennifer Capriati, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(4). With the 2003 French Open incident still fresh, Henin-Hardenne refused to call on the trainer despite showing signs of fatigue and experiencing muscle cramps. Capriati was only two points away from victory no less than 11 times in a match that stretched to midnight. When she won, Henin-Hardenne had to be carried away to a hospital to be rehydrated. She went on to beat fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters for the title in the following day.
2004 Athens Olympics semi-finals: defeated Anastasia Myskina, 7-5, 5-7, 8-6. After months of layoff due to a virus, Henin-Hardenne competed in the Olympics. Henin-Hardenne rallied from 5-1 down in the third set to defeat reigning French Open champion Myskina. She went on to capture the gold medal.
2005 French Open fourth round: defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova, 7-6(6), 4-6, 7-5. Henin-Hardenne saved a pair of match points to earn a quarter-final spot. In winning the tournament, she became only the second woman to win the French Open after saving a match point (Anastasia Myskina accomplished the feat a year before, also against Kuznetsova).
2005 Wimbledon first round: lost to Eleni Daniilidou, 6-7(8), 6-2, 5-7. It was the first time that a reigning French Open champion failed to win a match at Wimbledon.
2006 Australian Open final: lost/retired to Amélie Mauresmo, 1-6, 0-2. Henin-Hardenne retired with stomach pain. This was only the fourth grand slam ladies singles final that ended by a retirement since 1900, and the first in the Open Era. Henin-Hardenne stated afterwards that she feared possible injury had she continued to play. She was widely criticized by tennis commentators and writers for not finishing the match.
2006 Wimbledon final: lost to Amélie Mauresmo, 6-2, 3-6 4-6. The final round was notable for featuring two "finesse" players who utilized their all-court games, a notable break from the previous years that featured a succession of power baseliners claiming the title. At almost every point throughout the match, both players approached the net to serve and volley. Tipped as the tournament favorite, Henin-Hardenne took an early lead 6-2 over a nervous Mauresmo, but the latter made a comeback, dominating the next two sets and keeping her nerves to win her second Grand Slam title, and deny the Belgian a career Grand Slam. ^*

External links

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