Justine Henin: The enigmatic champion

It was that momentous 2003 French Open semi-final match where she gained a lot of admirers, lost a chunk of her fan following and I discovered Justine Henin-Hardenne. Justine, the ever placid and stoic girl from Liege in Belgium, had reached the Wimbledon final in 2001 and had been gradually threatening the seemingly impervious empire of Serena Williams, along with her compatriot Kim Clijsters.

The mighty Serena had just completed the self-coined ‘Serena Slam’ by capturing four consecutive Major titles from the 2002 French Open to the 2003 Australian Open. Right before the French Open in 2003, when Serena had fallen to Justine in the Charleston final, perhaps alarm bells had already started ringing. To everyone’s surprise, the bells reverberated all through that drama-filled semi-final on that fateful day in Paris. It was a match which defined a career and after 2 hours and 20 minutes, with the help of a partisan crowd, when the petite 165 cm Belgian had dethroned a sobbing Serena, one could feel that it was the harbinger of something special.

Special indeed, for Justine was the true embodiment of unflinching courage, unbridled passion and an indomitable spirit. With an unrivalled single-handed backhand that was as artistic as a painter’s stroke, a forehand that would exude absolute ruthlessness and a game full of tender and subtle touches, she would mesmerise the world over and aptly get the epithet of ‘Female Federer’. With an armoury replete with effortless strokes, she made John McEnroe say that Henin is “the player I most like to watch.”

Perhaps what stood out the most was her mental fortitude. The demise of her mother Françoise Rosière to cancer when Justine was just 12, and her estrangement from her father, had transformed Justine into a serene person and a competitor who hardly ever got ruffled – qualities which were reflected when she would display unparalleled endurance to emerge triumphant in her matches. Through her conservative approach, the unassuming Belgian, lovingly called “Juju”, remained a player conspicuous in her generation.

It was Argentine coach Carlos Rodriguez, a father-figure to her, who would lead the Belgian to the path she was destined for. And it all reached its utter fulfilment when, on a June afternoon in 2003, the newly married 21-year-old wore a look of sheer disbelief and ecstasy on Court Philippe Chatrier as she became the first Belgian to win a Grand Slam singles crown. The new star, who dedicated her first Slam to her deceased mother, proved to be unstoppable. At the US Open that year, a stupendous effort from Jennifer Capriati could not fell her, nor could cramps. Justine simply surged and soared to the numero uno ranking and also annexed her only Australian Open title the following year.

The tennis world soon saw her amassing an unprecedented 7626 points in the erstwhile WTA point system and there didn’t seem to be a rival fierce enough to thwart her. In a cruel twist of fate, that rival arrived in the form of a combination of a hypoglycemia and cytomegalo virus attack which saw her add the Athens Olympic gold as the only other significant title in an illness-ravaged year.

But as the saying goes, ‘Once a champion, always a champion’, Justine resurrected herself, a feat that would culminate in a glorious comeback which saw her add her second title at Roland Garros in 2005. She was one point away from seeing her dream crushed by a determined Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round that year, but the ever unflappable Justine rose when it mattered the most. And that match would remain as the last time Henin-Hardenne had lost a set in Paris until her third round encounter with Maria Sharapova in 2010.

2006 and 2007 will forever be remembered as two glittering years in an already illustrious resume of the Belgian. She would emulate Martina Hingis’ 1997 feat of reaching all four Grand Slam finals in a calendar year as she displayed spectacular finesse and untiring effort to dispatch almost every opponent that came her way. She conquered Paris once again but Wimbledon continued to elude her. In a magnificent final, Justine was one set away from completing the coveted Career Slam but it was not meant to be!

2007 began with a heartbreak as she skipped the Australian Open to deal with the dissolution of her 4-year marriage. But Justine exhibited tremendous resilience to return to the Tour to capture a career-best 10 titles that season. Dispelling any doubts that critics had in her, she matched Monica Seles’ hat-trick of Roland Garros titles as the Queen of Clay lay claim to her fourth and last title at the French Open. The Belgian reigned supreme at the US Open too and followed it up with an astonishing final to successfully defend her year-ending Championships title.

Shockingly, that would remain the last year Justine played a full season. On 14th May, 2008, she dropped a bombshell that sent a seismic shock throughout the tennis world. After a staggering 117 week reign atop the world rankings, she abdicated her throne and requested the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) to remove her name from the rankings with immediate effect.

Was it the price of the continuous rigours she had endured or was it simply an ebbing away of her passion and hunger, now that she had achieved almost everything there was to achieve in the sport? Justine, the ever enigmatic champion, bewildered and saddened her brigade of fans, including me. The tennis world seemed empty and I fervently wished that somewhere inside she would miss the scorching competition one day and revert her decision.

Perhaps she heard me when she announced her comeback and with a majestic final at Brisbane in 2010 against her fellow comeback player, Clijsters, Justine underlined that she was definitely back. The seven-time Grand Slam champion lost the final, but not before giving a glimpse of what the world had missed for two years. She gratified all tennis aficionados by reaching the final of her first Grand Slam at Melbourne Park in her second innings. In her second career, Justine would go on to clinch two trophies to add to her impressive collection of 41 titles. But the comeback was prematurely derailed in 2011 following an elbow injury sustained in 2010 as Justine announced her second and final retirement.

In a sparkling career, Justine did have her moments of sheer obstinacy. At the 2003 French Open semi-final, when Justine denied showing her hand to Serena, she knew she was entering into a sphere where she would be disparaged time and again. Or consider her 2004 Australian Open final against Kim Clijsters where she lied about a line call. The admittance did come from the Belgian years later in 2011 when she talked about both the incidents. In many ways, those two occurrences made a huge impact on her relationships with Serena and Kim and they did scar her for life.

Justine did commit mistakes in her vulnerable moments but she is not the first person to do so and will definitely not remain as the last one. But her career was far more than just those two blemishes. Her innate talent simply overshadowed everything else and made her leave a lasting legacy. Andre Agassi put it very succinctly when he said, “Justine Henin is one of the most talented women ever to have played the game of tennis.”

Leaving her playing days behind, Henin has now embarked on a new journey ahead – that of motherhood. On 20th March, 2013, Justine gave birth to her first child – a cute daughter named Lalie. Today, as Justine celebrates her 31st birthday, let’s take a moment to thank her for all the joyous moments she brought on the tennis court and wish her all the very best for all her future endeavours.