Justine Henin: The enigmatic champion

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.