Earlier today, seven times Grand Slam champion Justine Henin was forced to retire from tennis. In a statement released on her website, the 28-year-old Belgian revealed that her elbow, which she injured last year at Wimbledon, is now too fragile to stand up to the rigours of professional tennis.
A versatile and highly watchable player, Henin was loved by tennis purists. Her single-handed backhand will be remembered as one of the best shots in the modern game. Despite her slight stature, Henin was able to upset the order and defeat many of the games power players. In her glittering career she won seven Grand Slams, 43 WTA titles and spent 117 weeks as world number one. Let’s take a look back at her glorious career.
Early Career
Justine Henin first debuted on the WTA rankings in 1998 at a lowly 532. She ended 1998 ranked 226, after victory at a tournament in Ramat Hasharon, where, in the quarter-final she had her first run in with Kim Clijsters.
In 1999 she made her WTA Tour debut in Antwerp as a wildcard and won the tournament for the loss of just one set. She then went on to qualify for the French Open and took a set off number two seed Lindsay Davenport, in her first match against a top ten player. By the time the US Open rolled around, she was a direct entrant, but lost in the first round to Amelie Mauresmo. She ended the year ranked in the top 100 for the first time, finishing at 69.
In 2000 she made her Australian Open and Wimbledon debuts, and also made the round of sixteen for the first time at the US Open. Though she failed to win a WTA title, she was able to qualify at many of the major tournaments and improved her year end ranking to 39.
Hitting the Big Time
2001 was Henin’s real breakthrough year. She started it on fire, winning two consecutive tournaments, before reaching the round of sixteen at the Australian Open. She claimed her first top ten win in May, beating Venus Williams on her way to a semi-final in Berlin. At the French Open she was seeded for the first time at a Grand Slam and went all the way to the semi-finals, where she fell in a tight three set match against her great rival Kim Clijsters. This semi-final appearance saw her crack the top ten for the first time. At Wimbledon she reached her first Grand Slam final, beating number four seed Jennifer Capriati in the semi-final before losing the final in three sets to Venus Williams. She went on to reach two further finals, the quarter-final at the Year End Championships and helped Belgium win the Fed Cup.
Henin started 2002 with a quarter-final at the Australian Open. One of the favourites heading into the French Open, she surprisingly lost in the first round, but rebounded with a semi-final appearance at Wimbledon. She won two tournaments, once again reached the quarter-final at the Year End Championships and ended the year ranked number five.
Dominance
2003 was arguably the best year of her career; she played 19 tournaments and reached at least the semi-final in 18 of them. She started the year with a maiden semi-final at the Australian Open, then went on to win Dubai, Charleston and Berlin. At the French Open she beat number one seed Serena Williams in the semi-final and then number two seed Kim Clijsters in the final to claim her first Grand Slam title. She reached another Wimbledon semi-final, then won her second Grand Slam at the US Open, defeating Clijsters in the final again. She ascended to number one in the world on October 20 and ended the year there.
In 2004 she carried on where she left off in 2003, winning the Australian Open by once again beating Clijsters in the final. She went on to win at Indian Wells, before a shock second round exit at the French Open. She took most of the rest of the year off to recover from illness, but found time to play the Olympics, which she won, beating Amelie Mauresmo in the final.
A knee injury forced Henin to miss the start of the 2005 season. She was undefeated heading into the French Open, having won in Charleston, Warsaw and Berlin. She then went on to claim her second French Open crown, beating home hope Mary Pierce in the final but went on to lose in the opening round at Wimbledon. She was forced to cut short her season for the second year in a row, this time with a hamstring strain.
In 2006 Henin played only 13 tournaments, but reached the final in 11 of them. She made the final of all four Grand Slams, winning the French Open final against Svetlana Kuznetsova, but losing in the Australian Open and Wimbledon finals to Amelie Mauresmo, and the US Open final to Maria Sharapova. She once again helped Belgium to the Fed Cup title, finished the year at number one and won the Year End Championships for the first time in her career.
2007 proved to be her last full season on tour, though she made the most of it, going 63-4 over the course of the year. She claimed her third straight French Open title and looked like making a third Wimbledon final, before collapsing in the semi-final against Marion Bartoli. Her final Grand Slam triumph came at the US Open, where she beat both Williams sisters on the way to the title. She won the Year End Championships and finished world number one (a position she held all year) for the second straight year.
Retirement and Comeback
Henin started 2008 by winning in Sydney, but was then beaten in the Australian Open quarter-final by Maria Sharapova, ending a 32 match winning streak. She went on to win her 41st WTA title in Antwerp, but on May 14 she shocked the tennis world by announcing her immediate retirement from the game.
After announcing a comeback late in 2009, Henin returned to the tour in 2010 and made an immediate impact, reaching the final in Sydney and then at the Australian Open, where she pushed Serena Williams all the way in the final. Whilst the rest of the year didn’t quite live up to the start, she won the titles in Stuttgart and ‘S-Hertogenbosch. The elbow injury she sustained at Wimbledon (and that forced her retirement) kept her sidelined for the rest of the year.
Henin started 2011 not knowing whether the elbow would allow her to continue her career. She went unbeaten in singles at the Hopman Cup and then reached the third round of the Australian Open. On January 26, she announced her second retirement.
Goodbye Justine
In a game dominated by power hitters and double-handed backhand, Justine’s beautiful game was a breath of fresh air and will be sorely missed by fans and players alike. She was a great champion and ambassador for the sport, and I wish her luck in all her future endeavours.
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