Four Times the Charm for Justine Henin at Roland Garros
Posted by Aaress Lawless on Jun 9, 2007 | Print | Email | Bookmark | Free Subscription
Move over Monica Seles - a new queen is officially ruling the courts of Roland Garros.
Monica Seles’ open era record of three consecutive French Open titles remained intact for fourteen years, but today in Roland Garros, another player took her place alongside of Seles.
In just sixty-five minutes, Justine Henin won her third straight, and fourth overall Roland Garros trophy with a straight sets 6-1, 6-2 victory over Serbian teenager Ana Ivanovic.
Playing in her first Grand Slam final was too much pressure for nineteen year-old Ivanovic, who started the match strong with a service break, only to win just two more games during the rest of the championship match.
After breaking back in the second game, Justine cruised past Ivanovic in straight sets and won the title on her first match point with a beautiful volley into the open court at the net. Her racquet went flying into the air, as Justine leaned on the net and buried her head in her hands.
Compared to Ivanovic’s previous wins over Sharapova and Kuznetsova, the pressure of the moment was simply too great against the world number one. Her first serve, which led her to the final, was only 50% and she had thirty-one unforced errors compared to Justine’s fourteen.
Whenever Justine Henin reaches the final of the French Open, fans know they had better turn their televisions on early, because she normally does not stick around on court for long.
Her most difficult win came last season against Svetlana Kuznetsova with a 6-4, 6-4 victory. Kim Clijsters lost the first set in 2003 with a bagel, but did mount a comeback, only to lose 6-0, 6-4. As for Mary Pierce in 2005, the pressure of trying to win her first Grand Slam in five years, coupled with trying to do it on her home turf, pushed her out the door and into her lengthy loser’s speech 6-1, 6-1.
Even though I would rather have seen a competitive match today, Justine’s straight sets win once again proves that she is the best clay court player of this generation. Not since the days of Seles have we seen a player dominate so emphatically on clay. Justine obviously will have a shot at setting her own record next year, but her record of thirty-five consecutive set wins at Roland Garros will not be broken any time in the near future.
Winning her fourth French Open title with her two brothers and sister, along with her adopted family (coach Carlos Rodriguez, his wife, and two sons) looking on was the realization of yet another dream for Henin.
Loyalty and relationships means so much to the stoic Henin and to have both of her families in her corner during her greatest triumph probably means more to her than any of her four Roland Garros titles, Australian Open and US Open trophies, and the Olympic gold medal.
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Steven | Jun 9, 2007 | Reply
The Queen of the Clay reigns supreme. It’s a shame Anna couldn’t control her nerves though. It was potentially a great match-up of contrasts…. big serving and power vs. finesse and variety. Not that Justine doesn’t have power, but not the easy power-on-tap that Serena and Ivanovic produce at will. Allez Justine, lets hope you are at you best at Wimbledon, the only Slam missing from your collection.
Nick | Jun 9, 2007 | Reply
For a game and a half, I thought Ana was gonna make it, but when Justine broke back, I knew it was over for the Serb.
Nevertheless, Ana should be proud, just remember that Justine lost her first Grand Slam appearance before she won so many.
The score I predicted was 6-1, 6-1, but it was close to the actual scores of 6-1, 6-2.