World number one Justine Henin has trimmed the remainder of her 2007 calendar down to only three professional tournaments, but fans in Belgium will get to see her – and three special guests – compete during the Christmas holidays.
Henin announced her fall/winter plans today in a diary entry on her official website, stating that she will only be participating in the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, followed by the Tier I Zurich Open and the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid.
She was initially scheduled to compete at the Tier II China Open in Beijing last week, but withdrew shortly before the tournament because of an upper respiratory illness.
“I couldn’t go to Beijing because of asthma problems,” said Henin in her latest diary entry, “but after a few days of rest, I gradually began to train in Monaco.”
“I have less than a week left to practice for Stuttgart, and be in form. After that tournament I will play Zurich then Madrid for the WTA Championships.”
Playing a reduced schedule after the US Open is not unusual for the seven-time Grand Slam champion. In 2006, she played only in the Fed Cup final and the Championships.
The only reason a top player will maintain a rigorous schedule after the US Open is to qualify for the WTA Championships and boost her season-ending ranking. Henin has already qualified for Madrid, and apart from a miraculous run by Svetlana Kuznetsova or Jelena Jankovic, Henin will end the 2007 season as the number one player in the world.
Henin’s website also announced today plans for a Christmas holiday exhibition that will be held in Charleroi from December 15-16, 2007.
The sixth Women’s Tennis Trophy event will be headlined by Justine Henin and three special guests. Her fellow top ten players Anna Chakvetadze and Nadia Petrova have already confirmed their participation, and the final player will be either Ana Ivanovic, Martina Hingis, Shahar Peer, or Francesca Schiavone.
The question I have right now is what is going on with Justine and Kremlin, her official web site mentions nothing about her playing in Kremlin but the tournament official in August announced she was the top seed at the event.
Some scheduling conflict there!
[...] “I have less than a week left to practice for Stuttgart, and be in form.” (source: On the Baseline) [...]
She is not playing at the Kremlin cup. She has been diagnosed with chronic asthma, taking 3 weeks off, and wont play till next week.
But Kremlin is after Stuttgart…
Nick – it is not uncommon for tournaments to keep “headlining stars” listed on their websites, even after the player withdraws. I know that happens quite often here in the USA.
I think the WTA Tour is pressuring Justine to come to Kremlin though, the Web site still list her in the tournament…maybe Justine doesn’t have a clue about that…hahah
[...] have less than a week left to practice for Stuttgart, and be in form,” said Henin. “After that tournament I will play Zurich then Madrid for the WTA [...]