Justine Henin Regrets Wimbledon Losses; Picks Venus Williams for Title
Posted by Aaress Lawless on Jul 2, 2008 | Print | Email | Bookmark | Free Subscription
Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Laureus
Justine Henin’s retirement from professional tennis in May shocked the tennis world as the Belgian star left the sport at the top of her game.
The former world No. 1 quit on her own terms, but has now conceded that she still has one regret after ending her stellar career which included seven major titles.
Speaking with the Laureus World Sports Academy, Justine admitted that not winning Wimbledon was the biggest disappointment of her career.
“It has been the big disappointment of my career,” Henin said. “But my game wasn’t quite good enough and I probably wasn’t confident enough to win on the grass.”
She came devastatingly close on two occasions, but lost the final in 2001 to Venus Williams and again to Amelie Mauresmo in 2006. Her biggest shock at Wimbledon was her semifinal upset last year by Marion Bartoli—Henin’s last defeat for the rest of the 2007 season.
Although she has no immediate plans to return for another shot at the elusive career slam, Henin has not completely closed the door on making a comeback to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
“I can never say for sure that I’ll never be back because I hate to say never,” Henin said. “But when I do something, I do it 200%, and when I decide it’s over, it’s over.”
Her own tennis career may be over, but Henin is staying involved with the sport. She has been working with her long-time coach Carlos Rodriguez at their new academy, where she will play a crucial role in helping motivate the next generation of tennis players.
In the meanwhile, she still follows the happenings on the professional tour and has tapped Venus Williams as the favorite for the 2008 Wimbledon title.
“I keep thinking that Venus is the best player on grass,” said Henin about the woman she lost to seven times. “She’s big and tall so, for me, she’s the favourite.”
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Nick | Jul 2, 2008 | Reply
Venus is big and tall? Tall yes, but Venus is like a walking stick compared to Serena and other girls on tour.
Would be nice to have an all-Williams like old time.
I think Henin will come back when she’s bored with playing monopoly and Wii
Dapxin | Jul 3, 2008 | Reply
@Nick,
will she reclaim her no 1 title at a snap ?
Nick | Jul 3, 2008 | Reply
If Henin comes back and was as good as she was in 2007, I don’t see why not. No one is dominating the tour right now.
One day Henin will run dry with Scrabble and she starts to think Tennis Tennis…