Jelena Jankovic reached the No. 1 ranking in 2008 without winning a major tournament. (© Constantini)
With the French Open approaching, the spotlight will be trained on two players who have a little extra than most to prove. Although both believe they are worthy No. 1’s, Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic need to win a major title to finally silence the critics who believe they are not deserving of this mantle.
What better place to do this than at Roland Garros? Both women have excellent records at the Tour’s prestigious claycourt events. Jankovic, a two-time Italian Open champion and winner at Charleston in 2007, has reached the French Open semifinals in her last two visits. Safina, a winner at Berlin in 2008 and at both Rome and Madrid in 2009, reached last year’s final in Paris.
Ascending to the top spot appears to have done wonders for Safina’s confidence. She said in Stuttgart that becoming No. 1 has taken the pressure off her shoulders, as the media no longer discusses how close she is to achieving this feat. She has reached her last three tournament finals, winning two.
When Jankovic was No. 1 she won three straight titles in Beijing, Stuttgart and Moscow. Despite falling early at the subsequent Australian Open and enduring a form slump, she has rebounded on the clay with a victory at Marbella and respectable quarterfinal efforts at her last three events.
The question is, will reaching the No. 1 ranking be the “turning point” for either Safina or Jankovic, propelling them to their first Grand Slam title? The following is a look at what it took for other female players to go on and claim Grand Slam glory after missing earlier opportunities, and how their careers progressed after this “turning point.”
Davenport advanced to the quarterfinals or higher at every US Open between 1997-2006. (WWCC)
When Davenport arrived on the tennis circuit, not many people would have predicted the success she would ultimately achieve. Despite her booming serve and exceptional ball striking, she was overweight and lacked the athleticism and killer instinct associated with champions of the sport.
Having cracked the Top 10 two years prior, she hired Robert Van’t Hof as her coach in 1996 and shed considerable weight through an enhanced conditioning and fitness regime. Her court coverage improved – as did her results – and by November 1997, she had soared to World No. 2. But she was still missing a Grand Slam title.
Everything changed during the 1998 US summer hardcourt season. Davenport had failed to progress beyond the semifinals of the first three majors of 1998, but following Wimbledon she embarked on a streak that would bring her titles at Stanford, San Diego and Los Angeles, with wins over Martina Hingis, Venus Williams, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles. Her belief going into the US Open was at its peak.
Davenport did not even concede a set during her title run in New York, which included repeat victories over Williams and Hingis in her final two matches. She would go on to win the 1999 Wimbledon and 2000 Australian Open titles – also without dropping a set.
Venus Williams
When Venus Williams burst to prominence in 1997 with an unlikely run to the US Open final, the tennis world was seemingly her oyster. Blessed with unrivalled athleticism, power and fighting spirit, she appeared destined to claim the sports’ biggest prizes.
However, Williams’ career stalled somewhat following her run in New York. Despite rising to World No. 3 in 1999 and winning several prestigious Tier 1 titles, Venus would not return to a Grand Slam final for nearly three years.
That was until Wimbledon in 2000. The turning point can be pin-pointed to her three-set defeat of Martina Hingis in the quarterfinals – it proved a significant and somewhat cathartic victory on many levels. It was her first defeat of Hingis in Grand Slam play, with the Swiss having beaten Williams three times in majors (including the aforementioned 1997 US Open final). It was also the first time Williams had advanced beyond the quarterfinals at The All England Club, having lost winnable matches at the same stage to Jana Navotna in 1998 and Steffi Graf in 1999.
The Hingis victory sparked a wave of momentum that has not been replicated on tour since. Williams won Wimbledon that year, part of a 35-match winning streak that would include the US Open and Olympic titles. She has since captured a further four Wimbledon titles and one US Open crown to take her tally to seven majors.
Since Justine Henin unexpectedly retired on May 14, 2008, five different women have held the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour No. 1 ranking.
(© Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships)
The little Belgian was always touted as a potential champion. Despite her complete game, fluid movement and fighting spirit, her lack of muscle and occasional mental fragility on the big stage dampened the early stages of her career. In 2001, Henin blew match-winning leads against Monica Seles and Kim Clijsters at the Australian and French Opens respectively, and she rarely troubled the Williams sisters.
After a tame loss to Venus Williams in the 2003 Australian Open semifinals, Henin scored several wins that boosted her mental strength. She saved match points to beat Seles in the Dubai final, entering that match with a lopsided 1-4 win-loss record against the naturalized American. She then inflicted the first defeat on Serena Williams for 2003, cruising past the World No. 1 in the Charleston final. A month later she clinched the German Open title, saving three match points against Clijsters in the final to score just her third victory in 10 matches against her countrywoman since 2001.
Henin arrived at Roland Garros brimming with confidence. She again defeated Serena and Clijsters – then the world’s top two women – in the semifinals and final respectively. It was her first of four French Open titles, and she would eventually retire with seven major trophies.
Kim Clijsters
Clijsters, another Belgian, possessed the game to beat any player on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Her solid serve, damaging groundstrokes, incredible athleticism and court smarts allowed her to compile an impressive CV. However, until 2005, questions surrounded her mental strength and her failure to win a major despite her obvious talents.
Clijsters first four appearances in Grand Slam finals ended in defeat, with three of these losses coming to Henin. Clijsters also had a woeful record against the Williams sisters at Grand Slam level. She served for the match against Serena in the 1999 US Open third round and the 2003 Australian Open semifinals before crumbling, and failed to put away an injury-hampered Venus in the 2003 Wimbledon semifinals, despite winning the first set and leading in the second.
The turning point came in 2005. After a long layoff with a wrist injury, Clijsters’ returned to form on North American hardcourts, winning the rare Indian Wells-Miami double, before winning in Stanford, Los Angeles and Toronto. She progressed through her first four matches in New York untroubled before meeting an old foe in the quarterfinals – Venus Williams.
It seemed Clijsters’ form mattered for little when she fell behind a set and 4-2, spraying groundstrokes and looking intimidated by the reigning Wimbledon champion. But unlike previous occasions, she stayed strong and completely turned the match around. Winning 11 of the last 13 games, she recorded a stirring 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory – her first over a Williams sister at a Grand Slam. With the metaphorical monkey off her back, she disposed of No. 1 seed Maria Sharapova in the semifinals and Mary Pierce in the final to win her first major title.
Despite never winning another Grand Slam before retiring in 2007, Clijsters was no longer burdened with the tag of “Best Player Never to Win a Major”. She will have another shot at claiming Grand Slam glory when she returns to the tour later this year.
Amelie Mauresmo
The Frenchwoman was simultaneously one of the most exquisitely skilled and mentality fragile players. She announced herself to the tennis world in 1999 when, as an unseeded upstart, she knocked out World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport on her way to the final at Melbourne Park before losing to Martina Hingis.
It would be seven years before Mauresmo would reach another Grand Slam final. In the years between she suffered several heartbreaking defeats at majors, especially at Roland Garros, where she performed nervously in front of her impatient French fans year after year.
Amelie’s defining moment came at the 2005 WTA Year-End Championships in Los Angeles. This too was a tournament at which she had experienced her share of pain. She was destroyed in the 2003 final by Kim Clijsters, and suffered a heart-breaking defeat to Serena Williams in the 2004 semifinals – having led by a set – which cost her the year-end No. 1 ranking. But it was third time lucky – the Frenchwoman defeated Clijsters, Elena Dementieva and Maria Sharapova before besting countrywoman Mary Pierce in a three-hour final.
Mauresmo admitted that winning her biggest title to date was a huge step. Just two months later, she held aloft the trophy at Melbourne Park. Although this occurred in unsavoury circumstances (with Justine Henin retiring in the final), Mauresmo experienced what it felt like to clinch match point later that year by winning a brilliant Wimbledon final – again over Henin.
Do you agree with these “turning points”? Or can you identify another player who experienced her own?
Matt Trollope is a journalist from Melbourne, Australia. He has covered the past two Australian Opens for the tournament’s official website.
There are huge gaps in the profile for Justine in this piece. She made a big splash at French Open 1999 at age 16 in a 2nd round match against Lindsay Davenport. She had match points, but was too inexperienced. This was in 1999! Davenport hardly played 3 setters against anyone. Justine did trouble the Williams sisters. How could (probably a WS fan!) the fact of Justine taking Venus to 3 sets at the Wimbledon final in 2001 be forgotten? She also defeated Capriati in the SF to make it to the finals in 2001. Justine also defeated Serena (in the so called Serena Slam era) in 2002 at Berlin for thte title. Defeated her again in Charleston in 2003, and set up the momentum for the first big slam in 2003. But it was actually finally defeating Lindsay at the Australian Open 2003 in a match lasting close to 3 hours in three sets at the quarterfinals that was the turning point of Justine’s career.
Too bad she was tired (less than 24 hours!) to recover from the nearly 3 hours match with Davenport in 2003 in
the Australian Open to have the energy left to defeat Venus Williams in the final. Poor girl had to battle the cramps, and dehydration!
Sorry, it was the Semi-finals with Venus Williams at the Australian Open 2003 that Justine Henin ran out of gas at not the final.
Hi Joe,
Just thought I would let you know I am an unabashed Henin fan! And very sad she has left the sport …
You raise valid points about the earlier stages of her career – she certainly did perform exceptionally well. However, despite pushing some of the top players during that 1999-2002 period – and even beating the likes of Capriati at Wimbledon 2001 and Serena at Berlin in 2002 – they were not turning points that translated to Grand Slam success, because she never won a Slam until much later.
As for her record against the Williams sisters, up until her 2003 Charleston final against Serena, her combined win-loss record against the sisters was 2-11. Seven of those 11 losses were in straight sets. She troubled them from time to time, but the stats would indicate they had her measure.
Justine’s marathon win over Davenport in the 2003 Australian Open actually occured in the 4th round. She then easily beat Virginia Ruano-Pascual in the quarterfinals before succumbing to Williams in the semifinals – several days after the Davenport match.
I think it therefore could be argued that it was her performances following Australian Open 2003 that were the catalyst for her breakthrough at Roland Garros four months later.
Thanks Matt for clearing up the mistake on the 4th round rather than the quarterfinal stage about Henin at the Australian Open 2003.
The reason that the Davenport 4th round match was brought up is because in many interviews I’ve read – Justine and Carlos mention the Australian Open match. They also name the Seles Dubai match as a big breakthrough because it was a finals clash.
No worries Joe – in fact you’re spot-on. Henin definitely mentions the Davenport match as one of her significant breakthroughs. I probably should have acknowledged this result in the article!
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