Justine Henin Tennis Player Online Information at WagerWeb Sportsbook

Justine Henin Tennis Player Information at WagerWeb Sportsbook

Justine Henin; (born June 1, 1982 in Liège) is a Belgian professional tennis player from the Walloon (French-speaking) region of Belgium. She is the current World No. 1. She has won six Grand Slam singles titles, including four French Open singles titles (four of the last five and the last three, consecutively). She also has won a WTA Tour Championships singles title and the singles gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Some tennis experts cite her mental toughness and her one-handed backhand (which John McEnroe has called one of the best backhands of any male or female player) as reasons for her success. Tennis career Henin, known as "Juju" to many of her fans, has been coached by Carlos Rodriguez of Argentina since she was 14 years old.

In 1997, she won the junior girl's singles title at the French Open. Early in her senior career, she regularly reached the late rounds of international competitions and won five International Tennis Federation tournaments by the end of 1998. She started her professional career on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour in May 1999 as a wild card entry in the Belgian Open at Antwerp and became the fifth player to win her debut WTA Tour event.

Henin established herself as a major competitor in 2001 when she reached the women's singles semifinals of the French Open and the women's singles final of Wimbledon, losing to Venus Williams. By the end of the year, Henin was ranked seventh in singles, with three titles to her name. Also at the French Open that year, she and Elena Tatarkova reached the women's doubles semifinals. Furthermore Belgium (with Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters) won the 2001 Fed Cup.

In 2002, she reached four WTA finals, winning two of them. Henin finished the year ranked fifth. Her German Open victory, her first win at a Tier I tournament, was noteworthy as she beat Jennifer Capriati in a semifinal and Serena Williams in the final, the then number two and number five ranked players, respectively.

2006

In January 2006, Henin returned to competitive tennis in a tournament in Sydney, a tune-up for the 2006 Australian Open. She was seeded fifth and played former women's singles number one (and newly returned to competitive tennis) Martina Hingis in a much hyped first round match. Henin won 6-3, 6-3. She then defeated former U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in a semifinal 6-3, 6-1, before defeating Francesca Schiavone in the final 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.

In her Australian Open campaign, Henin defeated top ranked Lindsay Davenport and fourth ranked Maria Sharapova in three-set matches to set up a final against third ranked Amélie Mauresmo. While trailing 6-1, 2-0, Henin retired from the match, citing intense stomach pain caused by over-use of anti-inflammatories for a persistent shoulder injury. Henin was criticized by the press because she said after her win against Sharapova in the previous round that she was at the "peak of her fitness" and was playing the "best tennis of her life." She was only the second player, and the first woman, to retire from a Grand Slam final in the open era.

Henin captured her second title of 2006 at a Tier II event in Dubai, defeating Sharapova 7-5, 6-2. This was her third Dubai title, having won previously in 2003 and 2004.

In the following Pacific Life Open Tier I tournament in Indian Wells, Henin lost a semifinal match to fourth seed Elena Dementieva 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 after leading 6-2, 5-1. Henin also was ousted from the Miami NASDAQ-100 Open in the second round by Meghann Shaughnessy 7-5, 6-4. In April, Henin failed to defend her title at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, her first clay court event of the season. She lost to third-seeded Patty Schnyder 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in a semifinal. It was her first defeat in the Tier I tournament and the end of her 27 match win streak on clay.

In April, Henin led Belgium to victory over defending champion Russia in a 2006 Fed Cup quarterfinal. She defeated fifth ranked Nadia Petrova 6-7, 6-4, 6-3, and ninth ranked Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-0. The wins were significant for Henin because Petrova had come into the tie with two consecutive clay court tournament victories and a 10-match clay court winning streak, while Dementieva had defeated Henin in their last meeting in Indian Wells and defeated second ranked Belgian compatriot Kim Clijsters on the first day of the tie.

Henin played at the Tier I German Open as the defending champion and defeated Mauresmo 6-1, 6-2 in a semifinal. However, she lost to Petrova in the final 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

At the French Open in June, Henin rebounded from her loss in Berlin. In a semifinal match, Henin defeated second seeded Clijsters 6-3, 6-2. She then defeated Kuznetsova in the final 6-4, 6-4 to win her third title in four years there. Henin captured the title without the loss of a set and became the first French Open champion to defend her title successfully since Steffi Graf in 1996.

At the Eastbourne grass court tournament, Henin won the final against Anastasia Myskina 4-6, 6-1, 7-6.

Henin was the third seed going into Wimbledon and advanced to her third consecutive Grand Slam final without losing a set. She defeated Clijsters (who was seeded second) in a semifinal 6-4, 7-6(4) but lost the final to Mauresmo 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Henin withdrew from Tier 1 events in San Diego and Montréal because of injury but entered the Pilot Pen tournament in New Haven. There, she defeated Kuznetsova and Davenport en route to the title. It was her 28th WTA tour title. She returned to the number 2 ranking and crossed over US $12 million in career prize money.

At the U.S. Open, Sharapova defeated Henin 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

Henin was the first woman since Hingis in 1997 to reach the finals of all four Grand Slam singles tournaments in a calendar year. This was also the first time that both a man and a woman have reached the finals of all Grand Slams in one year, the man being Roger Federer.

Henin guaranteed her year end world No. 1 ranking by reaching the final of the WTA Tour Championships, defeating Sharapova 6-2, 7-6(5) in a semifinal. Henin then won the tournament for the first time in her career by defeating Mauresmo in the final 6-4 6-3.

Henin is the first player since Hingis in 2000 to win the WTA Tour Championships and end the year as the top ranked player. Henin is the first woman to win at least one Grand Slam singles title in four consecutive years since Graf from 1993 through 1996. Her prize money earnings for 2006 totaled U.S. $4,204,810.

2007

On January 4, 2007, Henin withdrew from the Australian Open and the warm-up tournament in Sydney for personal reasons, which resulted in her losing the No. 1 ranking to Maria Sharapova.

In her first tournament of the year, Henin lost in the semifinals of the Open Gaz de France to Czech Lucie Šafárová 7-6(5), 6-4.

Henin then won two hardcourt tournaments in the Middle East. She won the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open for the fourth time in the last five years, defeating Amelie Mauresmo in the final 6-4, 7-5. In Doha, she won her first Qatar Total Open title, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final 6-4, 6-2. She also reached US$14 million in career prize money earnings, and on 19 March she regained the No. 1 ranking.

At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Henin reached the final for the first time in her career, where she lost to Serena Williams 0-6, 7-5, 6-3 after Henin had two match points at 6-0, 5-4.

Henin withdrew from the Family Circle Cup in Charleston with an ongoing respiratory problem. Her next tournament was the J&S Cup in Warsaw, Poland, which she won, beating Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-1, 6-3 in the final.

Later at the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, Henin won a marathon quarterfinal against Jelena Jankovic 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 after being behind 4-0 in the third set. However, she lost her semifinal against Kuznetsova 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, which was only her second loss to Kuznetsova in 16 career meetings.

At the French Open, Henin was the two-time defending champion and top seed. In a highly anticipated quarterfinal match against Serena Williams, the current Australian Open champion, Henin won 6-4, 6-3. She then defeated Jankovic in the semifinals 6-2, 6-2. In the final, Henin defeated Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 6-2 to claim her third consecutive French Open title, equalling Monica Seles's open era record, and surpassed US$15 million in career prize money earnings.

In her first Grass Court tournament of the Year, at the International Women's Open in Eastbourne, Henin defeated each of her first three opponents in two short sets; Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-1; Nicole Vaidišová 6-2, 6-2 and Marion Bartoli 6-1, 6-3. The final, against Amélie Mauresmo, was the first Eastbourne final in nearly 30 years between the two finalists at the previous years Wimbledon Championships. Henin fought back from a break down in the final set to win in the third set tie-break for the second consecutive year, completing a 7-5, 6-7(4), 7-6(2) victory.

At Wimbledon, Henin lost to Marion Bartoli in the semi-finals, 6-1, 5-7, 1-6, one day after defeating an injured Serena Williams in the quarter-finals for her first win over the American outside of clay. During the semi-final encounter Henin had a 6-1, 1-0 break lead, and served in the second at 4-3; she also held a 0-30 advantage against Bartoli's serve at 5-5 in the second set before squandering two break points to give Marion Bartoli the 6-5, lead, eventually capitulating her serve to love. In the third set Henin came close to an infamous "Bagel" set, dropping the first five games of the decider and seven in a row to go 0-5. After a hold to 15, Bartoli served out the match, and with it a famous victory which has been claimed as one of the most notable shocks of the decade in tennis and one of the biggest upsets in Wimbledon history. She crossed $16 million in prize money after Wimbledon and now stands in 8th position in all time career prize money list ahead of compatriot Kim Clijsters.

Justine won the Rogers Cup Tier I event in August in Toronto, defeating Jelena Jankovic 7-6 7-5 in a tough battle between the two top seeds. At a critical juncture of the second set, tied 5-5, Henin fought off 6 break points in a row, before cruising through the final game of the match. The victory was Henin's 35th on the WTA tour, moving her past Kim Clijsters, who retired with 34 wins.

Awards

2003

* Belgian Sportswoman of the Year.
* ITF World Champion.

2004

* WTA Player of the Year (for 2003).
* Belgian Sportswoman of the Year.

2005

* Family Circle/State Farm "Player Who Makes A Difference".
* Whirlpool 6th Sense Player of the Year.

2006

* Appointed UNESCO Champion for Sport.
* ITF World Champion.
* Belgian Sportswoman of the Year
* Member of the Belgian Sporting Team of the Year (Fed Cup - Team)
* European Sportswoman of the Year

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