Championship Preview - 網球

http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/newsroom/?contentid=583

July 7, 2006
Championship Preview

LONDON, UK - One of the tightest rivalries among the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour
elite resumes on Saturday afternoon, as the Wimbledon ladies' singles final
takes place on Centre Court at the All-England Club.

Current World No.1 Mauresmo eyes second major

Things really began turning around for Amelie Mauresmo late last season.
After a title run at Philadelphia, in the final week of the regular season,
she captured what was then her biggest title yet, at the season-ending Sony
Ericsson WTA Tour Championships. After dropping the first match of her 2006
season to Ana Ivanovic at Sydney, Mauresmo became the hottest player on the
Tour, going on a 16-match win streak that brought her Australian Open, Paris
[Indoors] and Antwerp titles.

Now, despite reaching just one final in the six events since, she has
positioned herself within striking distance of arguably the most coveted
title in tennis, at a venue she says herself brings out the deepest of
respect and appreciation.

"That was definitely a big breakthrough for me, winning in Los Angeles at the
end of last year. It helped me a lot, in Australia, then and also all this
season. I think it will help until the end of my career. That was a big
moment, big change for me. But, again, I really want to give it a try on
Saturday. One more to go."

Mauresmo has definitely brought some of her best tennis out in recent years
here. After suffering Week 1 exits in her first three attempts (1998, 2000,
2001), she was a semifinalist in her next three, in 2002 (falling to Serena
Williams), 2004 (falling again to Williams, this time in three sets) and 2005
(falling this time to Lindsay Davenport, in three sets). She is now 24-6
lifetime at this event.

"I've always said, every year and again this year, the atmosphere, the
tradition part of this tournament, I appreciate that. I really like to go on
Centre Court. There's something special about it. It's great to still have
one tournament like this that we can really appreciate. Maybe if it was all
year long, like this one, would be different, but it makes it very special.
And I really appreciate that."

Former No.1 Henin-Hardenne chasing career Grand Slam

Five years ago, a teen-aged Justine Henin-Hardenne reached her first major
final here, falling to Venus Williams. Since then, she has been one of the
grittiest Grand Slam performers, claiming Roland Garros three times (2003,
2005, 2006) in addition to the US Open (2003) and Australian Open (2004).
Now, the Belgian has a chance to avenge the aforementioned championship loss
on the very same court, and according to her, she is a much different person
and player this time around.

"A lot of things have changed. It was my first Grand Slam final. At that time
I was still very young. All my successes in Grand Slams and all my victories
on the Tour and the fact that I grew up, that gave me confidence and
experience. That's the biggest difference, I would say. It seems far away
from now. I've improved so much and I've grown up a lot and I've done great
things in my career since then."

Despite the fact that Wimbledon is the only one missing in Henin-Hardenne's
Grand Slam resume, she is a stellar 22-5 here. In addition to the 2001 finals
run, the Belgian posted back-to-back semifinal runs in 2002 and 2003, falling
to Venus and Serena Williams. The looming final with a fellow all-court
player is most likely going to be a different experience than playing a
Williams, in her opinion.

"When I lost here in 2001, 2002, 2003, it was a time in my career when I was
very scared about the power of the other players. I was impressed by these
players. I was younger and didn't have the experience I have today. It's not
the best memory of my career, the final here. But now I'm back, healthy, and
at my best level."

Henin-Hardenne leads head-to-head series, 5-4

The history between the finalists is very back-and-forth. Neither won
consecutive matches in their first six encounters, between 1999 and 2004.
Henin-Hardenne won their only 2005 meeting in three sets, and they've split
two 2006 encounters.

With the absence of any prior meetings on grass, or even on carpet, perhaps
the most telling head-to-head comes from their championship round encounters.
They've played three times for a title. Henin-Hardenne won their first two
final battles fairly routinely, 64 64 in the 2004 Sydney final and 63 63 in
the 2004 Olympics final; but Mauresmo emerged victorious at this year's
Australian Open, winning 61 20 when the Belgian was forced to retire with a
gastrointestinal illness.

"She is probably very happy to have the opportunity to have a revenge after
the final of Australia," said Mauresmo on Henin-Hardenne. "I'm just taking it
as it comes. I watched a little bit of her match today and she seemed in
great shape and also aggressive, she likes to come in also. It's gonna be
interesting one."

"It's in the past," said Henin-Hardenne on Melbourne. "I want to think about
myself, and an opportunity to win another Grand Slam and win Wimbledon; but
not thinking about what happened a few months ago because the situation is
different. I hope we can both be in our best shape and show a good tennis to
the crowd."

Nifty numbers through first six rounds from both finalists

Both finalists have shown much grass court know-how in reaching the final.
While Mauresmo has excelled in serve stats, including first serve percentage
(65%-60%), points won on first serve (80%-72%) and second serve (61%-49%),
and average first serve speed (108mph-103mph), Henin-Hardenne has excelled on
the return, winning more receiving points (57%-50%). The Belgian also has
cleaner numbers in terms of winners-to-errors, leading that differential
significantly (+55 to +32).

Both women have also been venturing into net often this fortnight. Mauresmo
has come in more, winning 100 of 155 points (65%), while Henin-Hardenne has
been more picky in her forecourt ventures but more successful, winning 88 of
117 (75%). Look for both women to continue this pattern in the final.

"Going forward, that's a bit better for me," Mauresmo said. "But as we've
seen in the second set [against Maria Sharapova in the semifinals], when the
first serve is not here, it makes it a little bit more difficult. And Justine
has been very aggressive also on the return, from what I saw this week. So
we'll see."

"It's been hard for me in the past to be an aggressive player, come to the
net," Henin-Hardenne said. "I'm doing it more often now. Still, it takes
effort, it's not very natural. I have to keep working on it but it's much
better than a few months ago. Here on grass, I don't have any other choice
than being aggressive."


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