Henin Looks Ahead - 網球

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Henin Looks Ahead


By Richard Pagliaro
02/14/2007

Justine Henin came up slightly short last season and that abbreviated approach
enabled her finish on top of tennis.Henin is intent on downsizing again and
believes economizing her effort will result in expanding opportunities this
season.

The five-time Grand Slam champion is undergoing both a personal and
professional makeover. Last month, the reigning Roland Garros champion
confirmed her split with husband Pierre-Yves and has dropped the hyphenated
Hardenne from her last name. This month, Henin continues her efforts to stamp
a new style on the court.

Reclaiming her name and rebranding her game seem to be two of Henin's
priorities in following up a highly-successful 2006 season in which she posted
a 60-8 record, including a 25-3 record in Grand Slam competition, advanced to
10 finals in 13 tournaments, won six titles on three different surfaces and
scored successive straight-sets victories over second-ranked Maria Sharapova
and top-ranked Amelie Mauresmo to capture the season-ending Sony Ericsson
Championships in Madrid to secure the year-end No.1 rank.

During her 2007 debut in Paris last week, Henin showed glimpses of the game
she aims to play this season. In the final games of her 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, victory
over Tatiana Golovin, Henin took charge by charging forward. Refining the
attacking tactics the diminutive Belgian displayed during the Sony Ericsson
Championships in Madrid last November have been a primary part of Henin's
practice sessions.

Henin's vast vocabulary of shots make her one of the most complete players in
women's tennis. Reigning Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo and former World
No. 1 Martina Hingis share Henin's aptitude for attacking tennis, but the
5-foot-5 3/4 Belgian serves bigger and covers the court quicker than Hingis
and takes the ball earlier and transitions from offense to defense faster than
Mauresmo.

Henin's coach, Carlos Rodriguez, has long encouraged her to use her net game
more frequently, however Henin's speed and her ability to defend is so
effective she sometimes resorts to prolonged periods of counter punching before
eviscerating a point with her brilliant one-handed backhand that can she can
slice or spin with the sharpness of a surgeon's scalpel.

A litany of injuries and the ongoing size and strength disparity she faces as
the smallest member of the top 10 have spurred Henin's desire to play attacking
tennis on faster surfaces in an effort to minimize her expenditure of energy
and maximize the probing pressure she places on opponents unaccustomed to
seeing a singles player spend so much time in the front court.

"I've really improved my attacking game, even since last year," Henin told the
media in Paris last week. "I have to persevere with that because I realize
players don't like pressure being put on them. I'm also hoping to bring
something new to the women's game in playing like that. But it's also a case of
economizing my energy. I feel I express myself well on court and now I have
improved in a positive aspect."

Translating that style from the practice court to match play will take time and
require repetition. It's a process Henin explored last year in modifying her
service motion. She shortened the back swing on her serve last year in an
effort to simplify the motion. Though the switch resulted in some turbulent
times — she committed 12 double faults in the U.S. Open semis, but survived
for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory after 19th-seeded opponent Jelena Jankovic imploded
over a line call — Henin become the first woman since Martina Hingis in 1997
to advance to the finals of all four majors in a single season.

During those times she struggled on serve last season, Henin often dropped her
head during her toss and failed to hit up and out on the ball to gain necessary
net clearance. Obviously, an erratic serve sets complements net play about as
well as a chronic case of the hiccups aid an auctioneer, but Henin has said in
the past when she's actively seeking to get to net her service percentage
tends to be higher.

Then there's the physical consideration. How will Henin, whose career injury
list is almost as long as her collection of championships, hold up and
withstand the pounding her body may take in racing forward? She believes
shortening the points may actually prevent long-term injury.

"That's the kind of tennis I have to play. But it's not always easy because you
always have to be at your best," Henin said. "In my head I have to tell myself;
let go, but concerning my automatic reflexes, certain things are in place. I
haven't completely changed everything yet, but I'm certainly heading that way."

Henin's work ethic has evoked comparisons to Ivan Lendl, but perhaps the player
who influenced her the most is another Hall of Famer and fellow adidas
endorser with a one-handed backhand — Steffi Graf. The passion, perfection,
professionalism and purpose the six-time French Open champion brought to her
practices and matches are some the same qualities she sees in Henin.

"She's somebody that really, she works physically hard, she's very committed to
the sport," Graf said of Henin. "She tried different aspects to make herself
better. She maybe doesn't have the physical stature; she's not as tall as other
players, but she'll make it up with speed, with working out a little more, and
you can see it. I find little similarity in that sense in how I approach the
game, and I guess that that's where I look at her and say, well, it's great to
have the desire, and then obviously, there's a passion in how she plays and the
dedication."

Graf was so successful from the baseline she never fully integrated the net
skills she owned into her game; Henin hopes that playing a more complete style
can help her complete a career Grand Slam by winning Wimbledon, the lone Grand
Slam title missing from her collection.





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