Henin set to grace a bigger stage - 網球

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Henin set to grace a bigger stage
HUGH MacDONALD, Chief Sportswriter June 30 2007

The placing of Justine Henin anywhere but Centre Court is a sacrilege
equivalent to removing a Da Vinci from the Uffizi and nailing it to a toilet
door. It is still worth more than a gaze, but one cannot help but feel that a
work of art deserves surroundings more sympathetic to its greatness.

The world's No.1 women's tennis player was relegated to Court Two yesterday
for her match with Elena Vesnina. If it was the mildest of insults to the
great one, it had a spectacular consolation for the spectator.

If the open-air Centre Court is now a primitive amphitheatre, Court Two has a
quiet intimacy. There is the merest sliver of grass between spectator and
court. One could get so close to Henin that there was a fear one had breached
a court order.

The proximity offers an insight into why Henin is favourite to
lift this year's title. Women's tennis can court the worst of tabloid
attentions with the cut of dresses and the colour of knickers, but Henin is
almost of a different species. She is built for purpose.

She is not as sculpted as Amelie Mauresmo or as aesthetically pleasing to the
eye as Maria Sharapova. Henin, in contrast, has been constructed by a
minimalist. There is not a spare pinch of flesh on her body. She is curiously
spare, even slight, but has the honed fitness of a welterweight. Her game is
all business, but it has room to include moments of ferocious flair.

Henin's movement on court is as quick as silent as a feral cat on the hunt.
Sitting yards from the great one, there is only a slight swish of her shoes
as she runs down and devours a drop shot by the unfortunate Vesnina.

Henin's greatness cannot be measured by mere numbers. She won 6-1, 6-2 in 52
minutes. She recorded serves of 108mph. But, of course, Vesnina spent the
same time on court and shot out serves of similar speed. Henin, though, is
about technique, ability and a gift.

She has played since the age of two, according to a besotted biographer. She
was certainly playing on courts at the age of five. Once a footballer of some
note, she concentrated early on full-time tennis. The legacy of her kickball
days seems to be a shin guard that she insists is helping her with an injury.

The rest is pure tennis. "I was born with a talent to play this game," she
said yesterday. It was a statement of the obvious to those who saw her run
Vesnina around a small patch of grass like a show pony on a long rein.

It was not as if the Russian was incompetent. Her serve was decent, the
fundamentals were sound but there was a gulf that can only be appreciated
fully in real life. Once Vesnina gasped as Henin hit a marvellous cross-court
backhand for a winner. The noise was followed by a look so forlorn one ached
to give her a cuddle or, at least, a brotherly pat on the back.

But Vesnina was only playing a supporting role. Henin cracked forehand
winners and slid ground strokes down both lines. She is at the peak of her
game after the personal trials of a marriage breakdown, and the injuries that
have nagged her consistently, particularly a dodgy hamstring.

At a grizzled 25 years of age, whose troubles seem in the past. "I'm very
happy at the way I played," she said.

"I was very aggressive, very good."

She faces tougher challenges. Asked about the defending champion Mauresmo,
Henin said: "When I played her at Eastbourne, I could feel she was getting
much better on the court. I think she comes to Wimbledon with confidence. She
loves this tournament so much. She's one of the players who could go to the
end."

But so, of course, is Henin. She lingered for a moment on the prospect of
winning Wimbledon: "It would be a great achievement because it would mean I
would have won the four grand slams.

I still believe I can do it, but it's not an obsession for me. I don't have
anything to prove to anyone. I know how well I can play."

And so do the spectators on Court Two yesterday, though a talent as dramatic
as Henin's demands centre stage.

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