Introducing Henin 2.0 - 網球

http://0rz.tw/f532e
Introducing Henin 2.0
Sunday, September 9, 2007
By Neil Schlecht

The Evolution of Justine Henin: New! Improved! Now with 7 GS!

At 5-foot-5 and ¾”, 126 pounds after a hearty meal, Justine Henin has
always been an awful lot of product in a small package.

Lately, though, it seems as though she’s been revamped and relaunched.

Winning her second major of 2007, after a year in which she dumped her
husband (and his name) and reconciled with her long-estranged family, Henin
has demonstrated herself to be a new person on and off the court—and a
better player. Suddenly she’s no longer the insular, aloof and occasionally
bitter young woman who wouldn’t let the world in.

Henin, who lost her mother to intestinal cancer at age 12, spent most of her
career so inwardly focused that she appeared wholly uninterested in opening
up to the cameras and crowds. She seemed to use inner turmoil as fuel,
propelling her small frame to success in a big girl’s game.

Now, the world No. 1 pronounces herself at peace, content with her personal
life, and her sanguine state of mind has led to a new, calm confidence on the
court. Henin won seven of the 11 tournaments she entered this year.

The mighty little Belgian, Henin 2.0, still has all the gravitas, but none of
the competing agita.

Henin unhyphenated is like the rollout of a new, cutting-edge computer that
has amped up the power, even as it grows smaller. Her inner hard drive now
operates more smoothly, more efficiently and more quietly. Henin’s versatile
game remains just as innovative, sleek and well designed as ever, making the
most of its tiny package.

Henin, the first woman to take on and take down both Williams sisters in a
major and win the whole thing, is the Apple computer of the women’s tour. An
underdog who has gone up against the big players—the IBMs and the Dells, if
you will—and emerged triumphant. (我不是很愛的比喻 but fine...)

The Belgian has accumulated seven Giga-Slams, and suddenly it’s she, not the
Williamses or Sharapova, whom many are predicting will produce additional
breakthroughs. Henin has notched one more Slam than Venus and is just one
behind Serena. Perhaps it will be Henin, the unlikely mighty mite, who enters
the ranks of the giants of the game. Her coach, Carlos Rodriguez, told her
she has “the possibility to be the champion of champions.”

“You can achieve 10, 12, 13 [majors],” he said. “It’s up to you.”

Size has always been the only thing that Henin has lacked. Since she first
overcame early nerves and captured her first major in 2003, she’s been a
constant model of grit, determination and fight. She’s always had an outsize
heart in that little body.

Henin’s game is a remarkable package of fluidity and variety of shotmaking.
She plays artistic tennis—that one-handed backhand is as pulchritudinous a
weapon as is found in the game—but also relentless, aggressive tennis. It’s
that quality, in addition to the power she generates from preternatural
timing, that belie her diminutive stature.

Though one would expect Henin to be a fan favorite, the undersized underdog
in this modern game of 6-foot, leggy and muscular bruisers, Henin herself hasn
’t made that easy. Fans had a hard time warming to her, finding Justine’s
demeanor, if not her tennis, jejune. For years, only tennis purists seemed to
appreciate her; they overlooked her brittle exterior and occasional bouts of
questionable sportsmanship while they waxed poetic at her incredible defense
and unparalleled ballstriking. And her willful defiance of brutes across the
net.

Henin reunited with her father and siblings earlier this year after
separating from her husband. The spark was an automobile accident that left
her brother, David, in a coma. Henin visited the hospital when he woke and
reconnected with her family.

Said Henin, “I'm just feeling happy. And the fact that I have my family back
helps for sure a lot, my family back in my life. They give me a lot of
support. I'm feeling in peace with myself, and that's very important feeling
for me because I hate to fight with people.”

Henin’s emotional rapprochement and public thawing of her persona have,
rather than rob her of the fuel to play focused, championship tennis, freed
her to play with fewer inhibitions and fears.

“I do prefer when it's calm, when it's normal, and it is right now. It's
much better in my life. So I can imagine there's a little impact on my tennis,
” said Henin.

The guts of the machine are the same. But the new version is a definite
upgrade.

--