ten years ago, Justine Henin definitively ended her career

Portrait of Justine Henin – Tennis – 01/31/2018
Born in Liège on June 1, 1982 … in the midst of Roland Garros, Justine Henin began taking part in tennis on the age of 5. Fate will not be sort with the younger participant, who misplaced her mom in 1995. A yr later, she meets Carlos Rodriguez, who has remained her coach and mentor to this present day. Trained on the AFT middle in Mons, Justine Henin started to be talked about in 1996, by profitable the Orange Bowl, the world junior championship, and the European championships for below 14 years. She additionally performed that yr her first skilled match, the ITF Mallorca, the place she climbed to the second spherical. A yr later, Justine Henin lifted her first trophy at Roland Garros, the place she triumphed within the junior occasion, earlier than pocketing her first senior titles on the ITF circuit, at Le Touquet and at Coxyde, and turning into Belgian champion. . She entered the WTA rankings in 1998, the yr she completed in 226th place, after including three ITF titles to her record (Gelos, Gremelefe and Ramat Hasharon). It was the next yr that she made the massive leap by turning into skilled. She participated in her first Fed Cup in March 1999, profitable her two singles matches within the Netherlands. In May, Justine Henin performed her first WTA match in Antwerp, the place she gained within the remaining towards the French Sarah Pitkowski. May 1999 can be the month of his first Roland Garros among the many seniors. After qualifying, the Belgian, then 121st on this planet, was eradicated within the 2nd spherical by the American Lindsay Davenport, 2nd on this planet on the time (6-3, 2-6, 7-5). After a yr 2000 when she climbed to the 1/8 remaining on the US Open, the Rochefortoise had a thunderous begin to the 2001 season, signing 13 straight victories, with the important thing to Gold Coast titles. and Canberra, and an elimination within the 1 / eighth remaining of the Australian Open towards Monica Seles. But it’s on clay that Justine Henin revealed herself to most of the people, reaching the semi-finals at Roland Garros, towards Kim Clijsters. The Limburgoise gained 2-6, 7-5, 6-3, to turn out to be the primary Belgian finalist in a Grand Slam match towards Jennifer Capriati. Henin took her revenge a couple of weeks later by beating Clijsters within the remaining at Rosmalen, a preparatory grass match for Wimbledon, the place the Walloon reached her first Grand Slam remaining, misplaced to Venus Williams. It ended the yr 2001 with a primary participation within the Masters (elimination within the quarter-finals), a victory with the Belgian staff within the Fed Cup remaining, towards Spain, and an entry into the Top 10 of the world rating. . In 2002, quarter-finalist in Melbourne, and finalist in Antwerp, Justine Henin gained her first match of the yr on clay in Berlin, beating Serena Williams within the remaining. But, unwell, she didn’t affirm at Roland Garros, the place Anita Kapros shattered her dream from the first spherical. She then fell once more towards Venus Williams, this time within the semi-final at Wimbledon, then reached eighth on the US Open and quarterfinals on the Masters. On November 16, 2002, she married Pierre-Yves Hardenne, whom she had met three years earlier. Justine Henin had a date with historical past in 2003, when she grew to become the primary Belgian to win a Grand Slam match, the place she dominated Kim Clijsters within the remaining at Roland Garros. Semi-finalist at Wimbledon, a couple of weeks later, she then supplied a second Grand Slam on the US Open. The icing on the cake, she grew to become world primary after her victory in Zurich – her seventh title of the yr – in October 2003. Justine Henin continued her momentum in 2004, with victories in Sydney and on the Open d ‘ Australia. She nonetheless gained tournaments in Dubai and Indian Wells, earlier than seeing her career minimize brief by a cytomegalovirus, a virus associated to mononucleosis. Despite the fatigue, she got here to defend her title on the French Open, the place she was launched within the second spherical by Tathiana Garbin. She then determined to take a relaxation and, with none actual benchmarks, participated within the Olympic Games in Athens, from the place she left with the gold medal, the one one from the Belgian delegation. The Olympic champion went in stride to the US Open. Once once more drained, she disappeared on the stage of the spherical of 16 in New York, eradicated by Nadia Petrova in her final match in 2004. She has not completed consuming her black bread. Wounded within the knee, she solely reappeared in Miami (quarter-finals) after which proved intractable on clay, culminating in a 3rd title at Porte d’Auteuil. She continued with Wimbledon, with out having performed a match on grass earlier than the third Grand Slam elevate, from which she was eradicated within the first spherical by Eleni Daniilidou. After staying away from the courts on the finish of 2005, Justine Henin returned to competitors in Australia in January 2006. Victorious in Sydney, she was pressured to retire within the remaining of the Australian Open, as a result of abdomen pains. , dealing with Amélie Mauresmo. In the spring, the Belgian discovered the Fed Cup staff, which eradicated Russia within the quarter-finals, and supplied a brand new title at Roland Garros. A couple of weeks later, she nonetheless did not put Wimbledon on her document, with Mauresmo dominating her within the remaining. She was once more an unlucky finalist on the US Open, dealing with a Maria Sharapova in nice form. New blow: Justine Henin was injured within the Fed Cup remaining, gained by Italy in Charleroi. She took a brand new interval of relaxation and solely returned to the Masters, which she gained, which allowed her to turn out to be world primary once more. The begin of 2007 was upset by extra-sporting parts. Due to her divorce, Justine Henin skipped the Australian tour. But 2007 was nonetheless her greatest yr, regardless of one other setback at Wimbledon (crushed by Marion Bartoli within the semis): she triumphed once more at Roland Garros, Flushing Meadows and the Masters, profitable 10 tournaments on the finish of a yr that gained her a brand new title of Belgian Sportswoman of the Year (for the fourth time after 2003, 2004 and 2006) and the title of World Sportswoman of the Year. If 2008 begins with one other victory in Sydney, the beginning of the yr for the Belgian, eradicated by Sharapova within the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, was harder. She gained, with out shining, in Antwerp, the place she had gained her first title 9 years earlier. The sequel was much less rosy, with eliminations in Dubai (the place it was undefeated), Miami and Berlin. Following her defeat in Germany, Justine Henin ignored Rome, and introduced her retirement on May 14, 2008. Eighteen months later, Justine Henin returned to competitors to climb upon her return to the ultimate in Brisbane, crushed by .. Kim Clijsters (6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (8/6) then on the Australian Open, crushed by Serena Williams after an epic duel: 6-4, 3-6 , 6-2. She gained the yr of her return the tournaments in Stuttgart and Rosmalen, simply after being out within the spherical of 16 by the Australian Samantha Stosur in her favourite Grand Slam at Roland Garros that she then swore to herself. to win as soon as once more. Then it was the autumn, within the 4th spherical at Wimbledon, towards Wimbledon. The elbow in compote, the harm turned out to be extra critical than anticipated and above all extra delicate. She needed to cease six months to renew with an exhibition in Antwerp, in entrance of Kim Clijsters, for what shall be, however no one is aware of but, the final match of Justine Henin in entrance of his viewers. a Hopman Cup then, the place she reached the ultimate with Ruben Bemelmans, to arrange for the Australian Open, the Belgian fell within the third spherical towards the Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. His final match …