Queen Of Clay Justine Henin favorite to win 2010 French Open
Justine Henin’s comeback tour is definitely on fire. Since coming back from her hiatus, she has won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. The seven time grand slam winner smashed Samantha Stosur’s (Australia) hopes for the title as she finished the match in a mere one hour and forty-one minutes. Henin almost lost the match when she encountered a little trouble in the second set when she lagged behind and lost the second set to Stosur forcing a deciding set.
The third set didn’t start as good as she had hoped it would. Justine Henin lagged 1-0 before gaining back the momentum and eventually winning tournament and her 42nd career title. Justine Henin retired from tennis back in 2008, and announced earlier this year that she will back in the tennis circuit in time for the Australian open. Justine Henin retired from the tennis circuit because of fatigue after suffering from several straight losses back in 2008. This piece of news came as a huge shock to everyone who followed Henin’s career. Henin lost to players like Dinara Safina. By her quitting from tennis, she left the top spot in tennis open for Maria Sharapova.
Henin, who has won the French Open four times (2003, 2005 – 2007) and has reached the finals in the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix four times as well, is in form better than she ever was; she has beaten seeds Yanina Wickmayer and Jelena Jankovic on her way to beating Stosur and ending her 11-match winning streak. Justine Henin is predicted to be this year’s winner at the French Open.
According to Stosur, Henin pressured Stosur by getting really aggressive and made some really good returns. Her pressure was the key to the victory and the title at Barcelona.
It is obvious how much winning a tournament on a clay-court means to Henin; especially since this win happened just three weeks before the French Open a tournament that she has dominated in the recent years. After all, four of Justine Henin’s wins are from the clay courts of the Roland Garros.
She said that Roger Federer’s win at last year’s French Open inspired her to end her 18 months of hiatus and train again for the 2010 tennis season. In an interview, she said that Federer’s win “brought back the fire”. Her finals appearance in Barcelona was the third in her career since she ended her hiatus last January. Henin entered the Barcelona Open as a wildcard is expected to be back in the world ranking top 20; she is expected to reach the 18th rank of the world rankings.
Justine Henin, since her announcement, has been the favorite to win this year’s French Open. After all, she won the competition four times; in 2003 and three times in a row from 2005 to 2007. The only reason that she did not win the French Open in 2008 and 2009 is that she was out in retirement (more like an extended hiatus from professional tennis). And frankly, the 2008 and 2009 French Open (Ana Ivanovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova) winners don’t look like they stand a chance against the in-form Henin in the upcoming tournament.
Despite not winning in 2008 and in 2009, Justine is in great form to win this year’s French open. The last time that Henin has lost French Open was in 2004 from Tathiana Garbin of Italy who caused a huge upset that was considered one of the decade’s biggest upsets.
Henin is this year’s French Open favorite and is expected to reach the finals of the French Open this year, although, despite having beaten tough contender Samantha Stosur, she may have a few speed bumps along the specially since she must eliminate higher ranked players.
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