Players involved: Justine Henie and Maria Sharapova
- Justin Henny. one sided backhand queen
Justin Henin, born in 1982, was one of the dominant players on the tour from 2003-2008. His richly varied skill set and beautiful one-handed backhand won him legions of ardent fans, as well as making him the best clay court player of his time.
Henin turned pro in 1999. After doing well for several years without winning a major event, he hired Pat Etchbury as his fitness coach in late 2002. The hard work he put in under Etchbury paid off the following year when he won Roland Garros as well as Roland Garros. US Open:beating her rival Kim Clijsters in straight sets each time. Henin reached No. 1 in the WTA rankings for the first time on October 20, 2003, and won four Roland Garros titles between 2003 and 2007, including three in a row from 2005 to 2007. Henin also won in 2004 Australian Open (where he beat Clijsters again, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3).
Henin’s peak was in 2006 and 2007. During these years, he participated in seven Grand Slam tournaments and reached the final six times. In 2006, she was runner-up twice to Amelie Mauresmo, both at the Australian Open (6-2, 1-0, ret.) and at Wimbledon, claiming the French Open title by defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova (6-4, 6-4). After losing to Maria Sharapova (6-4, 6-4) in the US Open final, she finished with a win over Mauresmo (6-4, 6-3) in the WTA final.
After missing the Australian Open in 2007, he won Roland Garros (beating Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 6-2), but at Wimbledon, the only Grand Slam tournament still missing from her list of achievements, she lost in the semifinals to Marion Bartoli (1-6, 7-5, 6-1). Since then, she has not lost a match, winning three titles on her second US Open crown (defeating Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-3 in the final).
- Maria Sharapova. the new tennis sensation
Maria Sharapova was born in Belarus in 1987, but started playing tennis as a child in Sochi, where her parents moved. Chernobyl accident. His father Yuri took him to Florida when he was only seven years old to give him the best chance to become a professional tennis player. It happened quickly, as the young Sharapova turned pro at age 14 and after a year on tour, she was already in the top 200.
At the beginning of her career, Sharapova was often compared to Anna Kournikova. both players were Russian, they were both successful and famous at a very young age, and they also shared the same physical appearance, being both tall and blonde. The young Maria always dismissed the comparison, as Kournikova never claimed a professional title and over the years became more of a model than a tennis player, a career turn that Sharapova didn’t care for, at least not at the time.
In 2003, Sharapova won her first two WTA titles, in Tokyo and Quebec, finishing the year as world No. 32. In 2004, she became the fourth youngest Open Era Grand Slam champion when she won the tournament. Wimbledonbeating Serena Williams (6-1, 6-4) in the final and, claiming four more titles, ended the year as world No. 5. In 2005, after reaching the semi-finals at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, she became the first Russian female player to become world No. 1 on 22 August.
Sharapova won her second Grand Slam crown at the 2006 US Open, defeating Justine Henin in the final (6-4, 6-4). In 2007, after becoming the runner-up to Serena Williams at the Australian Open (6-1, 6-2), Sharapova, battling shoulder pain, won only one title (in San Diego, defeating Patty Schneider in the final (6-3, 2-6, 6-0).
Location: Madrid, Spain
The 2007 WTA Tour Championships, officially the Sony Ericsson Championships, were hosted in Madrid in early November for the second time. The event was held at the Madrid Arena with a capacity of 10,000 spectators. Only the top eight players in the world qualified for the event, and Justin Henin was the reigning champion.
The factsHenin lives up to his beloved status
When Justine Henin met Maria Sharapova in the 2007 Masters Cup final, it was already the 8th.th a meeting between two women. The Belgian led 5-2 against them and he won their last match twelve months ago in the semi-finals of the Masters Cup (6-2, 7-6).
Henin was a heavy favourite. World No. 1, his season was fantastic. he had won no less than nine titles, including Roland Garros and the US Open, and he had not lost a match since losing to Marion Bartoli in the Wimbledon semi-finals (1-6, 7-5, 6-1). In Madrid, he took brutal revenge against the French player in a round-robin tournament (6-0, 6-0), and on the way to the final, he did not miss a single set.
On the other hand, Sharapova, who started the year by reaching the Australian Open final, has been struggling with a sore shoulder and her recent results have been disappointing. Having been eliminated from the fourth round of Wimbledon, she lost to the 32nd-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska (6-4, 1-6, 6-2) in the third round of the US Open. She was ranked No. 6 in the WTA rankings, her lowest ranking since October 2004.
In the first set, the Russian, relying on a very accurate serve and a deadly forehand, put pressure on the world No. 1. Henin fought hard, saving no less than seven set points, but he closed out the first set, 7-5. The Belgian sharpened her one-handed backhand in the second set and it looked as though Sharapova, who has barely competed in the last two months, had run out of gas. Henin leveled the match by winning the second set, 7-5, and, seizing the momentum, outscored his opponent in the final set, 6-3. In this three-hour-and-twenty-four-minute battle, which was the longest match of the year on the WTA tour, the Belgian saved fourteen of Sharapova’s eighteen break chances, and five of six in the final set.
“This was one of the toughest matches of my career,” commented Henin. “What a way to end the season. It’s a dream come true.”
What next? Henin retires in 2008, returns in 2010 and finally retires in 2011
A few months later, in May 2008, the Belgian, still world No. 1, surprised the entire tennis world by announcing his retirement. After retirement, Justin Henin would stay away from the limelight. In 2009, he will participate in the TV show “Twelve works of Justin Henin”, but deep down he will start to miss tennis.
On September 22, 2009, Justin Henin announced his comeback tour in 2010. She earned a wild card for the 2010 Australian Open, where she would reach the final, losing to Serena Williams (6-4, 3-6, 6-2). Unfortunately, she would fall and injure her elbow that summer at Wimbledon when facing Kim Clijsters, bringing an early end to her 2010 season. Henin would never recover from this injury. She retired after the 2011 Australian Open, where she lost in the third round to Svetlana Kuznetsova (6-4, 7-6) and realized her elbow was too damaged to continue.
Maria Sharapova would hold the world No. 1 spot for 21 weeks in her career, most recently in July 2012. Becoming the world’s highest-paid female athlete, the Russian would go on to achieve career Grand Slams by winning the Australian Open in 2008 (defeating Ana Ivanovic 7-5, 6-3), and the French Open (201, 6-6, Erran2, 6-6, Erran2). 2014 (over Simona Halep, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4).
His already stellar career would still be marred by a recurring shoulder injury that would derail his 2009 and 2010 seasons. In 2016, Sharapova would pass a drug test and be suspended for 15 months. Although he would look to bounce back in 2017 and climb as high as 25th, he would not achieve more remarkable results than reaching the quarterfinals at the 2018 French Open.
