Justine Henin
Justine Henin-Hardenne (born June 1, 1982, Liege, Belgium) is a successful tennis player from the Wallonia (francophone) region of Belgium.
Family life
Her official name was (and still is) Justine Henin before her marriage with Pierre-Yves Hardenne on November 16 in chateau de Lavaux-Sainte-Anne, 2002. She uses the name Henin-Hardenne on the tennis court but as Belgian law does not provide in a wife taken on the name of her husband, she legally still is Justine Henin. They live in Wépion, Belgium, when not on tour.
Her late mother, Françoise Rosière, was a French and History teacher. She died of intestinal cancer when Justine was only 12. Justine has two sisters : Sarah and Florence (deceased) and one brother : David. Her father is José Henin.
Tennis career
She started her professional tennis career in 1999, and established herself as a major competitor in 2001, has been coached by Carlos Rodriguez since she was 14, regularly reaching late rounds of international competitions. On June 7, 2003 she won her first Grand Slam tournament, the French Open, defeating her Flemish compatriot Kim Clijsters. On September 7, 2003 she won her second Grand Slam tournament, the US Open, once again against Kim Clijsters. She reached the final after defeating Jennifer Capriati in the semi-finals.
On October 19, 2003 she achieved the number one ranking on the WTA list, taking over from Kim Clijsters. She was named the International Tennis Federation's women's singles World Champion for 2003.
She has been training for 2004 in Florida with strength and conditioning coach Pat Etcheberry, who in the past has been the fitness guru for other world-class players like Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Jennifer Capriati.
On January 31, 2004 Justine won her third Grand Slam at the Australian Open. During the final, she defeated her compatriot Kim Clijsters, assuming her number one ranking on the WTA list.
On May 20, 2004, she was seeded 1st for the French Open 2004, the Grand Slam tournament she won the year before. However, still plagued by a viral infection contracted a few months ago, she lost her second round match against Tathiana Garbin, than ranked 86th player on the WTA list. Justine subsequently decided to withdraw from the upcoming Rosmalen and Wimbledon 2004 tournaments. However, she came back in August 2004 on the court to win the gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, defeating Amélie Mauresmo in two sets.
In March, 2005, she returned to the profesional circuit after almost 4 months of inactivity at the NASDAQ-100 open in Miami, where she lost to Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals. She captured the title in the very next tournament, the Family Circle Cup Tier-1 event at Charleston, posting victories over world no. 1 Lindsay Davenport (quaterfinals), 13th seed Tatiana Golovin (semi-finals) and 2nd seed Elena Dementieva. This was Justine's 6th consecutive final win, a streak stretching back to Zurich in October, 2003.
Titles (22)
| Legend (Singles) |
| Grand Slam (3) |
| Tour Championships (0) |
| Olympic Gold (1) |
| Tier I Event (7) |
| WTA Tour (9) |
Singles (20)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Opponent in the final | Score |
| 1. | 1999-05-10 | Antwerp | Sarah Pitkowski-Malcor (France) | 6-1 6-2 |
| 2. | 2001-01-01 | Gold Coast | Silvia Farina Elia (Italy) | 7-6 6-4 |
| 3. | 2001-01-08 | Canberra | Sandrine Testud (France) | 6-2 6-2 |
| 4. | 2001-06-18 | 's-Hertogenbosch | Kim Clijsters (Belgium) | 6-4 3-6 6-3 |
| 5. | 2002-05-06 | Berlin | Serena Williams (USA) | 6-2 1-6 7-6 |
| 6. | 2002-10-21 | Linz | Alexandra Stevenson (USA) | 6-3 6-0 |
| 7. | 2003-02-17 | Dubai | Monica Seles (USA) | 4-6 7-6 7-5 |
| 8. | 2003-04-07 | Charleston | Serena Williams (USA) | 6-3 6-4 |
| 9. | 2003-05-05 | Berlin | Kim Clijsters (Belgium) | 6-4 4-6 7-5 |
| 10. | 2003-05-26 | Roland Garros | Kim Clijsters (Belgium) | 6-0 6-4 |
| 11. | 2003-07-28 | San Diego | Kim Clijsters (Belgium) | 3-6 6-2 6-3 |
| 12. | 2003-08-11 | Toronto | Lina Krasnoroutskaya (Russia) | 6-1 6-0 |
| 11. | 2003-08-25 | US Open | Kim Clijsters (Belgium) | 7-5 6-1 |
| 14. | 2003-10-13 | Zurich | Jelena Dokic (Serbia & Montenegro) | 6-0 6-4 |
| 15. | 2004-01-12 | Sydney | Amelie Mauresmo (France) | 6-4 6-4 |
| 16. | 2004-01-19 | Australian Open | Kim Clijsters (Belgium) | 6-3 4-6 6-3 |
| 17. | 2004-02-23 | Dubai | Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) | 6-3 7-6 |
| 18. | 2004-03-08 | Indian Wells | Lindsay Davenport (USA) | 6-1 6-4 |
| 19. | 2004-08-16 | The Olympics (Athens) | Amelie Mauresmo (France) | 6-3 6-3 |
| 20. | 2005-04-17 | Charleston | Elena Dementieva (Russia) | 7-5 6-4 |
Performance Timeline
| Tournament | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | - | W | SF | QF | 4r | 2r | - | 1 |
| Roland Garros | 2r | W | 1r | SF | - | 2r | 1 | |
| Wimbledon | - | SF | SF | F | 1r | - | 0 | |
| US Open | 4r | W | 4r | 4r | 4r | 1r | 1 | |
| WTA Tour Championships | - | SF | QF | QF | - | - | 0 | |
| Grand Slam Win-Loss | 0-0 | 11-2 | 24-2 | 12-4 | 17-4 | 4-3 | 1-2 | 69-17 |
| Tournaments played | 2 | 9 | 18 | 23 | 21 | 13 | 7 | 92 |
| Finals reached | 1 | 5 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 30 |
| Tournaments Won | 1 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 20 |
| Hardcourt Win-Loss | 3-1 | 31-2 | 44-7 | 23-14 | 31-10 | 23-8 | 2-2 | 158-44 |
| Clay Win-Loss | 6-0 | 4-2 | 20-1 | 16-4 | 18-4 | 3-2 | 6-2 | 68-15 |
| Grass Win-Loss | 0-0 | 0-0 | 8-2 | 7-2 | 10-1 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 26-7 |
| Carpet Win-Loss | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3-1 | 6-1 | 1-3 | 1-2 | 5-2 | 16-9 |
| Overall Win-Loss | 9-1 | 35-4 | 75-11 | 52-21 | 60-18 | 28-14 | 13-16 | 267-75 |
| Year End Ranking | 8 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 45 | 69 | N/A |