THE tennisreporters.net NEWSLETTER: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, NO. 46

USopen'03day13

Justine puts on Hall of Fame performance in winning US Open

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Photo: Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA, Inc. Design: Ron Cioffi/tennisreporters.net

FROM THE US OPEN – Before Belgium's Justine Henin-Hardenne knocked loudly on the door of the Tennis Hall of Fame Saturday night, only three other women in the past decade had won Roland Garros and the US Open in the same year: greats Steffi Graf, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Serena Williams. Who's just a scampering clay court specialist now?

In completely overpowering Kim Clijsters physically and mentally 7-5, 6-1 to win her first US Open title, Henin-Hardenne transformed from a cute little springtime story in Paris to a front-page blockbuster in New York. At 5-foot-6-inch, she doesn't scare anyone at first glance, but that's until you look deeper into her black great-white-shark eyes and notice that her sinewy frame doesn't have a ripple of fat. Then she leaping into winners, covering the baseline with the force of the Tampa Bay Bucs defensive line and throwing accurate haymakers above her foe's roundhouse punches.

Henin-Hardenne is ranked No. 2, but is only 300 points or so behind Clijsters in the race to the year-end No. 1. But as Clijsters' Aussie boyfriend might have said of a linesman, 'Look at her, Look at her,' because she's hands down the best player on tour right now. She's won five titles this summer and was undefeated on US hardcourts. This is the same European who was scared to play here last year because she wasn't comfortable in the culturally challenging US and now she's many analysts' top player after taking America by storm.

"I believe that when I see that I'll be No. 1," Henin-Hardenne said. "But it's true in the last few months I've been very consistent and played unbelievable. I finished the matches I had to finish. I'm very strong right now and I think the other players can see it , too."

FROM IV TO VICTORY
Few other women have pulled out the physical feat that Justine did. Just 20 hours before she overwhelmed Kim, she had laid on an trainer's table with an IV stuck in her arm after she took more than three hours in downing Jennifer Capriati in their all-time great semifinal. She got to bed at 3:45 am, woke up around 8, tried to sleep past 11 but couldn't get the Capriati match out of her head. At 4 p.m., she was back on the practice courts. At 8 p.m., she strode confidently out to Ashe stadium, looking for another W over a woman who has no idea how to beat her anymore.

"When you have to play a Grand Slam final, you cannot be tired," Henin-Hardenne said. "You have to give your best."

Henin-Hardenne was a wizard to open the match, but Clijsters began to play much deeper and move her around and jumped out to a 5-4 lead. Clijsters held two set points on Henin's serve, but Henin responded by slamming an ace and forcing Clijsters into a backhand error. The zoning Justine was back. Henin broke Clijsters to 6-5 by launching a backhand down the line winner and won the set when she forced Clijsters into a forehand error.

Henin-Hardenne embarrassed Clijsters in the second set. She was quicker, stronger and more lethal from the forehand side and from gave Kim a clinic on how to vary a backhand. She was faster to net, served harder and has much better anticipation. Frankly, she's now stronger and more powerful than Clijsters, who outweighs her by a few cases of fine Belgian ale.

"I'm strong enough to compete with these players," Henin-Hardenne said. "It's amazing how things have chanced in a year. I'm not afraid of the power of the other player because I'm powerful and everybody knows it right now."

There were no cramps, no US fans screaming an American name, no grave doubts about her closing abilities. After holding to 5-1 by whacking a crosscourt forehand winner, Henin-Hardenne screamed "Allez-C'mon" and pogo-jumped three times in front of her box. She played a Graf-like point to close out the match and won it when she whipped an inside-out forehand swing volley.

"I'm free of being afraid of losing," Henin-Hardenne said, "I just go out and play."

The rest of the tour may just want to go and hide for a while because Henin-Hardenne is a little bit scary now. When and if Serena and Venus return late in the fall, they will have a demon to contend with in the gritty Belgian. But they may already know that and if they don't, they should ask her Fed Cup teammate, Clijsters, just who the toughest woman in Brussels is today.

But on Saturday night after the victory, Henin-Hardenne showed a soft side, smiling a dozen or so champion's smiles and reveled in her victory.

"I'm so happy right now, it's just amazing," said Henin-Hardenne. "To win two Grand Slams in a year, I couldn't believe I could do it but I feel much stronger that I have in the past. It's a great confirmation for me after the French. I had a great reaction because you never know how when you win a Grand Slam how you going to feel. You don't know if your motivation is gonna be all right after a big win. It's been an unbelievable few months.