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 Four titles on the red clay: Henin untouchable at Roland GarrosDestroys nervous Ivanovic for crownBy Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net
In yet another clinical destruction of a wide-eyed foe on her beloved Court Philippe Chatrier, Henin wasted Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 6-2 in Roland Garros final on Saturday. Much deservedly, Henin joined a pantheon of clay-court greats with the title, becoming only the second player in the Open Era to win three straight Roland Garros titles (Monica Seles achieved the feat between 1990 and 1992), and becoming the first player to win four crowns since all-time great Steffi Graf won the last of her six crowns in 1999. While Henin is still two short of Serena Williams in overall major titles with six, she more than proved this year that she's the overall generational queen of red clay, as it's highly doubtful that frequently injured Serena will be able to win three more Roland Garros crowns. But the 25-year-old is certainly good enough and motivated enough to win another two and tie Graf. Her all-around wizardry on the surface cannot be denied and she simply skates circles around players when donning her clay-court shoes. Moreover, she's able to execute any strategy that she and her coach, Carlos Rodriguez design, morphing from retriever to aggressor in a moment's notice. When she believes that she can coax errors out of her foes, Henin puts up a defensive wall. When she knows that she has to take the rackets out of their hands early, she jumps on the ball. In her final three victories this year, that's exactly what she did, perhaps returning serve better than she's ever done before. In straight sets wins over Serena, Jelena Jankovic and Ivanovic, she leapt at backhand returns and raked forehands into the corners, actually scaring them when they went up to serve and forcing them to play defensively after their ball tosses and follow-throughs. Time and time again, she clubbed laser shots at their feet down the middle, producing weak replies. She went for her first serves and spotted them well, indicated that she truly owns her blinding inside-out forehand now, and beautifully mixed up slice, flat and topspin backhands. When Henin is on her game, there isn't a player on the planet who can touch her on clay because no one can match strides and slides with her and no player has as many shots at her disposal on dirt. "It's my magic garden and my second house," Henin said of Court Philippe Chatrier. "It's the only court in the world where I have such a great feeling. It's amazing." © TennisReporters.net 2007
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