Friday, July 06, 2007


Justin Henin ardenne is a great athelete
Justin Henin, the reigning women's tennis number one reminds me of watching any of the men's singles matches. She looks a frail character physically although nobody must doubt her mental frame of mind. But the point here is her thought process and her physical approach. I have been watching tennis for more than a decade and it has more been like a pastime than being a passion. I am a self confessed club level football fan and do watch cricket with a lot of interest and passion. I have grown up watching the likes of Steffi Graf, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Gabriela Sabatini and Jana Novotna and never seen a women’s player with a men’s style or approach of play, the closest being, Amelie Mauresmo (the on and off colour French star).I was watching the match yesterday between Serena and Justin and could not believe Justin playing unlike women. She has extreme sense of athleticism, packed with her body being agile and fit. If we were to pick up the leading ladies in the women circuit like Anna Ivanovic, Maria Sharapova, the Williams sisters, Nadia Petrova, Svetlana to name a few Justin does stay ahead. All her fellow contemporaries concentrate a lot on the other aspects of the game like improving on their ground strokes, racket swings or trying to maximize the forehand/backhand shot selection with pin point accuracy. Justin’s physical endurance is a testimony to her winning most of the rally points compared to other women players. It is one the demerits of Tennis according to me. I think the tennis federation can bring about certain changes in the manner the game is played, just to add or experiment and see the results. One of them that can be brought about in women’s tennis is to have a mandatory rally point twice in a set. In this they can disallow a player to hit an ace and have a rally between the players. Justin Henin is truly a world champion, there is no denying the fact and I think she will be winning the Wimbledon crown also, unlike what many others think.But one positive has been the general level of improvement among the women players. I think there is good set of challenger’s to the lead pack of 5 in the women’s circuit which was one of the major disadvantages of the circuit.Competition brings in the best and it is a treat to watch the matches. I am enjoying the Wimbledon this year.