Friday, September 21, 2007
Friday, September 07, 2007
Juju - the greatest David of all time!
I"ve watched women's tennis since Gabriela Sabatini beat Steffi Graf to win the 1990 US Open, and Justine "juju" Henin is the best player I've ever seen. Here is why. Ever since the Williams sisters arrived on the scene, women's tennis has become a physical sport. For over 3 years no one had an answer for the power and physicality of these two women. Then came the brigade of Russians - tall (most of them are six footers), well-built and ready to match the Williams' power game. All through this, Henin, the petite Belgian all of 5 ft 5" and 125 lbs, has consistently been at the top of the game. Imagine a lightweight boxer competing in the heavyweight category and coming out on top. The classic David vs Goliath.
So how does she do it? Naturally, the first thing that she realized that she needed to do was build strength. She worked so hard on doing so that she ended up beating up her body pretty bad in the process. That resulted in a series of injuries after which she eased off. Secondly, she has constantly been perfecting her technique. It is safe to say that she has the best technique, footwork and timing of any player in the game currently. She is probably the only one with an all-court game to go along with the greatest backhand in the history of the game. And whats more, she has improved her serve tremendously. These are the traits that Martina Hingis failed to improve on and found herself being blown away time and again. With all due respect to Graf and Seles, women's tennis is played at a far higher level today than a decade ago. Graf would not have been able to bully her opponents with her forehand had she played in this decade. I would infact say that Juju is a better ball striker than either of those two greats.
Juj has always said that she loves facing up to challenges, part of the reason why she loves skydiving so much. And there is no greater challenge in her sport than to face the Williams sisters back to back on a fast hard court at Flushing Meadows! And she rose to the occasion quite beautifully. For the first time, someone outhit and overpowered Serena. The sore loser that she is irreverently blamed luck for her loss instead of giving Juju her due. Make no mistake about it, nobody has dominated Serena Williams and actually overpowered her before the second set of the quarter-final of this year's US open.
If that wasn't enough, she then came up against Venus playing the best tennis of her life in the semi. The standard of tennis by the end of the first set had reached dizzy heights. And it stayed there, despite the swirling winds out on court. Both players were trading winners like there was no tomorrow. Venus threw everything at her. But Juj had an answer for everything. It is one of the better tennis matches I've seen in a very long time. When it was over, Henin had come through in straight sets.
John McEnroe calls her the female Roger Federer. That's mighty high praise. But if you've watched her play at this year's US open you'll see why.
So how does she do it? Naturally, the first thing that she realized that she needed to do was build strength. She worked so hard on doing so that she ended up beating up her body pretty bad in the process. That resulted in a series of injuries after which she eased off. Secondly, she has constantly been perfecting her technique. It is safe to say that she has the best technique, footwork and timing of any player in the game currently. She is probably the only one with an all-court game to go along with the greatest backhand in the history of the game. And whats more, she has improved her serve tremendously. These are the traits that Martina Hingis failed to improve on and found herself being blown away time and again. With all due respect to Graf and Seles, women's tennis is played at a far higher level today than a decade ago. Graf would not have been able to bully her opponents with her forehand had she played in this decade. I would infact say that Juju is a better ball striker than either of those two greats.
Juj has always said that she loves facing up to challenges, part of the reason why she loves skydiving so much. And there is no greater challenge in her sport than to face the Williams sisters back to back on a fast hard court at Flushing Meadows! And she rose to the occasion quite beautifully. For the first time, someone outhit and overpowered Serena. The sore loser that she is irreverently blamed luck for her loss instead of giving Juju her due. Make no mistake about it, nobody has dominated Serena Williams and actually overpowered her before the second set of the quarter-final of this year's US open.
If that wasn't enough, she then came up against Venus playing the best tennis of her life in the semi. The standard of tennis by the end of the first set had reached dizzy heights. And it stayed there, despite the swirling winds out on court. Both players were trading winners like there was no tomorrow. Venus threw everything at her. But Juj had an answer for everything. It is one of the better tennis matches I've seen in a very long time. When it was over, Henin had come through in straight sets.
John McEnroe calls her the female Roger Federer. That's mighty high praise. But if you've watched her play at this year's US open you'll see why.
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