Justine Henin vs Serena Williams QF '07 10/10

Justine beats Serena a second time in the quarters of a slam, with some beautiful grasscourt tennis. Good fight from Serena too.

Please watch the match completely before commenting. Also, any comments bashing either player or trying to give excuses for Serena's loss will be removed.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Henin
• Williams
• Grass
• Quarterfinal
• tennis

[mjr1z]

The choke against Jankovic was funny to watch but if any of you play tennis like me Jankovic has a such a solid and consistent game that it plays havoc with head when you are trying to close out a match. However what was more funny was Henin losing to Bartoli at Wimbledon, probably the only Wimbledon Justine could have won and she choked. Seeded 1, and yet she imploded. At least Serena stuck it out to beat Jankovic. Henin is hilarious when she chokes like in 06 when she lost 3/4 GS finals...

[kumarravichandran]

I DO play tennis, and I know what you mean. The Wimbledon match was one of ONLY 4 losses all year, and came after a significant defeat of Serena. Not an excuse, but it happens. And she had a much better chance in 2006, when she blew a good lead against Mauresmo. And FYI, Justine ended 2006 as no.1, with a Slam to her name. NO mean feat.

[mjr1z]

Yes she ended 06 as #1 but what was her competition? I totally agree that Justine can only be beaten (at this stage in her career) by a select few, and that select few were not to be found in 06. Serena was out with injury, Venus was playing pretty awful tennis and Sharapova was injured. Yes #1 was no mean feat but come on, 2006 was her year, she was the best and yet she only had 1 GS, her predictable French Open Crown. So FYI Justine might have been number 1 but should have won a GRANDSLAM...

[kumarravichandran]

Excuse me??? So the French has become a cakewalk now, because no one else has won it much? What a joke. That awful bit of insight aside, she had a much better 2007, when both Williams won a Slam, and both Serbs were at their best. If it was so easy to dominate then, why didn't Venus/Serena/Maria do so?

[mjr1z]

Do you think Henin will retire any time soon? Plus what is happening to Henin? She seems to have peaked last year and her level of tennis has significantly dropped, and with recent talks of leisurely travel her mind might not b as focussed on tennis as it once was.

[kumarravichandran]

She is lacking motivation, as is clear from her interviews. Add the knee injury to that, and some poor losses, and she is very low. She will do well to take time off, get her ranking down, and then compete for the top spot again. This season will be VERY rough on her, sadly. But she'll be back, hopefully, and soon.

[shetachai]

I really adore Henin for her great effort, she doesn't hav the nature gift of athletes body like serena or venus but only her will of becoming the one prove to anyone n the world that you don't need to be six feet tall or have a body with every inches of muscle you can still be a champion, i salute you, Justine for your most minded-perfection on game over the law of nature.

[Burpingbelcher]

The Williams are the best at the power baseline tennis they play. That means that the players who beat them do so by making Venus and Serena play badly, by changing the pace and disrupting the rhythm. It's what Nadal does to Federer, and Murray does to both. But you don't hear the top men come into their press conference and say "I played 10% of my best today". It just makes them sound immature. Justine challenged them by making them play a different style.

[demeanor79]

not tall and without muscle but u can handle all the girls. What is ur weapon Justine? how can u be over the "law of the nature"? That's the question.

[pearpeas]

serena looked ackward here---its like the ball was too big. she wasn't fluid as she usually is...

[JayMareo]

we will never kno, but even tho im much more of a williams fan i would have loved to see justine stay and give them challenges. sigh lol

[kumarravichandran]

It may be true that they rarely play their 'best' and lose, but any player plays at his/her highest level very seldom, so that is a meaningless statement. Justine rarely played a really bad match, everyone expected her to put in a fight each time. Although I admire the Williamses, they seem to bring their A or even B game along very rarely. You have to learn to win even when things are not working out.

[susceotible]

I totally agree with mjr1z. eventhough I'm a huge fan of serena williams I do respect justin a lot. I also believes that if justin didnt retire so soon serena/justin rivalry will be a classic rivalry just like evert/navratillova. btw do you guys think that if serena plays against justin like when she played at the u.s open she can win against her. coz she was phenomenal in that tournament. and one more thing. if justin won against bartoli. do you guys think she can beat venus on this surface.

[cooldominicano]

like serena u never going to say that serena loose cuz justine was better, u the serena fan, like her, awalys has a excuse, when justine loose to henin before be no.1 justine didn't has the confident, in 2007 she knew that she was more better than the williams, she loose to serena in miami2007 cuz she injure in the math, and 2008 justine was obvious no focuse, cuz two math more she retire, so is imposible that a player plays good when she is soon toreire like her

[cooldominicano]

the only think that matter, is the people who know about tennis, knows that justine is the best of her generation, dont speak stupid thing, saying that the williams are better, their are more strong, but never better

[Carl23CP]

Wow! What an incredible match!