Over the last couple of weeks at TENNIS Magazine, we’ve been putting together our 2007 season in review issue. It wasn’t hard to come up with the men’s match of the year. We had plenty of legitimate choices, from the Wimbledon final to Djokovic-Stepanek at the Open. The women, however, were a struggle. Serena-Shahar at the Aussie Open? Serena-Justine in Key Biscayne? Well, it took until the very last day of the season, but the women finally gave us a match of the year on Sunday in Madrid.
It was between the woman who began the year at No. 1, Maria Sharapova, and the woman who ended it in that spot, Justine Henin. One too tall, the other too short (is there a body type for women tennis players, the way there is for men? Steffi Graf’s is the one that comes to mind first), they nevertheless dominated the year-end championships and looked ready for an epic collision right from the start.
Sharapova was amped up even more than normal. She took more time between points, contorted her face more violently after winning them, and was in perpetual mini-fist-pump mode all night—they’re starting to look like nervous tics. She more than held her own for about 3 hours and 15 minutes, then lost it for the last 10. As she was in the 2006 U.S. Open final, Sharapova was successful at the (deceptively) simple task of thwarting Henin by hitting deep and largely down the middle. This kept Henin from attacking the way she wants to (loves to, needs to), and led her to overhit more often than usual.
Other than that, Sharapova’s serve was not a problem. She hit it to her targets and moved it around. I only noticed one shaky moment, at 3-3 in the first, when her toss went way to the left; but she still got the serve in. It was interesting to hear her hitting partner, Michael Joyce, tell her after the first set to use her kick out wide in the ad court because Henin was standing “too far back.” I wonder if Henin will use that information in the future.
Joyce also reassured Sharapova that she was “tougher than her.” He appeared to be sincere, and you could see why. Sharapova was in a fighting mood, and it was good to see her show some of her trademark will power. At 5-5 in the first, she went down 0-30, then went for the lines and nailed them to come back and hold. At 6-5, she had seven set points, lost them all, but stayed positive enough to earn an eighth and win it. At the beginning of the third, Sharapova went down 1-3 and looked tired. But she rallied one more time to even it at 3-3. While she couldn’t sustain that rally, she forced Henin, more than anyone has in months, to earn her title. You may not find Sharapova aesthetically—or sonically—appealing, or you may think she indulges in too many extracurricular activities. But at her best, the women’s tour still needs her competitive fury—Sharapova never goes through the motions. It’s no accident that she was half of the best women’s match of the year.
As for the other half, it looked to me like Henin won this one because she’s built up a reservoir a calm confidence in herself over the last 20-odd matches, all of which have been victories. Joyce wasn’t wrong. Sharapova was strong; but Henin seemed, despite many shaky moments (the usual “perils of Justine”), to not quite believe deep down that she could lose.
You could say that she eventually won with persistence—Henin overhit and overhit and overhit until the ball finally started going in. She double-faulted four times in getting broken to lose the first set, and it wasn’t until 4-4 in the second, with Sharapova closing in on the title, that Henin got a nose in front when she broke her (then she was broken right back). Much of the time Henin was trying to claw out of the box that Sharapova had her in behind the baseline. But as I said, the confidence she’s gained from her months at the top was there when she absolutely needed it. Henin found her way into the net at the right times, and got Sharapova stretched and scrambling by snapping forehands to each corner. I’d even say Henin’s attack-at-all-times mentality has helped her invent a shot. It's the run-through forehand: She doesn’t stop to get set up for her swing before she’s off and running to the net.
One shot crystallized Henin’s performance for me. Serving at 5-6 in the first, she put a nervous, tentative forehand into the net to give Sharapova a set point. On the next ball, after looking even more tentative on her serve, she got another forehand. This time, with no hint of hesitation or nerves, she rared back and drilled it as fiercely as possible into the corner for a winner. A brave shot. She’s had a long run of them this year.
