Over the last couple of weeks at TENNIS Magazine, weâve been putting together our 2007 season in review issue. It wasnât hard to come up with the menâs 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 Grafâs 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 nightâtheyâre 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, Sharapovaâs 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 âtoo far back.â I wonder if Henin will use that information in the future.
Joyce also reassured Sharapova that she was âtougher than her.â 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 couldnât sustain that rally, she forced Henin, more than anyone has in months, to earn her title. You may not find Sharapova aestheticallyâor sonicallyâappealing, or you may think she indulges in too many extracurricular activities. But at her best, the womenâs tour still needs her competitive furyâSharapova never goes through the motions. Itâs no accident that she was half of the best womenâs match of the year.
As for the other half, it looked to me like Henin won this one because sheâs built up a reservoir a calm confidence in herself over the last 20-odd matches, all of which have been victories. Joyce wasnât wrong. Sharapova was strong; but Henin seemed, despite many shaky moments (the usual âperils of Justineâ), to not quite believe deep down that she could lose.
You could say that she eventually won with persistenceâHenin 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 wasnât 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 sheâs 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. Iâd even say Heninâs attack-at-all-times mentality has helped her invent a shot. It's the run-through forehand: She doesnât stop to get set up for her swing before sheâs off and running to the net.
One shot crystallized Heninâs 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. Sheâs had a long run of them this year.
