!96228164 by Pete Bodo
Okay, I give up. I can't find a single additional caveat to attach to the comeback of Justine Henin. A few weeks ago, I wrote that Henin was a Ferrari, to Kim Clijsters' pick-up truck, and suggested that her high-performance game will require more fine-tuning and more of break-in period than did the rugged game of Champagne Kimmy.
Tune-up? Check!
I also suggested that given her diminutive stature, Henin might be out-muscled by the increasingly fit, physical, large-framed women surging forward in the WTA (see: Yanina Wickmayer).
Beat the big girls? Check!
And who could forget (or will let me forget) that I declared for Jie Zheng before her semifinal meeting with Henin last night. That wasn't because I felt Zheng had more game - I just thought that Henin might be running out of gas, and in Zheng she was going up against an opponent physically and mentally tough enough to ask Henin all the difficult questions, on all the awkward places on the court.
Ace the TW pop quiz in Chinese? Check!
Well, I'm out of bullets. Nothing much has changed in the WTA over the past two years, other than that **Dinara Safina was given good reason to feel like dog poop, and Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic got to toss a coin: heads you get your name on a Grand Slam trophy; tails, you don't get the major, but you get to be No. 1, at least until Dinara comes sniffing around and demands a piece of the action.
Serena Williams, Justine Henin, and Kim Clijsters rule. Again.
But Henin deserves a lot of credit for showing us how far a versatile and pretty game, coupled with a nun's devotion to the god of competitive fire, can take you, even among that forest of bigger, stronger players. It's almost as if the Sister of No Mercy has been saying: Look, if that Roger Federer can go out there and demonstrate that a game based more on brio than bang-o can prevail, why can't I?
However - *
*
There's still this matter of unfinished business with Serena, an issue that will be resolved tomorrow in the women's final. This one has all the ingredients of a pick 'em - the playing field on which these two will meet having been leveled by on-the-ground circumstances in Melbourne. I don't know how healthy and fit Serena is, but I'm pretty sure that the more time goes on, the harder it is for her to throw her body around the court with the abandon to which she's accustomed.
Serena is strong, but she's lugging a lot of flesh around the court, and that puts a lot of strain on her pins. In the best of all worlds, she would get a little more recovery time. But I felt something like a flash of intuition watching Serena's ragged semifinal with Na Li yesterday. Everything about her these days, including the size of her bust and that school-bus colored dress, fairly shouts that she isn't made for the hairpin turns and chicanes that litter the track of a typical match. Yet she not only moves extremely well and changes direction deftly, she's at her most dangerous when the attempt to run her ragged, east to west along the baseline, around opens up the court. For this is a lady who can punish the ball and crack a winner from even a seemingly desperate position.
Running Serena is a perfectly reasonable strategy, but only if you're prepared to end the point, instead of expecting her to do it in your favor. Open up the the court and give her a look and you deserve what you get.
Henin has no trouble pulling the trigger on the putaway, so I'm expecting a lot of spectacular shotmaking in this one. But I wouldn't be at all surprised if Henin tries to set up her placements by jerking Serena north and south, instead of east and west. Henin's backhand slice, especially that tricky, short slice, may be a significant factor.
This is a very tough one to call, although for some reason I've kind of enjoyed making the predictions this time around. Despite my reservations about Serena's all-around fitness, I have to fall back on the fact that her serve is head and shoulders above that of her peers and rivals, and that's the one shot an opponent simply can't deny you with athleticism, strategy, or tactics.
And just as important, Serena is a bold returner. The outstanding weakness either player has shown at this tournament is Henin's serve. If she tees it up for Serena, run for cover. Those are formidable disadvantages for Henin to carry into the match. This final probably will be won or lost at the service line, and that demands going with Serena.
Or is that just another task, requiring a final Check!?