Starting on December 7—the 25th day left in 2010—TENNIS.com will countdown from the year-end No. 25 on both tours with "The Last Word," a look back at the year that was and a look ahead at the season to come. Here's who we've looked at so far.
Best of 2010
When the former No. 1 came out of “retirement” after an 18-month hiatus, she reached the Australian Open final in just her second event back and lost an exciting match to Serena Williams. It seemed that very soon it would be just like old times again.
Worst of 2010
A first-round loss to Aravane Rezai—0-6 in the third!—at the big Madrid combined event had to hurt.
Year in Review
Let’s make that a year-and-a-half in review, and a strange tale it was. After a great start Down Under (back-to-back finals in Brisbane—where she lost to Clijsters—and Melbourne), Henin hit turbulence. She didn’t make it out of the second round in Indian Wells and lost a bizarre three-setter to Clijsters in the Miami semis (6-2, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (6)). In Paris, the place where she collected four of her seven Grand Slam singles titles, she was beaten in the fourth round by Sam Stosur. Henin proceeded to win a grass-court tune-up before falling to Clijsters (again) at Wimbledon. And then the film broke, just like in an old movie theater as the image on the screen melts away…
See for Yourself
Check out this clip from the 2007 U.S. Open, just to remember when:
The Last Word
Henin today is even more of an enigma than she was in May 2008, when she abruptly quit the tour while at the peak of her powers. Her 2010 comeback, while wildly successful by any normal standard, may not have been what she envisioned. Kim Clijsters beat her three times, and in those matches Henin looked mentally shaky. (As did Clijsters, but hey, somebody had to win.) The elbow injury she suffered at Wimbledon against Clijsters didn’t prevent her from finishing the match, and it came as a shock when she announced not long thereafter that she was done for the year. It isn’t fair to second-guess injury reports, but the impression she left over time is that she’s in seclusion. Could it be that she’s trying—once again—to hit the “reset” button? Nobody really knows, and that’s a pity, because she has one of the most fetching games ever to grace the WTA.
—Peter Bodo