A few closing thoughts on the extraordinary women’s final yesterday:
Thanks to all for participating in the dialogue on Justine Henin-Hardenne’s bailout. The comments were great – so much so that I’ve stolen a cute line from one of you to use as the headline of this post, which obviously was a play on my earlier description of H2 as “The Little Backhand that Could.”
I don’t know how many of you read the recent novel, The Kite Runner. I thought the first half of the book was touching and beautifully written, although the wheels fall off and the book spirals away into unconvincing melodrama near the end. In fact, I’ve never read a book that was heartfelt and credible, for so long, only to become incredible, but
never mind...
There’s a passage early in the book where the boy narrator/author describes his father’s contention that there is only one real sin, theft. The father argues that every crime is a crime of theft. Murder? You’re stealing someone’s life. Adultery? You’re stealing someone’s wife (or husband). Avoiding paying taxes? You’re stealing your neighbor’s money by not paying your fair share. Making up untrue stories about a neighbor? You’re stealing his integrity. And so on. . .
Well, what Justine Henin-Hardenne did last night was steal Amelie Mauresmo moment, even though Mauresmo will get the credit she deserves in the record book and in most peoples’ hearts. And that, more than anything, is my beef with H2-oh-no. You can debate endlessly about what a fighter Henin-Hardenne has been in the past, or just how badly one should feel to justify quitting in the middle of a Grand Slam title. But one thing you can’t deny, it seems to me, is that H2 is a thief. And that’s my last word on the subject.
It’s funny, a lot of you went ballistic last fall, when I described Amelie as The Queen of the Second Tier, in my posts about the diluted WTA championships. A number of you have brought that up again in your comments, wondering how I feel about having made that characterization now.
I didn’t want to address that subject yesterday. It was Amelie’s day, she proved herself a deserving, classy Grand Slam champ. Besides, she’s already had a little of her glory stolen. But now we can move on.
I don’t think Amelie’s win vaulted her into the first tier for a simple reason. She hasn’t won multiple Grand Slams. If any of you are thinking that I’m moving the baseline here, go back and read the fall posts on this subject. I’ve always said that you need to win at least two majors to be a legitimate first-tier player.
Does it matter? No. I don’t walk around thinking of Amelie as a second tier player. I walk around thinking of Amelie as an incredibly gifted player who – for whatever reason – hasn't completely cracked the Champion code.
Is Mauresmo a “better” player than other women who have one Grand Slam title (Jana Novotna and Eva Majoli come to mind)? Yes, my subjective self says. Does she have a more compelling, artful game than some players of the first tier? Absolutely.
But the glory of the game is that it offers an objective standard (the score) of measuring accomplishment. To accord players a certain degree of status because you love – or hate – the way they play (never mind because you happen to admire or dislike their personalities) is an insult to the very idea of competition.
What’s interesting to me, in the big picture, is the way the indifference of some players enabled Mauresmo to vault out of the psychological maze that every choke-prone player inhabits. Give the girl all the credit in the world – in LA, she was presented a great opportunity (a depleted field in what is, at least theoretically, the fifth most important tournament of the year) and she seized it. Then she converted that win into fuel for the next big event she played – this one. The result speaks for itself.
Bottom-line: Amelie needs to win another major to confirm what the eye, and recent results, suggest. I have no doubt that she can do it, just like I have no doubt that Roger Federer could eclipse the Grand Slam singles title record, or manage to complete a Grand Slam.
But I can’t bring myself to call the Mighty Fed the greatest player, ever, until he adds to the resume. And I can’t put Amelie right up there with the Williamses and Hingises and Seleses until she wins at least another major.