Is Justine Henin showing signs of vulnerability?

Justine and Fed are both off their “A” games so far this year. I think it is a multifaceted problem. Firstly, there is great parity in professional tennis today for both genders. Gone are the days where the gap between #1 and #10 is the difference between 5.0 and 3.5. Really, anybody in the top 20 (can you say Tsonga or Murray?) can beat the #1 on any given day. The quality of players in pro tennis is better than ever. Secondly, for a #1 player to dominate like Justine and Fed have in 2007 is extremely hard to maintain. Firstly, all the factors that go into playing your “best tennis” are physical, mental, emotional and intangible. You really need all of these firing on all cylinders to win events. Justine and Fed have been off in these areas in 2008. Also, both of these players base their games on precision shotmaking ability and when you are missing the edges of the courts by 10 feet, you don’t have your best stuff. The second reason it is so hard to maintain dominance is when you have established yourself the #1 as Justine and Fed have, everybody is studying your game. Back in the 1980’s and early 1990’s the San Francisco 49ers said that even regular season games were like the “Super Bowl” for the teams they played. Bragging rights of beating the Niners meant they were studied more than any other team. Justine and Fed are constantly under the microscope and their weaknesses (as few as there are) are well known vs. #15 or #20 where the opponent probably knows less about them. A final thought is that champions who win lots of events have to play longer as they are not eliminated early in the week, but end up playing into the weekend for the finals. While they may receive a first round bye on non-slam events, this is still a greater physical and emotional load that eventually takes it toll as they reach their mid 20’s. The key is for these “mature” champions to learn how to use their knowledge and experience to shorten points and matches as the aging process makes if more difficult to outlast a 21 year old “energizer bunny” who can play 6 hours of singles a day.

I agree with the last comment. And for sure, winning "only" two titles this year is neverthless disappointing to a champion with Henin's insatiable appetite for success. She has not been 100% physically this year but another problem is her reluctance to play enough of the kind of attacking tennis Carlos wants her to play. She may win the French without doing that but not Wimbledon, now her magnificent obsession. She won't bag the whale this year without moving forward more often and with more confidence. Allez Justine!

yeah trust me, she's going to improve her game, she's won 2 out of 4 tournaments (1 being a grand slam and those are hard to win for anyone) which is not bad at all considering many top 10 players don't even own a title. it is the beginning of the year, lets see what the rest of the year brings. also let me add she stated she had a lot of hard work to do after she lost in dubai, justine doesn't say that too often so justine fans can look forward to a good year from justine, don't ride her off the book because of two tournaments, no one can every single match they've played so don't read into her losses too much

Firstly, Justine has lost at least 2 other sets to love. 1 was against Venus in the 2001 Wimbledon final, the other was in the first round of 2002 Roland Garros. Secondly, the scoreline against Srebotnik was 7-5,6-7,6-3. To be fair, Srebotnik played very well, but Justine should have won easily. I really hope she gets her act together. Defence of her game and not her ranking should be her top priority.

THW WILLIAMS SISTERS ARE ALOT BETTER THAN SILLY LITTLE HENIN!

its funny how serena/venus fans always comment on an article that has nothing to do with their favorite player. kumar, srebotnik played really well, you can't expect justine to win every match in three sets. also, it seems all the qualifiers this year (both in the atp and wta) are playing really well thus the reason a lot of top players are losing (as well as a lot of errors from the top seeds)

Mr. Ashby: You are right. The Williams Sisters are a lot better, that is why Justine is ranked #1 by an almost 2,000 point margin from #2 and Venus is #7 and Serena is #10. You can go hear to read the rankings http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/2/rankings/singles_ numeric.asp

I do believe Justine is losing a bit of her ground on everyone else. She doesn't have the power that some of the other players have, and having to rely on variety is harder in my mind than having to rely on power like a player like Sharapova does. I have never been a fan of Justine's, especially after what she did to Serena at Roland Garros in 2003 (holding up her hand during a serve and not acknoledging she did so). If they keep healthy and play to their potential, I would watch out for the following players to upset Justine if they have a chance: Sharapova, the Williams sisters, Jelena Jankovic and Elena Dementieva, and possibly Ivanovic.

In defense of John Ashby's comment that introduced the Williams sisters into a discussion about Justine, any discussion of Champions in women's tennis must by necessity include the Williams sisters----who, after all, made the game what it is today. That having been said, although I applaud the versitility of Justine's talent, I would never mention her name along side the Williams sisters for one very good reason: Justine spent most of last year on steroids which allowed her to dominate. Now that she's pulled away from them in order to avoid detection, her fans are wondering why she has suddenly gone flat. I watched her defeat both Williams sisters at the U.S. open, then go on to win------a feat no one has ever accomplished; I also watched her defeat Sharapova at the WTA final after having been a set down, and inspite of Sharapova's powerful play; I watched all this and I knew that no one could-------particularly in view of her size, her stamina, and sometimes fragile health, could possibly achieve this without the use of steroids. Now we wonder about the lackluster quality of her play.

You seem incredibly sure about your accusations. What proof do you even have?