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by Prip Justine Henin had certainly been my pick to win this fourth round match, and the 18-year-old Belgian had everything going for her coming in. Hot on a 13-match winning streak and playing absolutely beautiful tennis, the youngster had the exact game to take Monica out of the draw. Seles looks like she has put on quite a bit more excess weight over the year-end break, and has mellowed a lot in her tennis. With footwork already the main weakness in her game, Monica now seems even more reluctant to get into position to hit the ball, and would rather adjust her stroke mechanics instead. I personally feel that Monica has reached a stage where she feels like she's just going to play at the level she is at, that is, to not work really hard to improve, and will take things as they come. If she wins a match against a Hingis or a Williams or a Davenport, great, and if she doesn't, it's absolutely no shame at all. Henin came out to a very slow start, and left people wondering if she was feeling the effects of having played so much tennis. She "woke up" soon enough, though, and started blasting those tremendous backhands she has. Playing absolutely brilliant tennis, she out-rallied Monica from the baseline, and made beautiful net approaches. There is no question that there is something absolutely remarkable about this young lady, and the possibilities for her are endless. Providing she can get through her career without too many injuries, Justine Henin holds the future of tennis in her hands. In my opinion, her compatriot Kim Clijsters doesn't even come close to the capabilities Henin has. Unfortunately for Justine, she still has trouble closing out matches. Up 4-2 in the second, she held 3 game points on Monica's serve for a 5-2 lead, but couldn't convert a single one, and lost 5 points in a row. To Monica's credit, she came up with 5 huge serves, which Justine could barely get her racquet on. Nevertheless, Justine had the match in the palms of her hands, and choked it away. The stats describe the match very well: her first serve percentage dropped like a rock, she committed a tom of unforced errors especially on her forehand, and had a total of 11 double-faults, with half coming in the final set. Monica, seeing the opening, immediately sprang into action, and took full advantage of the youngster's nerves. She ended up taking the match 4-6 6-4 6-4, but anyone watching it would have to come away a true believer in the Belgian girl. The key for her now is being able to put matches like these (refer to her near misses against Lindsay Davenport) away and move on. |