Justine Henin

To understand something of the state of the women's game--indifference, injuries, overall malaise--take a look at your last three Open champions and where they are now:

2005: Kim Clijsters. Retired in 2007 at age 23

2006: Maria Sharapova. Injured. 

2007: Justine Henin. Retired in 2008 at age 25 

It was a trend we documented two years ago, and it still seems to be in a down-cycle. 

Justine Henin has been known as a great player with an unpredictable mind. If her nerves stayed in check she could beat anybody. But it's that 'if' that has prevented tennis pundits from calling her the unquestionable number one player in the world. If Serena or Venus are on their game, if Sharapova has her serve, then well ... Henin can't stand up to that.

Tonight, Justine Henin made those reservations seem a little silly. She won her seventh Grand Slam and second U.S. Open in the most dominating and convincing effort of her career.  read more »

After a divorce so messy that it caused her to withdraw from the Australian Open, Justine Henin-Hardenne returned to the 2007 tennis season with a new attitude and a new name: Justine Henin. Her triumph tonight was a coronation of her redemption and her personal struggle back to the top.

In a post-match ceremony on center court she was congratulated by Dick Enberg, the CBS announcer and stadium MC, who then introduced her as ... Justine Henin-Hardenne.  read more »

After her stellar straight-sets semifinal victory, a reporter told Justine Henin that Venus Williams said she wasn't feeling 100 percent today.

"I'm surprised," interrupted Henin, in a deadpan voice.

This evening, Justine Henin become the first player since Martina Hingis at the 2001 Australian Open to beat both Williams sisters in one Grand Slam.  read more »

What's wrong with Venus Williams?

"I just was feeling dizzy, a little sick to the stomach," she said. "Was just having some energy problems. I'm not really sure what's wrong with me."

Neither does anyone else. After making 56 unforced errors in her agonizingly close quarterfinal match with Jelena Jankovic, Venus made 35 this afternoon—compared to 26 winners—in a straight-sets loss to Justine Henin.

Williams said she's been feeling strange—dizzy, tired, depleted—since she got two days off after the fourth round. That's when she told her mom, Oracene Williams, that something was wrong.

Oracene spoke to a group of reporters afterwards and revealed that Venus was feeling was sick after Wimbledon and was diagnosed with anemia.

"She was happy when she found out she had anemia and she thought that was it," said Oracene. "Now there's something else wrong. We need to get this checked out."

Venus told Oracene she was feeling sick after her match against Ana Ivanovic. It was a match where Richard Williams told me that something seemed a little off. Oracene recalled Venus telling her that when she hits a ball it feels like the ground beneath her is moving (sort of like vertigo). Oracene spent the last two days racing to Whole Foods buying up oranges for Venus, finding anything that could boost her energy.

Venus' boyfriend, Hank Kuehne, told me last week that he spends her matches paying close attention to her body language. While packing up the Williams family Lexus this evening he told me: "She looked zapped. I won't know what's wrong until I get in in the car with her tonight."

Venus was asked if she told her sister Serena about the apparent illness. "Serena was my opponent in the draw, too. I didn't tell her how I was feeling," she said laughing.

Maybe it's just fatigue after playing a three-set match the other night, or maybe it's something serious. The only thing that we do know: Venus didn't have the energy to keep up with Justine Henin today.

I tried it once, and nothing terrible happened.

So here, for our second attempt at live-blogging the Open, I'll be presenting a running account of the women's semifinal between Venus Williams and Justine Henin at Arthur Ashe.

If you feel like taking part in the coverage, chime in in the comments section or get me on AIM at ‘Jets20012.’

4:14: If Venus and Justine have a rally that lasts more than 10 seconds this sellout crowd might freakout. They were dead silent in the first match

4:15: Three early errors from Venus and an early break. Might she be nervous?

4:20: Janet Jackson is sitting in the Williams' family box, again. She was here earlier in the tournament.

Click 'Read More' for more live action!  read more »

As Jelena Jankovic was picking up some final things at Arthur Ashe Stadium yesterday after her loss to Venus Williams in the quarterfinals, I asked her if Venus needed to pick up her level of play to beat Justine Henin later today, especially since she made 56 unforced errors in their match.  read more »

A week ago today, Anna Chakvetadze won in straight sets in a little-noticed second-round match. She won a little bit after 12pm on a backcourt at a time when the majority of the gallery crowd was still in transit.

Afterwards, there was such little interest in the media in talking to her that her post-match press conference was conducted in a player’s lounge area—not an interview room—with two bloggers.

“There were more interesting matches to put on the show courts,” she said in her straightforward manner.  read more »

My friend Goldburn took issue with me calling last night’s loss one of Serena’s worst.

Goldburn: I don't think it was one of the worst losses of her career
me: if you consider henin is (1) a rival and (2) serena unraveled against that rival and lost to her for a 3rd time in a GS this year and (3) you don't put up a fight -- that’s pretty devastating.

(More, if you can bear it, after the jump.)  read more »

Before the last night's match, Justine Henin's coach Carlos Rodriguez said he wanted Henin pressuring Serena.

She did, and it worked: In the match, Henin converted 11 for 14 net chances.

“If I'm too far from my baseline, if I don't move forward, I have no chance to win this kind of match,” said Henin last night.  read more »