Battle of the baseline
Why Belgian tennis superstars Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters won’t be sharing their strawberries at this year’s Wimbledon
Arch enemies or sporting rivals? Either way, when Belgian tennis stars Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters meet on court, they never fail to thrill
THE ANTWERP SUBURB of Wilrijk may lack the resonance of Wimbledon or Roland Garros in Paris but it was there on a grey autumn afternoon a decade or so ago that one of sport’s most intriguing rivalries was born. Considering Belgium’s lowly standing in tennis, no one – not the gaggle of spectators or even the two girls energetically contesting the final of an under-14 tournament – could have imagined that come the spring of 2007, Justine Henin would be the top-ranked woman player in the world with Kim Clijsters looming over her shoulder at No.5. For a small nation of 10 million people, Belgium is able to boast a rich tradition in cycling, middle-distance running and football. Clijsters’ father, Leo, was a member of the national side that reached
Henin grew up in the
French-speaking part
of Belgium…
the semi-final of the 1986 World Cup but to unearth a brace of great tennis champions in the same era can be considered nothing less than a sporting phenomenon. At the start of the current season, both had banked around $14m in prize money but in terms of major titles, Henin had achieved the greater renown, having won five Grand Slam championships – the Australian Open (2004), the French Open (2003, 2005, 2006) and the US Open (2003) – against Clijsters’ solitary success in the 2005 US Open. Perhaps it is the fact that Henin hails from the French-speaking part of the country while Clijsters comes from the Dutch-speaking north. Or maybe it is their differing personalities or the intensity of their rivalry. Either way, the pair have never formed what could be called a warm friendship. After all, boxers Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier were never known to be dinner companions in the era when they were knocking lumps out of each another in the ring. Any political and cultural differences that the two tennis players may have felt were largely lost on the world at large until 2003 when Clijsters, having lost the French Open to her long-time foe, chose to accuse Henin of a lack of gamesmanship following a 6-3, 2-6, 3-6 defeat in the final of a tournament in San Diego. Referring to a five-minute injury break Henin had taken after the opening set, Clijsters revealed: “It’s not the first time she has done this. It’s a sign that she is not at her best and so she has to resort to other means to get out of scrapes.” Given that Clijsters is largely acknowledged to be the most honest, courteous and sporting player in either the men’s or the women’s game, this was an observation guaranteed to cause an uproar. Doubly so when another Henin triumph in the final of the US Open at Flushing Meadow in September of 2003 was followed by Leo Clijsters’ suggestion that the muscular development displayed by his daughter’s conqueror was “unusual”.
…while Clijsters hails from
the Dutch-speaking part
of the country
Predictably, just as certain British newspapers used to make mischief by hinting at a certain level of tension between Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski, so sections of the Dutch and French language press in Belgium made merry with tales of mutual antipathy. Steven Martens, now head of technical support at the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) in London but then chief coach at the Belgian National Training Centre, strove to play down any question of a “civil war”. “They can have a formally correct relationship and get along with each other but they are, after all, rivals,” he insisted. “In Belgium, when Kim and Justine play each other it is a bit like Manchester United playing Manchester City for their fans. But if only one of them is in a final then all but the die-hard supporter is happy.” Carl Maes, who coached Clijsters for many years before, like Martens, joining the LTA (Belgian tennis coaches are suddenly very hot property indeed), also revealed how earlier disagreements between the women had been kept secret from the Belgian press.
Problems in her personal life have
at times kept Henin off the courts
“We just didn’t want them to get hold of what is an intense rivalry and then just blow it out of all proportion. If these incidents had got out, we knew how bad it would have been. Girls can be difficult, maybe a little bitchy and worse than boys.” Henin is seen as something of a loner. Her mother died when she was 12, she is estranged from her father and has recently separated from her husband Pierre-Yves Hardenne – a move that has seen her revert from “Henin-Hardenne” to her maiden name. Conversely, if prizes were presented for popularity, then Clijsters’ trophy cabinet would be bursting. “Kim’s an absolute poppet,” confirms one veteran observer of the women’s tour. “The nicest person – male or female – in tennis. After one match at Roland Garros she ambled into the press bar ‘just in case any Belgian reporters are looking for me’, as she put it.” So gentle is Clijsters, in fact, that despite a reign as world No.1 in 2003, many of her peers believe she is too nice to rule the women’s game. Maes rubbishes this theory. “Too nice? You don’t get to No.1 in the world if you’re too nice.” Clijsters herself offers no apologies for her girl-next-door reputation. “When I stop playing, I want to leave the tour with friends. Friends are more important to me.
Clijsters has announced
that
she is to quit tennis
and plans
to have “lots
of babies”
You can’t always win.” On court, the two women are equally dissimilar in personalities, Clijsters preferring to remain entrenched on the baseline in contrast to Henin, who has been described by John McEnroe as the “player who most reminds me of me” (a compliment on her style rather than any brattish antics). Despite her reputation for a certain coldness, Henin, one of the smallest players on the tour at 5’6”, has a big heart and has founded her own charity – Justine’s Winner’s Circle – to help children suffering from cancer. Just how long this Belgian rivalry will last depends very much upon Clijsters, who has announced that 2007 will be her final season before “doing normal things like having lots of babies”. But according to the rumour mill, she has since changed her mind and will now bow out in February 2008 in the Belgian Open in her home town of Antwerp, where it all began against Henin 12 long years ago.
