Players Under the Microscope / Barry Millns / 08 January 2008 /

Tennis commentator Barry Millns talks us through Henin's golden year of 2007 and tells us why she just keeps on getting better

Twelve months ago Justine Henin missed the Australian Open due to the break up of her marriage. But following her return to the tour last February she swept almost all before her, claiming 10 more titles in 14 tournaments and winning 63 of the 67 matches she played in 2007.

The first of her four losses came in her comeback tournament when she was beaten by Lucie Safarova in the semi-finals of the Paris Indoor event. Beyond that it took a supreme effort by Serena Williams to overcome her in the Miami final, Svetlana Kuznetsova just got the better of her in the Berlin Open and then, most shockingly, Marion Bartoli found inspiration to topple her in the semi-finals at Wimbledon.

Since then Henin's record is unblemished, a 25-match win-streak put together in five further tournaments last year, which included three successive victories over Williams (all in grand slams), another against Kuznetsova in the final of the US Open and more recently a 6-0, 6-0 annihilation of Bartoli at the Sony Ericsson Championships.

This week Henin must have relished the chance of kicking off her new season by taking on Safarova in the second round of the Sydney International, but the Czech withdrew beforehand with an injury. So with Henin currently trading at [1.54] to become champion again in Sydney and [2.54] to regain the Australian Open title she won back in 2004, who is going to stop her and how?

Looking back at those four defeats last year, Henin was still lacking match toughness when she faced Safarova. But a better indicator of what it takes to beat the Belgian came in her subsequent Miami loss to Serena Williams [7.2 for Melbourne], the American's combination of immense power and determination ultimately prevailing 0-6, 7-5, 6-3 after saving two match points.

"Serena is a real fighter," said Henin at the time. "She never gives up. She proved it on the match points, because she took her chances at the time. She played better than me on the important points. I was playing a good game, I was really aggressive, but when I had to close the match I maybe got a little bit tense."

In Berlin, Kuznetsova [34 for Melbourne] also produced just enough power and consistency to end a run of 10 straight defeats by Henin, while on a windy day at Wimbledon the top seed was overcome by Bartoli's own unorthodox brand of fearless hard-hitting from the baseline and missing less and less as the match developed.

"I don't think it was pressure," Henin commented. "I lost a lot of energy the last few weeks - winning the French Open and then my quarter-final against Serena was tiring emotionally. It was hard to be at my best."

Henin has always had that brilliant backhand, while other strings to her bow now include a much stronger and more effective serve than when she first joined the tour, greater power with her ground strokes, good speed and stamina, plus the ability to finish off points at the net. Add to all that her huge inner belief, forged as a result of so much success, and it is little surprise that many now see her as the female version of Roger Federer.

Amazingly Henin's win/loss record against all the other current members of the world's Top 10 stands at 53-20. Only Venus Williams [11.5 for Melbourne] has a (7-2) winning record against her, so being tall, powerful and athletic can help versus the petite Belgian, as long as you also have sufficient determination and consistency to keep her under pressure.

But, having said that, after the way Henin beat both Williams' sisters back-to-back en route to clinching last year's US Open the only place right now where I would not see her as the favourite would be if she faced Venus again at Wimbledon.

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