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Tennis fans took a trip down memory lane recently, recalling Justine Henin's controversial three-set win over fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters at the 2004 Australian Open final.
The two players had an intense rivalry at the turn of the 21st century. While four-time Major winner Clijsters ended her career with a 13-12 lead in her head-to-head meetings with Henin, the seven-time Major winner led her younger rival 3-0 in their Grand Slam championship match encounters.
Henin won her first two Major final meetings against Kim Clijsters at Roland Garros and the US Open in straight sets. The then-27-year-old looked on course for yet another rout in the 2004 Australian Open final, as she won the first set 6-3.
Justine Henin's countrywoman steadied the ship in the second set though, taking it 6-4 to force a decider. Facing stiff resistance from Kim Clijsters, the former World No. 1 resorted to gamesmanship in the dying moments of the third set.
She was serving at break point down at 3-4 when Clijsters hit a volley inside the lines. The umpire was subsequently swayed by Henin gesturing that it was out, overruling the call in the latter's favor. The then-26-year-old Clijsters didn't recover from losing that point, succumbing to a 3-6, 6-4, 4-6 loss.
Tennis fans on Reddit brought the controversial match from the vault on Saturday (January 13). One even suggested that Justine Henin's image would've been torn and tattered had social media existed in 2006.
"Henin should be glad she played before the era of social media because she would’ve been dragged to the depths of hell for some of the stuff she did," they wrote.
Another fan, meanwhile, reminisced about Henin's poor sportsmanship against Serena Williams during their 2003 French Open semifinal match.
"There were so many instances where Henin was a terrible sportsperson. including when she made Serena cry at the French open for the hand-raising incident," they wrote.
Here are a few more reactions from tennis fans:
Justine Henin dominated the French Open for several years en route 7 Major titles
Despite her controversial on-court moments, there is no denying that Justine Henin is one of the best players to ever hit the green fuzzy ball. Her one-handed backhand, in particular, was a thing of beauty.
Having said that, the stroke wasn't just an aesthetic choice. The former World No. 1 charged her one-hander with quite some pace, prompting many pundits to call it the best backhand of all time. The Belgian was able to rack up four Roland Garros titles with her immaculate shotmaking.
More interestingly, Henin didn't drop a single set on her way to three of her four French Open triumphs. While the Belgian went the distance in two of her matches during her first title run on the red clay in 2003, she won 35 consecutive sets en route to her triumphs in 2005-07.
Justine Henin also won one Australian Open (2004) and two US Open titles (2003, 2007), bringing her Majors tally to seven. The Belgian retired from tennis for the first time in 2008, before giving the sport another try the following year. She, however, couldn't cause a dent in the field after her return, eventually hanging up the racket for good in 2011.
