Justine Henin

Who’ll catch up with Justine?

Roger Federer has been the uncontested master of men’s tennis for years. And looking at recent statistics, it’s looking like Justine Henin is enjoying similar status on the women’s side. While her domination hasn’t been as overwhelming as that of Federer’s, the Belgian did finish both 2006 and 2007 ranked No.1 in the world. She won two Grand Slams last year (Roland Garros and the US Open) and participated in all of the Grand Slam finals in 2006, winning the French Open. Only the Wimbledon trophy eludes the seven-time Grand Slam champion.

Comfortably sitting atop the world rankings in women’s tennis, Henin currently holds an impressive 2,400-point lead over her closest rival, Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. And if the 25-year-old maintains the rhythm to which she has accustomed us over the last few seasons, it begs the question: will any player be able to catch up with her in 2008? In order to do so, one or two players will have to distinguish themselves from the group and amass a large number of points.

With the parity that has existed in women’s tennis for the last few years, such a scenario is unlikely. For example, eight different players picked up nine Tier 1 tournament titles in 2007. Evidently, the beauty of the sport is that anything is possible! Many players on the circuit definitely have the required talent to reach the highest echelons of the world rankings (Kuznetsova, Jankovic, Ivanovic, Chakvetadze, Hantuchova, Bartoli, Dementieva, Vaidisova – just to name a few!). And then, of course, there’s also Sharapova, the Williams sisters and Mauresmo.

Henin is coming off a win at the Medibank International in Sydney, defeating Kuznetsova 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the final. She will be in the hunt for her second Australian Open title – she captured the trophy there in 2004 – and will take on Japan’s Aiko Nakamura, 70th in the world, in the first round. Henin is the top seed.