Justine Henin's mental strength is one of her biggest weaknesses in fact.

federerfanatic

federerfanatic

Banned
Why is Justine Henin's mental toughness so highly revered? She is actually very weak mentally by top player standards, and it is maybe the worst part of her entire game. Tracy Austin calls her the mentally toughest player in the WTA game, what on earth is she smoking. Just look at a collection of her matches over the past year:

-Loses a 6-2, 5-2 lead vs Elena Dementieva in the Pacific Life semis last year and loses the match in 3 sets. Complete choke and meltdown.

-After having a 6-2, 5-2 lead vs Martina Hingis in the year end Championship round robin, loses the 2nd set before recovering to win in 3 sets.

-After having a 6-0, 5-4 lead vs Serena Williams in the Nasdaq final, and 2 match points, suffers one of the most horrifying and pathetic chokes in recent WTA championships history.

-At this years French Open lets a 5-0 lead vs little known Pasczek turn into a 5-5 first set.

-not to mention last year is favored in all 4 of her slam finals and goes 1-3.

Justine Henin is a great player, but the worst part of her whole game is probably her mental game. Yet commentators laud and praise her incredible mental strength. It is pretty much a joke.
 
M

MEAC_ALLAMERICAN

Legend
Justine Henin has a really beautiful game, but the mental aspect of her game has always been in question IMO, but that is something that they continue to praise her about it. As a “champion” her sportsmanship is also a joke for a tennis player.
 
J

ja_

Rookie
federerfanatic said:
Why is Justine Henin's mental toughness so highly revered? She is actually very weak mentally by top player standards, and it is maybe the worst part of her entire game. Tracy Austin calls her the mentally toughest player in the WTA game, what on earth is she smoking. Just look at a collection of her matches over the past year:

-Loses a 6-2, 5-2 lead vs Elena Dementieva in the Pacific Life semis last year and loses the match in 3 sets. Complete choke and meltdown.

-After having a 6-2, 5-2 lead vs Martina Hingis in the year end Championship round robin, loses the 2nd set before recovering to win in 3 sets.

-After having a 6-0, 5-4 lead vs Serena Williams in the Nasdaq final, and 2 match points, suffers one of the most horrifying and pathetic chokes in recent WTA championships history.

-At this years French Open lets a 5-0 lead vs little known Pasczek turn into a 5-5 first set.

-not to mention last year is favored in all 4 of her slam finals and goes 1-3.

Justine Henin is a great player, but the worst part of her whole game is probably her mental game. Yet commentators laud and praise her incredible mental strength. It is pretty much a joke.
Click to expand...
Considering the fact that all the matches you've mentioned are from last year except one, commentators may possibly be judging her mental strength by previous years. She had been mentally strong ealier in her career, but I concur that it isn't always the case these days.
 
federerfanatic

federerfanatic

Banned
tintin said:
the players who beat her were just better on that day.Get over it!:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I did not say they were not. What I said, and quite fairly, was for a player to be favored in all 4 of their slam finals and only go 1-3 is not a reflection of a very mentally tough player.
 
federerfanatic

federerfanatic

Banned
MEAC_ALLAMERICAN said:
Justine Henin has a really beautiful game, but the mental aspect of her game has always been in question IMO, but that is something that they continue to praise her about it. As a “champion” her sportsmanship is also a joke for a tennis player.
Click to expand...

I agree with all you said. I dont understand at all why the mental aspect of her game is something she is continued to be praised for. Last year at the U.S Open Tracy Austin, during the matchs of a high variety of players, mentioned impressive comebacks they made vs Justine "maybe the mentally toughest player on tour". You would think at some point it would register if that many players you are able to reference impressive comebacks vs Justine against, that she is not that mentally tough after all. Her sportsmanship is also pretty bad I agree, even though I like her tennis alot.
 
federerfanatic

federerfanatic

Banned
ja_ said:
Considering the fact that all the matches you've mentioned are from last year except one, commentators may possibly be judging her mental strength by previous years. She had been mentally strong ealier in her career, but I concur that it isn't always the case these days.
Click to expand...

Actually that is a good point. Alot of her diminished mental strength seems to be in the last year. Maybe the experts and analysts who cover her are just now going to come to the realization that her great mental strength is strictly a thing of the past, and now it is the complete opposite.
 
J-man

J-man

Hall of Fame
She's a very fragile player. If anything goes wrong while playing (ex divorce, coaches and what not) her game goes off. Her mental strength is good but lately has been in question. When she is totally focused her mental game is good.
 
crazylevity

crazylevity

Hall of Fame
if you look back earlier in her career, she was mentally very strong. She had a will to win that was quite remarkable. See US Open 2003.
 
M

MEAC_ALLAMERICAN

Legend
tintin said:
what I mean is that she has proven time and again that she will do or say just about anything to win or weasel her way out of things
Click to expand...

Oh I know all too well. For example: A fews years back in Zurich against davenport (claimed her back was hurting) and a few years back at the French against Serena.

But this thread is about her mental strength, so won't go much deeper about it.
 
T

tintin

Professional
MEAC_ALLAMERICAN said:
Oh I know all too well. For example: A fews years back in Zurich against davenport (claimed her back was hurting) and a few years back at the French against Serena.

But this thread is about her mental strength, so won't go much deeper about it.
Click to expand...
USO against either Capriati or clijsters
Aussie 2006
USO semis against Jankovic

agree let's drop this
 
BounceHitBounceHit

BounceHitBounceHit

Legend
I know there has been lots of SPECULATION that her many 'injuries' and 'illnesses' (mostly illnesses, I think) have been to some degree psychosomatic, whatever that may imply concerning her mental toughness.
 
federerfanatic

federerfanatic

Banned
tintin said:
USO against either Capriati or clijsters
Aussie 2006
USO semis against Jankovic

agree let's drop this
Click to expand...

Jankovic completely choked herself in the U.S Open semis vs Henin. What that match demonstrates as far as Justine goes, is beyond comprehension.

Justine did not pull out any miracelous wins at the 2006 Australian Open. She outplayed an injured Davenport in the 2nd and 3rd sets to win her quarterfinal with Davenport. Then she outplayed Sharapova badly in the 2nd set of their semifinal, before narrowly outplayed her in the 3rd set while benefiting from some iffy line calls. Then she was getting her butt handed to her in the final by Mauresmo, and retired with some ailment which people still question.

U.S Open semis vs Capriati was over 3 years ago. As others have noted her mental toughness is a myth some people have based on the now distant past, which that much was.
 
F

FedSampras

Semi-Pro
i agree with Federerfanatic that Justine's mental toughness is OVERRATED. This small Belgian player has a tendency to choke in tight situations. When you think about mental toughness in women's tennis, that would be no other than Monica Seles and Chris Evert.
 
T

tintin

Professional
federerfanatic said:
Then she was getting her butt handed to her in the final by Mauresmo, and retired with some ailment which people still question.


U.S Open semis vs Capriati was over 3 years ago. As others have noted her mental toughness is a myth some people have based on the now distant past, which that much was.
Click to expand...

yeh and people always will unless you drink the Henin koolaid.You don't bail out like that in the finals when you're getting your arse handed back to you,especially against someone who was the closest to being your friend on the tour besides Dechy.

Didn't she pull a stunt at the Aussie final a few years back against Clijsters too?:confused: I think it was about a line call or something.I think they called the ball in on MP for Clijsters but she called it IN(no replay at the time) so stupid arse umpire said replay and she went on to win the damn thing in 3.
 
kimizz

kimizz

Rookie
Henin is REALLY strong mentally. So she struggles during the match? Does it matter if she still wins most of them? Her win loss record is 22-3 this year.

Then about the losses last year at GS finals, 1 was due to stomach ache, 2 she lost to a better player. She didnt choke.

Btw Henin has won 29 sets in a row at Roland Garros, YEAH she is weak mentally!
 
C

charlottefromca

Rookie
I don't really think her loss at Miami was so much a chokefest, she should have closed that match but Serena played really well when it mattered. Credit to Serena. Justine wasn't able to UP her game, but I don't think she choked.
 
Gugarocks

Gugarocks

New User
Henin Mentally weak ?? Give me a break. She is by far the toughest mental player in the WTA - circuit. She's the female Lleyton Hewitt.
 
federerfanatic

federerfanatic

Banned
charlottefromca said:
I don't really think her loss at Miami was so much a chokefest, she should have closed that match but Serena played really well when it mattered. Credit to Serena. Justine wasn't able to UP her game, but I don't think she choked.
Click to expand...

Let me get this straight, you are saying Justine did not choke the Miami final away, and Serena deserves credit for her comeback in that match. :lol: :lol: :lol: You have a great sense of humour
 
federerfanatic

federerfanatic

Banned
Gugarocks said:
Henin Mentally weak ?? Give me a break. She is by far the toughest mental player in the WTA - circuit. She's the female Lleyton Hewitt.
Click to expand...

That is why she has lost monstrous lead after monstrous lead in the last year with regularity. Heck she did it twice in only 4 matches at this tournament vs complete nobodies.
 
Slazenger

Slazenger

Professional
tintin said:
USO against either Capriati or clijsters

Aussie 2006

USO semis against Jankovic

agree let's drop this
Click to expand...

Capriati is the only one I will give you.

Clijsters is a choke artist. Once Henin started turning the tide on their H2H, Clijsters just lay down and took it.

What about the Aussie 06 open?

USO SF was Jankovic's match to win. That wasn't Henin's mental toughness that got her through, that was Jankovic showing that it was her first time in a grand slam semifinal by letting a tiny call grow into such a big issue and the umpire not handling the situation well at all.
She lost all focus and Henin merely took advantage. She wasn't playing her best at all and Sharapova was all over that in the final.
 
Slazenger

Slazenger

Professional
Gugarocks said:
Henin Mentally weak ?? Give me a break. She is by far the toughest mental player in the WTA - circuit. She's the female Lleyton Hewitt.
Click to expand...


Are you serious?? Henin has played one match where I thought she was extremely mentally tough and that was against Capriati at the USO semis.

I can list A WHOLE bunch of matches prior to that match years before, and years after where she showed her mental toughness is not in the same league as Serena Williams who IMO is the toughest mental player in the WTA right now.
 
J-man

J-man

Hall of Fame
Gugarocks said:
Henin Mentally weak ?? Give me a break. She is by far the toughest mental player in the WTA - circuit. She's the female Lleyton Hewitt.
Click to expand...
After Hewitt had his daughter he went into a slump. Do we call that mentally tough?
 
kimizz

kimizz

Rookie
Are you guys serious? Henin wins with iffy line calls, she has bad sportmantship and she is mentally weak? 3RG titles, Olympic gold, USO title and AO+4 runner-ups.

A complete moron would say that she wasnt really sick when she pulled out of Aussie final at 06. Why the hell she would do that?

The mental toughness comes from the fact that she usually ends up winning a match. She weasels herself the victories? Give me a break!

Miami I can agree, Henin choked. But she isnt choking all the time. Just compare her to most of the wta players...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

lambielspins
Henin's mental toughness way overrated!
Replies
17
Views
1K
justineheninhoogenbandfan
J
Objective Danny
Justine The Giant
Replies
5
Views
882
CCNM
C
M
Henin's big regret!
Replies
36
Views
3K
downthewall
D
Atennisone
What require most mental strength?
Replies
14
Views
647
MLRoy
MLRoy
I
justine + venus......
Replies
11
Views
935
iscottius
I
Top