Justine Henin: physical freak

F

ferrari_827

Professional
What amazes me is that as small as she is (I estimate 115lbs, 5' 4"), Justine can hit groundstrokes and serves as big as she does. Pound for pound, Justine hits the ball harder than any tennis player alive. I remember a while back, Nick Bollitieri said Seles, pound for pound, hit the ball harder than anyone he'd seen. Justine is definitely shorter and lighter.

Watching her play someone like the Williams/Davenport/Sharapova and others is like David versus Goliath.

Justine hits a great one-handed backhand which itself is amazing considering her size. Most girls use two hands due to lack of power. Then the big serves, amazing considering she gets very little clearance due to her height (I should know being only 5' 6").

All in all, her tennis is totally out of proportion to her physique. Makes you wonder how good she would be if she were a bit taller and more muscular.
 
D

dmvprof

Banned
She looks like a dude that plays for our local High School

capt.xnyf11308281756.us_open_tennis_xnyf113.jpg
 
Supernatural_Serve

Supernatural_Serve

Professional
Henin-Hardenne is so intense.

I watched her practicing at the US Open a couple years ago with her coach on the same side of the net feeding her absolutely no pace whatsoever, the softest balls possible all 1 foot from the singles sidelines and she was running side to side driving these amazing balls down the line. She did this non-stop for about 10 minutes. She might have missed 2 balls, netted 0 balls, and 90% of them were within a foot of the sidelines, less than a foot from the baseline. Just ripping the crap out of absolutely nothing balls forehands on one side, backhands the other.

About 5 minutes into this amazing display it occured to me, this is a footwork drill not a hitting drill. Her feet never stopped moving for 10 minutes and her balance was perfect. And when the drill ended she just casually strolled around the court for 2 minutes waiting for the next drill, hardly breathing hard at all.

She was sprinting side to side and hitting the balls as hard as possible non-stop for 10 minutes.

She's more of an iron woman than she looks.
 
gts072

gts072

Semi-Pro
She’s very injury-prone and there are others on the tour that serves bigger and hits groundstrokes harder than her for sure...
 
T

ty slothrop

Semi-Pro
you guys are missing the point - of course there are players that hit harder, but they are six foot giants like safina and petrova. They have 6-8 inches and at least 40 pounds more mass - that's like an extra 35%.
 
arosen

arosen

Hall of Fame
gts072 said:
there are others on the tour that serves bigger and hits groundstrokes harder than her for sure...
Click to expand...

But that's not the point Ferrari and Super are making, is it? She is smaller and lighter than most of the other girls on tour, put her next to Vaidisova, Sharapova, or fatbuttSerena. David and Goliath. But pound for pound, Justine hits as hard or harder than those girls, she runs faster, makes less errors. She may be mean spirited, but she is a supreme athlete for sure.
 
maverick66

maverick66

Hall of Fame
shes strong because she worked her ass off. she trains right and also is blessed with good genetics. pat etcheberry would torture here in fitness thats y shes so strong. if u want strength and power u have to work for it. i bet her core is stronger than anyone else on the wta tour.
 
T

tennissavy

Hall of Fame
Size does not equal strength. Also, most players who use two hands don't do it because of weakness. There are some serious misconceptions on this board.
 
D

deluxe

Semi-Pro
tennissavy said:
Also, most players who use two hands don't do it because of weakness. There are some serious misconceptions on this board.
Click to expand...

Compared to the other women, it's obvious that it is Henin's huge strength that allows her to use a man's backhand, which in turn allows her to dominate the WTA.

There are far more 1HBHs on the ATP, but some of the physically weaker players resort to a girl's backhand. Like Nadal. And Agassi. And Safin.
 
T

tguru

Rookie
Does anyone here wonder, like me ,that Henin was on the sauce in the past? She got a bit big in the legs prior to her absence from the Tour. When she came back she was smaller and stated that she had decided to reduce the amount of "strength training" she had been doing in the past. Question, are players subject to drug testing when they are off the tour due to injury or illness?
 
T

tennis_hand

Hall of Fame
deluxe said:
Compared to the other women, it's obvious that it is Henin's huge strength that allows her to use a man's backhand, which in turn allows her to dominate the WTA.

There are far more 1HBHs on the ATP, but some of the physically weaker players resort to a girl's backhand. Like Nadal. And Agassi. And Safin.
Click to expand...


Are you saying Nadal is weak with his biggest bicep probably in ATP?

and Agassi and Safin are weak also? :D
 
L

LowProfile

Professional
Henin-Hardenne throws her entire weight into every shot. She's also incredibly good at generating racquet head speed. This allows her to drive through her shots as strongly as she does.
 
S

slice bh compliment

G.O.A.T.
tguru said:
Does anyone here wonder, like me ,that Henin was on the sauce in the past? She got a bit big in the legs prior to her absence from the Tour. When she came back she was smaller and stated that she had decided to reduce the amount of "strength training" she had been doing in the past. Question, are players subject to drug testing when they are off the tour due to injury or illness?
Click to expand...

Not just physically a freak, she is also what old Herb Caen of the SF Chronicle would have called a namephreak. Her parents named her JUICE-teen.
 
S

slice bh compliment

G.O.A.T.
tguru said:
...Question, are players subject to drug testing when they are off the tour due to injury or illness?
Click to expand...

I think Kuznetsova was tested during a layoff, even an exo, and the results did not count. SO I think the answer is 'non'.

If there is substance abuse on the tour, it is either detected, detected erroneously....or tested for during competition, so the offenders can carefully cycle their juice.

Sad. ... 'cause it's just not cricket.

And Just as sad for their livers, their hearts and for their nervous and reproductive systems.
 
A

allez

New User
JHH hits ball hard and spinny because of great foot work and proper technique, not because she is stronger physically. Beside having the best mechanic, she got great court sense and mental toughness. She is one of most complete tennis players (along with Fed) in our time. I hope you realize that and enjoy it while you can.

If all you remember about her is the Serena thing in the '03 French Open, you don't know the game of tennis.
 
beernutz

beernutz

Hall of Fame
ferrari_827 said:
What amazes me is that as small as she is (I estimate 115lbs, 5' 4"), Justine can hit groundstrokes and serves as big as she does. Pound for pound, Justine hits the ball harder than any tennis player alive. I remember a while back, Nick Bollitieri said Seles, pound for pound, hit the ball harder than anyone he'd seen. Justine is definitely shorter and lighter.
Click to expand...
The WTA site has her listed as 5' 5.75" and 126lbs.
 
C

Chang

Rookie
deluxe said:
Compared to the other women, it's obvious that it is Henin's huge strength that allows her to use a man's backhand, which in turn allows her to dominate the WTA.

There are far more 1HBHs on the ATP, but some of the physically weaker players resort to a girl's backhand. Like Nadal. And Agassi. And Safin.
Click to expand...

2 handed backhanders use two hands for it's consistency, not because they can't generate the pace themselves. Nadal, Agassi and Safin are all probably physically stronger than Federer ( Well Agassi was when he was younger.). Roddick uses a 2 handed backhand. Can you call him weak?






I think JHH kinda resembles the physical freakness of Bruce Lee (short but powerful)
 
D

deluxe

Semi-Pro
Chang said:
2 handed backhanders use two hands for it's consistency, not because they can't generate the pace themselves. Nadal, Agassi and Safin are all probably physically stronger than Federer ( Well Agassi was when he was younger.). Roddick uses a 2 handed backhand. Can you call him weak?
Click to expand...

Clearly he is weak if he can't hit a man's backhand.
 
S

slice bh compliment

G.O.A.T.
deluxe said:
Clearly he is weak if he can't hit a man's backhand.
Click to expand...
Hahhah, weak...hyeah, a lot of us thought that about Borg and Connors in the seventies. As if they were trying to hit their backhands more like women.The ladies loved Borg. Thin, practically hairless legs....long flowing hair, not really sweaty.Early metrosexuality is all it was.
 
8

8PAQ

Banned
ferrari_827 said:
What amazes me is that as small as she is (I estimate 115lbs, 5' 4"), Justine can hit groundstrokes and serves as big as she does. Pound for pound, Justine hits the ball harder than any tennis player alive. I remember a while back, Nick Bollitieri said Seles, pound for pound, hit the ball harder than anyone he'd seen. Justine is definitely shorter and lighter.

Watching her play someone like the Williams/Davenport/Sharapova and others is like David versus Goliath.

Justine hits a great one-handed backhand which itself is amazing considering her size. Most girls use two hands due to lack of power. Then the big serves, amazing considering she gets very little clearance due to her height (I should know being only 5' 6").

All in all, her tennis is totally out of proportion to her physique. Makes you wonder how good she would be if she were a bit taller and more muscular.
Click to expand...

I would say Olivier Rochus has most power per pound. He is about same size as her and if he played her he would easily win:

http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/2/players/playerprofiles/PlayerBio.asp?PlayerID=80350

http://www.atptennis.com/3/en/players/playerprofiles/?playernumber=R397

I do agree that if you only look at WTA then she is the best.
 
D

deluxe

Semi-Pro
slice bh compliment said:
Hahhah, weak...hyeah, a lot of us thought that about Borg and Connors in the seventies. As if they were trying to hit their backhands more like women.The ladies loved Borg. Thin, practically hairless legs....long flowing hair, not really sweaty.Early metrosexuality is all it was.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Great point.
 
Ripper

Ripper

Hall of Fame
I don't understand people in the USA. Insulting black people (and, please, don't give me the African-American thing, because not all black people live in the United States of America) or homosexual people, for example, because of their race or sexual preference, get's many pissed and that's the way it should be. However, insulting someone because of the way they physically look, for example, is not that bad. I've read millions of insults to people here, due to their physical looks, nationality, etc., and not much controversy is provoked. Personally, I think no insults, at all, should be tolerated here.
 
Supernatural_Serve

Supernatural_Serve

Professional
Ripper said:
Personally, I think no insults, at all, should be tolerated here.
Click to expand...
Who wants to be bothered with policing that policy. There is something called the American Black Experience, American Black Culture, and a series of values, attitudes, and behaviors that emerge from that experience and culture.

And what's great about America is that people are free to speak their minds about anything.

We abhor censorship even the kind of speech that offends people.

Would you prefer that people riot, go berserk, and murder innocent people in response to an offensive insulting cartoon like they do in the muslim world?

That's not what America, the most open, pluralistic, tolerant, welcoming, richest expression of thought, place on earth is about.

Everyone has the right to be the village idiot in America spouting whatever nonsense they want. We prefer it that way.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Wuornos
Justine Henin – The Manufactured Warrior Queen.
Replies
0
Views
586
Wuornos
Wuornos
Batoussai
My Experience Working A Week At WTA Antwerp
Replies
20
Views
2K
sondraj
S
A
Serena dominates women tennis due to her mental toughness and superior serve.
Replies
11
Views
2K
dominikk1985
D
grafrules
Lindsay to add to her 3 Slams with any more Slam wins?
Replies
23
Views
2K
Sliceboy2
S
Augustus
Interesting article: Henin faces tougher road than Clijsters
Replies
19
Views
2K
Riosfan
Riosfan
Top