Justine Henin & Roger Federer Rule

Posted by T. A. Niles Nov 18, 2007

The 2007 ATP and WTA tours culminated as knowledgeable tennis fans should have expected. Roger Federer capped another historic year by claiming the ATP Tennis Masters Cup and Justine Henin captured the WTA Sony Ericsson Championships.

Both World No.1s had dominant years, setting records for prize money (Federer with $10,130,620 and Henin with $5,367,086), winning the most titles (Federer finished with 8 titles to Henin’s 10), and bagging their respective elite-8 tour finales. Despite their dominance this year, both had struggles en route to claiming their year-end prizes.

Federer was upset in his first match, losing a tough three-setter to Fernando Gonzalez but came back with four wins in straight sets. One might say that Federer was fortunate that David Nalbandian didn’t make the final eight in Shanghai, having lost two straight to Nalbandian prior to the start of the Masters Cup.

Henin had an epic three-set battle with Maria Sharapova after winning her first three matches in straight sets. Hopefuls keeping their fingers crossed that Serena Williams would have one more crack at Henin this year were disappointed. Serena had yet another physical breakdown in her first match against Anna Chakvetadze.

Although Federer pocketed almost twice as much cash as Henin, Justine was the most dominant tennis player in the world in ‘07. Henin went 63-4 (94% win rate) and claimed titles in 10 of 14 (71%) events she played, including two of the three Grand Slams. Federer posted a 63-9 record (88% win rate), winning eight of the 17 tourneys he played (47%), including three of the four Grand Slams. Women’s quest for equality continues…

Equality aside, I believe ’08 is the year that Federer finally wins his Grand Slam and a healthy Henin is an odds on favorite to do the same.