Exclusive: Henin believes that little stability in the women's tour has led to a lack of dominance from one player
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Updated 14/01/2023 at 09:39 GMT
Former world No. 1 and seven-time Grand Slam winner Justine Henin spoke to Eurosport on what she thinks leads to the instability in the women's game, the lack of a dominant player, the pressures of social media that current players face, and why she believes that Iga Swiatek is the favourite to take home the first Grand Slam of the 2023 season in Australia.
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The lack of stability in the women's tour is why it is tough for a single player to dominate women's tennis, says seven-time Grand Slam winner and Eurosport expert Justine Henin ahead of the Australian Open.
Henin, a former world No. 1, claimed that women's tennis "has been quite unstable in the past few years, and not one person has been dominant in their results over a long time."
When asked what she thought the reasons were, she said: "Things have changed in terms of consistency. Society is changing too. There are new generations and things to deal with. I am very happy I didn’t have to play in the time of social media, which takes a lot of time and energy. That feeling that you have to be in communication all the time. It is a choice, but it still takes time.
"Coaches also change a lot on the women’s circuit, not for everyone, but a lot. The stability of the men’s and women’s Tour is different, and I believe consistency brings a stable environment that helps performance.
"Players are used to the fact that a lot of different girls can win, which is a great opportunity. We like to get surprises but we need a leader and some good rivalries. Some girls can play really well during tournaments but find it hard to sustain that all season."
The Australian Open will be a chance for players to start the season off on a strong note, and Henin believes that the current world No. 1 Iga Swiatek is the clear favourite to take home the slam.
"She has been so dominant, winning two Slams last year," she said.
"But it will be a little bit more difficult for her in the second half of the season with a lot of points to defend. There will be more questions for her this season with how she can deal with pressure with a lot of points to defend. She won two Slams last year and the last one in New York and proved she is the best player in the world, including on hard courts. But the women’s game is quite open, especially at the beginning of the season.
"We saw her cry after her last loss against [Jessica] Pegula [in the United Cup] because she always wants to do so well. There are so many things that can be behind that, and we don’t know. An athlete is also a person, and we have to deal with a lot of things in our personal life. Iga expresses her emotions in a very intense way, but she is an intense player.
"She has to bring the confidence and experience she won last year. She gave us the impression that she has everything to be our new leader, which is fantastic. Others will have opportunities, and many girls will have to do everything they can to take these opportunities.
"Jessica Pegula has become so consistent and is smart but needs a little bit more to go further. We will keep looking at Coco Gauff and her development this year too. They can be dangerous for Iga for sure, but if we think about long distance over the season, Swiatek is quite comfortable as the world No.1"
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