Aussie Open - No Más

In a conclusion reminiscent of boxer Roberto Duran’s declaration of “no más” in the 8th round of his 1980 bout with Sugar Ray Leonard, Justine Henin-Hardenne quit with a stomach ailment early in the second set of the title match for the 2006 Australian Open, thus giving Amelie Mauresmo her first Grand Slam title. However, let the record show that this title was no gift from Henin-Hardenne. Mauresmo came ready to play on Saturday, showing no signs of nerves that had plagued her on big occasions in the past. She muscled Henin-Hardenne around the court and forced the diminutive Belgian to go for more on her shots. The strategy drew numerous errors from Henin-Hardenne as she discovered that she had no answers for Mauresmo on this day.

Unfortunately, the ending of the match was shameful behavior from the Belgian woman. While she has been properly lauded in the past for being a great fighter, she is also a player of very questionable stature when it comes to sportsmanship. There have been occasions in the past when she has not conducted herself honorably on the tennis court. Two specific incidents come to mind:

At the semi-finals of Roland Garros in 2003, Henin-Hardenne put up her hand to ask for time during Serena Williams’ service motion and then said nothing of it after Williams missed the serve and asked the umpire for a let because of Henin-Hardenne’s action. The crowd heaped its rage upon Serena that day, but Justine dishonored herself and her victory by avoiding answering all questions on the incident after the match.

Another instance occurred at the 2003 Australian Open in which she used numerous injury time-outs in a match with Lindsay Davenport and ended up winning 9-7 in the third set. After the match, Davenport called out Henin-Hardenne for her abuse of the injury time-out rule and wondered aloud as to how an “injured” player could be moving so well at the end of the third set.

Based on these past incidents, calling the trainer at 0-2 in the second set of Saturday’s final reeked of gamesmanship on Henin-Hardenne’s part. While we have no evidence that she was not suffering some stomach discomfort, she was clearly suffering a common mental ailment for tennis players called “I’m getting my ass kicked and I want to go home now”-itis. After two points in the third game of the second set, Henin-Hardenne decided to pick up her toys and go home – she had had enough.

Mary Joe Fernandez and Brad Gilbert of ESPN2 echoed the feelings of many who felt that Henin-Hardenne had robbed Mauresmo of a proper victory and celebration for her first Slam title. Both Gilbert and Fernandez felt that Henin-Hardenne should have played the match out to its natural conclusion, noting that several other players in the past had done just that.

Although Mauresmo didn’t get to complete the match in a manner befitting her championship run, she should take solace in the fact that she beat her opponent so thoroughly that she forced her to quit. After Roberto Duran’s capitulation versus Sugar Ray Leonard in 1980, Leonard said “To make a man quit, to make a Roberto Duran quit, was better than knocking him out.” Let’s hope that Amelie Mauresmo will feel the same way.

Random Thoughts

· While we’re on the subject of poor sportsmanship, the name of Nicolas Kiefer comes to mind. His boorish behavior during his quarterfinal encounter with Sebastien Grosjean was fairly standard stuff for him, but he took it to the next level with a racquet toss that possibly distracted his opponent during a point late in the third set. Grosjean missed his next shot and claimed that he should be awarded the point because of the racquet toss. Inexplicably, both the umpire and the tournament referee ruled against the Frenchman. After the match, even Kiefer said that he thought that Grosjean should have been awarded the point. Apparently, it didn’t occur to the German that his racquet toss was a concession of the point and that even though the umpire had not awarded the point to Grosjean, he had it in his power to give the point to Grosjean himself.

· Marcos Baghdatis’ presence in the Men’s Final is a great story for tennis. Not only has he defeated 3 of the top 7 seeds on his way to the final, he handled the pressure of the 5th set better than both of his last two victims, Ivan Ljubicic and David Nalbandian. Ljubicic clearly tightened up on the big occasion by missing numerous forehands late in the match. After coming back from two sets to love down, it was somewhat sad to see the Croat throw it away in the fifth with tight play. Baghdatis deserves credit however for handling the pressure and playing well in the moment.

In the semi-final match, the level of tennis in the fourth and fifth sets wasn’t that high as both players made mistakes. Nalbandian was uncharacteristically error prone and appeared to be feeling the pressure of relinquishing a two sets to love lead in a Grand Slam semi-final. Shockingly, the ultra-confident Argentine was made to look like the player ranked in the mid-50s rather than his opponent.

Sunday’s final should be enjoyable to watch and Melbourne’s Greek population will make it a great atmosphere. Will the Baghdatis fairly tale have a happy ending? Regardless of the outcome of the match, Baghdatis will be happy with his effort at this tournament, so the answer is yes. However, look for Roger Federer to grab his seventh Grand Slam title on Sunday in Australia.