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It was bitter-sweet to watch Justine Henin on one end of the court doing what she does best - demolish her opponent with impressive strength and awesome precision, at the same time, watching on the other end, one of the most refreshingly new Serbian talents, Ana Ivanovic, getting her rhythm together to respond to Justine's pounce... uh, quite unsuccessfully in the women's semi-finals of the 2008 Sydney Medibank International. It was perplexing that Statistics seemed to show that Ana was playing better tennis - less unforced errors, less double faults, more winners, etc. but the score put Justine in the lead! Clearly, the big points - those that made spectators rose to their seats with an awestruck gasp - were won by Ana, and quite convincingly, too... but it was Justine who advanced to the finals to lock tennis wits with Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia where Justine eventually prevailed. Although, it was great to see Justine does her signature backhand with her shoulders and chest completely outstretched sideways to guide the ball right on the line, it was sad to see Ana pack her bags, with her intelligent game and quiet mastery of tennis not to be seen again in this year's remaining part of Medibank International (MI)!
To me, the most unforgettable moment in the 2008 MI's Henin-Ivanovic match was when Justine tried to trick Ana to a slow ball just past the net, which Ana chased with her athletic long legs leaping in a dizzying speed from her backcourt, on the side opposite to where the ball bounced low, towards the net to catch the ball bringing it back to Justine's end of the court, but on the side opposite from where Justine remained standing as she didn't quite expect Ana to be able to return the ball! Like a real champion, Justine reacted just in time and chased the ball with such speed - it seemed to have been more than a hundred steps per minute - at the same time planning to demolish Ana by hitting the ball with enough power and height to bring it to the backcourt way behind where Ana stood, which she executed with great precision. Ana seemed to read Justine's mind. She turned around and went to chase the ball right after Justine hit it. Nobody, including Justine, thought she could catch the ball, but she did! And while she ran, she planned to kill Justine by powering the ball to the backcourt behind Justine, who was waiting for her to miss the shot. Ana executed her plan with such brilliant move that left Justine just following the ball with her eyes as it flew over her with such speed that was impossible for even her champion caliber to catch! A big point for Ana, which she celebrated with the awed crowd with a discreet fistpump and cheeky smile... and Justine acknowledged with a resigned, and maybe admiring, smile! A great moment of tennis - two extremely talented women, both playing with power, precision, intelligence and impressive sportsmanship! Awesome!
