. . . And Finally, Mauresmo Wears A Crown

The Sunday Age

Sunday January 29, 2006

GREG BAUM

THIS Australian Open women's final never really began, and never really ended. It started to the incongruous accompaniment of birds twittering loudly in the rafters of Rod Laver Arena's closed roof. It finished less than an hour later when Justine Henin-Hardenne - supporting herself on the netpost - told opponent Amelie Mauresmo that she was too ill and weak to continue. She was trailing 1-6 0-2.

So, by default, Mauresmo won her long-delayed first major championship, more than 10 years after her career began and seven since she was beaten by Martina Hingis in her only other final. She had longed for this day, but not necessarily this way. She sat for a moment, then walked back onto the court, her arms raised in the customary gesture of triumph, but her face set to neutral. If Marcos Baghdatis was bang, this was whimper.

Immediately, a debate broke out about whether Henin-Hardenne ought to have persevered. She said she had scarcely slept the previous night because the anti-inflammatories she was taking for a shoulder strain had upset her stomach, and she knew even in the warm-up that she could not win. She took a break after the first set, called for a trainer and doctor after a 33-stroke rally early in the second set, but after just two more points quit.

She apologised to the crowd, and said later that she had to think of her own health. "If I kept playing, I would have injured something else."

Mauresmo was anxious not to court controversy, but said she had not noticed anything amiss with her opponent in the first set. "I was ready to die on the court today," she added. "That's just the way I was."

Henin-Hardenne looked wan but composed at her press conference, but later broke down when answering questions in French. Courage was not at issue; she is known as a lion-hearted player. Unlike players of team sports, she did not have the option to go to the bench for half an hour. Mauresmo's career is seemingly governed by a contrary force. She was unwittingly at the centre of a controversy before her final here in 1999 when Hingis made an unflattering remark about her muscular build. In 2004, she damaged a shoulder while beating Alicia Molik and was unable to play the next round.

This year, by way of redress, she won three of her seven matches by default, including the semi-final and final. "It was very strange for everybody, for me, for Justine, for the tournament," she said. It also means that despite winning last year's championship in Los Angeles (the de facto fifth major), not all questions about her temperament have been answered. Some players can never win.

Still, the last laugh is all hers. Awaiting her in her Geneva home is a 1937 bottle of wine she bought to drink when she won her first major. "It is waiting for me quietly, in the dark, at the right temperature," she said.