For all but the most dominant players, tennis is all about windows of opportunity. When one opens up, you have to jump through with both feet and eyes closed, hoping that you'll land in a good place and that you'll be able to move forward, rather than back, from there. Nothing illustrates that better than the rehabilitation of Kim Clijsters.
In August, when Clijsters came out of a two-year-plus retirement, she was still a relatively new mother who had trouble recognizing half the women (players, if not baby-sitters) she met in the player lounge. But overnight, she became the U.S. Open champion. Clijsters never put it this bluntly, but watching the WTA carnival from the end of last year through most of 2009 convinced her that since nobody else seemed interested in stepping up and taking control, why shouldn't she?
I get the feeling that Clijsters will move forward, too. Her game has always been champion-grade, but her nerve and will at major events was never of the same quality. It took her six years and 19 majors to get over the hump and finally win one (the 2005 U.S. Open). When she returned, it took her all of six weeks and three events to bag her next. The long break appears to have served her well; among other things, it probably enabled her to exorcise the demons haunting her in big matches. Her subtext at the last Open was, "I'm no choker, I've moved on!"
But cue the soundtrack to Jaws. Here comes her countrywoman and big-event nemesis, Justine Henin. It's hard to say that Justine needed a break or any extended period for contemplation of her career arc. She left the game at the peak of her powers, the only No. 1 ever to up and quit.
The expectations on Henin will be higher, but then she has always found a way to fight through the scary parts. She's trying to squeeze through the same window Clijsters found, but I'm not sure she'll be able to hit the ground running quite as easily.
Clijsters' natural game fits right in with the ruling sensibility on the women's tour in that it's predicated on hitting accurate, hard groundstrokes and returning well in order to put the server on the defensive. Henin's game, from day one, was more offense-oriented and versatile, and featured less margin for error. One thing Henin won't be able to do is muscle her way back to the top the way Clijsters did.
Beyond that, this sudden Belgian renaissance bodes ill for three players who emerged to fill the the vacuum left by Clijsters: Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic and Dinara Safina. Although each of those women has held the No. 1 ranking, based largely on their consistency and willingness to take on a heavy workload, the three of them cumulatively accounted for just one measly Grand Slam singles title (Ivanovic's French Open win in 2008).
Those women saw a window of opportunity when the Belgians retired, the Williams sisters began to stutter-step and Maria Sharapova was sidelined with an awful shoulder injury. They jumped through, give them credit for that. But when they landed in unfamiliar territory, they had no idea where to go next.
They may still figure it out, before a newly confident Clijsters or a surging Henin knocks them further off their perches. But they don't have much time. All of those women will need to step it up if they want to be remembered as anything more than placeholders for a champion.
Peter Bodo
