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Tennis Needs Henin So Badly
Return of Belgium's Former World No. 1 Could Not Come at a Better Time for WTA Tour.
By JONATHAN CLEGG


Justine Henin has always possessed a wonderful sense of timing.

It was evident in the glorious one-handed backhand that became her signature on court, and it was there in the Belgian tennis player's effortless blend of rhythm, technique and feel that propelled her to seven Grand Slam titles—including four in five years on her favored Parisian clay at Roland Garros.

Now, in a pivotal year for women's tennis, she's ended a 20-month retirement in the nick of time.

Ms. Henin, who quit in May 2008 on the eve of the French Open and while still world No.1, has made her comeback at this week's Brisbane International Open. With three straight wins, she appears barely to have been away. She continues her remarkable challenge with a quarter-final Thursday.

In these troubled times, the game needs her more than ever.

The WTA Tour's six-year, $88 million title sponsorship by Sony Ericsson—a record for women's sport—expires next Dec. 31 and prospects of an extension look remote. The mobile phone maker hasn't posted a profit in two years and both Stacey Allaster, the chief executive of the WTA Tour, and Sony Ericsson's director of global marketing partnerships, Calum MacDougall, told the Journal last month that any renewal discussions would need to be completed by this Jan.1 .

"We don't have a contractual deadline but I think for our planning purposes and theirs, we're informally looking for a decision by year-end," Ms. Allaster said.

Searching for a new title sponsor amid tough economic conditions is just one of the challenges facing women's tennis in 2010. The WTA Tour's season-ending tournament begins a three-year run in Istanbul next year, but a new venue for 2014 has yet to be arranged and the downturn makes it unlikely that a new host city will match the $42 million that the Turkish capital paid in June 2007 to stage the event.

"There's no doubt we're in a different place, a different economy than we were," says Ms. Allaster.

The return of Ms. Henin, then, could not have come at a better time for the sport's marketeers, particularly given that this has hardly been a vintage year for the WTA Tour. Despite positive structural reforms, including a new calendar that has seen player commitment at Tour events rise to 80%, a revolving door of incoming and outgoing No.1 players led to confusion among casual fans and a feeling that the sport lacks a truly dominant player.

How tennis officials must have longed for someone capable of winning a Grand Slam or two, a handful of WTA Tour Premier events, and finishing the year as a legitimate No.1. A player like Ms. Henin.

Prior to her retirement, Ms. Henin had spent 61 straight weeks as world No.1, stretching from March 2007 to May 2008. Since then, the No.1 ranking has been a curse on those who have reached top spot. The position has changed hands 11 times in the 85 weeks following Ms. Henin's retirement, with each newly crowned No.1 occupying the position for an average of just seven weeks and five days.

The longest unbroken spell in that period is the 25 weeks Dinara Safina spent on top of the world from April to October last year—and she has never won a Grand Slam. Meanwhile, Serena Williams won two of the four Slams, but made a minimal impact on the Tour amid questions over her fitness and focus.

"You got this bizarre situation where Safina was world No.1 but Serena Williams was winning all the Grand Slams," says Henry Chappell, chief executive of London-based sports PR specialists Pitch, which has worked with the WTA. "That damages the credibility of the WTA events and rankings."

The season-ending Sony Ericsson Championship in Doha was also a dud, with three of the eight competitors withdrawing with injuries.

Against this gloomy background, the return of Ms. Henin offers a glimpse of a brighter future.

Doubts that she can return to the summit of the sport are dispelled by historical precedent. In the past 15 years, Jennifer Capriati and Martina Hingis both made successful comebacks. More pertinently, Kim Clijsters returned from almost two years away while giving birth and produced a fairytale in New York to win the U.S. Open last September.

That captured the public's imagination and the return of Ms. Henin will add another sprinkling of stardust to women's tennis, increasing its appeal to fans and sponsors.

"Henin and Clijsters are individuals with global media equity," Mr. Chappell adds. "That's what tennis needs—greats like the Williams sisters at the top of the game, but it also needs people challenging them who the public have an affinity with.

"It's a fight for eyeballs, for audience share and to grow your fan base, so these guys coming back is great for the WTA Tour."

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