The crowd at Roland Garros has always liked Justine Henin. In 2003, she won over French hearts by ‘avenging’ Amélie Mauresmo’s defeat to Serena Williams, and since then she has had the crowd’s somewhat conditional support. 4 years and 3 French Open titles later, Henin is the favorite to win the tournament again, but this time it could be at the expense of the crowd’s affections. An insight to a relationship both Henin and the crowd have been taking for granted.
To fully understand the connection Henin has with the crowd at Roland Garros, we must go back to when it all began. It was a match between Monica Seles and Steffi Graf, two of the greatest players of all time. Near the empire’s chair, a young girl and her mother watched the match, enchanted by what they saw. At some point during the match, the girl turned to her mother and said, “one day that will be me. I will play on Center Court and win.” The girl was Justine Henin, and she would go on to fulfill her promise.
So there is a history between Henin and Roland Garros, a connection which dates back to Henin’s childhood, and the crowd appreciates that. The tournament means something to her, not because it’s a Grand Slam, though of course it adds to the intrigue, but also because of the memories she associates with it. She is willing to share them in that each time she wins the French Open, the memories become a little bit more special, because it means she has kept her promise.
But as much as the crowd appreciates Henin, they love another player more, Amélie Mauresmo. But that relationship is strained at best. Mauresmo is their first love, their true love, the love they cannot get over if though they really want to. Their feelings towards Henin are related to Mauresmo: Mauresmo is unpredictable, Mauresmo is unreliable, Mauresmo cracks under pressure. Henin does not, and that is why they like her. Henin is predictable is that the crowd knows exactly what to expect from her. They know they can ask her to win, and she will do everything she can to keep that promise. Henin thrives under pressure, Mauresmo does not. It is, in a way, “safer” for the crowd to like Henin, she is less likely to break their hearts, to murmur false promises that they will foolishly believe. Therefore Roland Garros’ love towards Henin is conditional.
Henin and Roland Garros, it is also “that” match from 2003, a semi-final clash with Serena Williams. Williams, who had previously knocked out French darling Mauresmo, had therefore planted the crowd firmly on Henin’s side. Henin and Mauresmo weren’t friends yet, and yet it was the quiet Belgian, the French speaker, who came out victorious and who, a few days later, would go on to win the tournament that year. The crowd liked her for that, even though she didn’t do it for Mauresmo. But she had avenged the defeat for the home crowd, she had done it for herself, for her mother, and they wanted to believe she had also done it for them.
Henin has never really been a player with “bucket loads of confidence”, and the crowd likes her for that. The constant need for reassurance, the need to know she is wanted and loved, the looks of approval she so desperately looks for in the crowd, they are all aspects of Henin’s intrigue. Henin may show no mercy towards her opponent yet she is constantly asking it from the crowd, for approval when she makes a shot, for forgiveness when she doesn’t. Henin performs at her best, metaphorically speaking, when she wants to feel loved. She ‘ups’ her game, partly for herself, and partly for the fans: she wants to give them something to be proud of.
Henin is reliable, that is why she is such a popular player. The crowd knows what to expect from her because she always gives 100% on court. And yet these past few days at Roland Garros, this has not been the case. The Henin the spectators have been treated to has been playing at roughly 70% of her potential, well enough to win the match, yet the flashes of skill and brilliance often associated with the Belgian are few and far between. She is fighting the fans instead of fighting for them, and the crowd doesn’t quite know how to react to that. They will ultimately support her, because she is Henin and they really do love her.
Yet Henin seems to have forgotten that their love is conditional. They love her because they can’t love Mauresmo, because Mauresmo is too unreliable. Mauresmo puts them through too much, every year there’s the flicker of hope that maybe, just maybe this might be the year… But then their illusion is shattered. The crowd is selfish, they want their players to win. Mauresmo can’t grant them that, the thirst for success, but Henin can, because she is predictable, because she is reliable, because she always gives 100%, no matter what.
By not playing her best, Henin is testing the fans, the crowds. She needs to know if they’ll still be there for her if she loses and so she is testing the limits. She was an incredibly popular player at Roland Garros, but a bitter defeat and the alliance of the crowd could change. The quiet Belgian is questioning the spectators at Roland Garros, asking them if they’ll still stand by her if she doesn’t accomplish all they demand from her. She doesn’t know the answer.
But the problem is, neither does the crowd.
