Justine Henin - French Open Women's Tennis Players

Diminutive Belgian and world number one, Justine Henin, is the Queen of the clay courts - she has won the French Open four times, three of which were successive victories, and there are very few women out there who have a hope of bettering her on her favourite surface. Her career win/loss record on clay is an awesome 157/25!

Her reign of dominance at the grand slams was briefly cut short at the 2008 Australian Open where she was roundly thrashed by Russian sensation, Maria Sharapova, in the quarterfinals, but that would have cut deep into Henin's winner's psyche and she will be more determined than ever to reclaim her place on the winner's podium in Paris.

She was in indomitable form during the 2007 season, a year which was probably not her best for personal reasons - she opted to pull out of the first grand slam of the year, the Australian Open, to cope with an acrimonious divorce. This makes her stellar performance during the year all the more admirable and gives a bit of insight into her mental toughness and powers of concentration.

Henin has been referred to as the 'female Federer' by none other than the legendary Martina Navratilova and her versatility on all court surfaces elevates her head and shoulders above the rest of the top ranked women. Her only obvious 'soft spot' has been her inability to win at the All England Club on grass, although she has reached the finals there on two occasions, only to be denied by Venus Williams and Amelie Mauresmo.

She won ten singles titles in 2007 including the end of year WTA Tour Championships where she had to battle it out with adversary, Maria Sharapova. She also claimed the French and US Opens and all-in-all she won an incredible 94% of her matches.

She has not been at her best going into 2008. Apart from her quarter final exit at Melbourne, she also succumbed to the might of Serena Williams in the quarterfinals of the only WTA Tier 1 event that she has contested this year, the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida. She missed events at Doha and Indian Wells, and this could possibly be an indication that she is suffering from ill health or injury.

Although she appears to be struggling with her form, she did pick up the title of the Proximus Diamond Games in her home country, and there is no ways that Henin will ever roll over and relinquish her number one status without a fight of epic proportions.