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HENIN-HARDENNE TAKES YEAR-END SONY ERICSSON WTA TOUR No.1 RANKING
First-ever
three-way battle for season-ending No.1 ranking ends with Belgian
taking over top spot after impressive performance at Sony Ericsson
Championships
MADRID,
Spain
–
By reaching the final at the prestigious season-ending Sony Ericsson
Championships, five-time Grand Slam champion Justine Henin-Hardenne
will regain the world No.1 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Singles Ranking when
the new rankings are released on Monday, November 13. The Belgian will
take over the top spot for the first time since September 12, 2004.
This is the second time she has finished a season as the world No.1
(2003).
Henin-Hardenne will ascend to the No.1 ranking for the third time in
her career and for a 46th non-consecutive week, capping a remarkable
season that included five Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles titles. She
claimed her fifth Grand Slam title at Roland Garros and also won at
Sydney (her first event of the year),
Dubai, Eastbourne and
New Haven. In addition,
she became the first player since Martina Hingis in 1997 to reach all
four Grand Slam finals. Against Top 5 players this season, the
24-year-old Belgian had a 10-5 record, and against Top 10 players, she
held a remarkable 16-7 record for the year.
Henin-Hardenne previously held the No.1 ranking for one week from
October 20-26, 2003, followed by 44 consecutive weeks from November
10, 2003 to September 12, 2004. Henin-Hardenne takes over the No.1
ranking from Amélie Mauresmo, who also regained the top ranking
earlier this year on March 20, a spot she had held the past 34 weeks
consecutively and 39 lifetime.
For the first time in Tour history, the year-end No.1 ranking was
being contested by three women at the season-ending Championships.
Mauresmo needed to retain her title and have No.2 Maria Sharapova and
No.3 Justine Henin-Hardenne to lose early, while Sharapova needed to
take the title and have Henin-Hardenne lose before the final.
"To end the season as No.1 in the world is very exciting and an
accomplishment I'm very proud of, especially because there were three
players who could have been No.1 at the end of the year,"
Henin-Hardenne said. "This season was full of great moments for me and
to get the top ranking back makes it even better."
"Justine had an outstanding year and to finish the year as the world's
No.1 player at a time when there is so much talent on the Sony
Ericsson WTA Tour is certainly a great achievement," said Sony
Ericsson WTA Tour Chairman and CEO Larry Scott. "Her competitive
spirit and dedication to the sport prove she is a great champion, on
and off the court, and I congratulate her on returning to the top of
the rankings."
Henin-Hardenne is one of only 15 players to reach the pinnacle of
women's professional tennis since the computer rankings were created
in 1975. The others are Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Tracy
Austin, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario, Martina
Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, Venus Williams, Serena
Williams, Kim Clijsters, Mauresmo and Maria Sharapova.
