Early career Henin, known as "Juju" to many of her fans, was coached by
Carlos Rodríguez of
Argentina. In 1997, she won the junior girls' singles title at the French Open. Early in her junior career, she regularly reached the late rounds of international competitions and won five
International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournaments by the end of 1998.
Junior Slam results: • Australian Open: – • French Open:
W (
1997) • Wimbledon: QF (
1997) • US Open: QF (
1997) She began her professional career on the
Women's Tennis Association tour in May 1999 as a wild card entry in the Belgian Open clay tournament at
Antwerp and became only the fifth player to win her debut WTA Tour event. She also won her hometown event, the Liège Challenger, in July 2000. Henin established herself as a major competitor in 2001, consequently reaching the women's singles semifinals of the French Open and then upset the reigning Australian Open and French Open champion
Jennifer Capriati in the semifinals of
Wimbledon, losing to defending champion
Venus Williams in three sets in the final. By the end of the year, Henin was ranked 7th in singles, with three titles to her name. Also that year, she reached the French Open women's doubles semifinals with
Elena Tatarkova and helped
Belgium to win the
2001 Fed Cup. Moreover, Henin played for the German tennis club Weiß-Blau
Schweinfurt in 2001. In 2002, she reached four WTA finals, winning two of them, and finished the year ranked world No. 5. Her
German Open victory, her first win at a
Tier I tournament, was noteworthy as she beat Jennifer Capriati in a semifinal and
Serena Williams in the final, the then No. 2 and No. 5 ranked players, respectively. At Wimbledon 2002, Henin beat former world No. 1,
Monica Seles, in two tough sets.
2003: Ascent to No. 1 Henin started the year as the 5th-ranked player in the world but lost to
Kim Clijsters in the semifinals of the
Medibank International in Sydney. In the fourth round of the Australian Open in Melbourne, she defeated
Lindsay Davenport 7–5, 5–7, 9–7. In a match lasting more than three hours, Henin overcame a 4–1 final set deficit, high temperatures, and muscle cramps to defeat Davenport for the first time in her career. She then lost to Venus Williams in the semifinals in straight sets. Henin also lost to Clijsters in the semifinals of the Proximus
Diamond Games in Antwerp. At the
Dubai Tennis Championships one week later, she defeated Monica Seles in the final 4–6, 7–6, 7–5 after Seles had a match point at 5–4 in the second set. Henin's next tournament was the Tier I
Miami Masters. She lost in the quarterfinals to world No. 10,
Chanda Rubin, 6–3, 6–2. At the clay court
Family Circle Cup in
Charleston, South Carolina, Henin defeated world No. 1 Serena Williams in the final. This was Williams' first loss of the year after 21 wins. The following week, Henin reached the semifinals of the
Bausch & Lomb Championships in
Amelia Island, Florida, losing to eventual winner
Elena Dementieva 3–6, 6–4, 7–5. Henin then helped Belgium defeat Austria 5–0 in a first round tie of the Fed Cup. In May, Henin successfully defended her title at the
German Open in Berlin. In the final, she saved three match points in the third set before defeating Clijsters. At the French Open, she was the fourth seeded player and defeated the defending champion, Serena Williams, in a controversial semifinal 6–2, 4–6, 7–5 which saw Henin asked to acknowledge her raised hand during a Williams service motion. In the final, Henin defeated Clijsters in straight sets. This was her first
Grand Slam title, and she was the first Belgian ever to win a Grand Slam singles title. Henin then began her preparations for Wimbledon. At the grass court
Ordina Open in
Rosmalen, she lost in the final to Clijsters; she was forced to retire from the match after injuring her finger. At
Wimbledon, Henin was the third seeded player. She defeated
Mary Pierce in the fourth round and
Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals before losing to Serena Williams in straight sets. Henin's first competition after Wimbledon was the Fed Cup tie against
Slovakia. She won both her singles matches to help Belgium win the tie 5–0 and begin her 22-match winning streak. She then played two tournaments during the North American summer hard court season before the
US Open. At the Tier I
Acura Classic in San Diego, the third-seeded Henin defeated the top-seeded Clijsters in the final. Henin was accused of poor sportsmanship by
Kim Clijsters. Two weeks later at the Tier I
Rogers Cup in Toronto, she defeated Russia's
Lina Krasnoroutskaya in the final. Henin was the second-seeded player at the US Open. She won her first four matches against unseeded players before defeating seventh-seeded
Anastasia Myskina in the quarterfinals and then defeated sixth-seeded Jennifer Capriati in the semifinals 4–6, 7–5, 7–6(4) in a match that lasted more than three hours and stretched to midnight. Henin recovered from a 3–5 deficit in the second set and a 2–5 deficit in the final set and was just two points from defeat eleven times. She was treated for muscle cramps and dehydration overnight but returned to play in the final the next day. In the final, Henin defeated Clijsters in straight sets. The win raised Henin's ranking to world No. 2, just behind Clijsters. At her next event, the indoor
Sparkassen Cup in Leipzig, she lost to Myskina in the final. This ended Henin's 22-match winning streak. Two weeks later at the indoor
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in
Filderstadt, Henin lost in the final to Clijsters. Had she won this match, she would have immediately replaced Clijsters as the world No. 1. At the Tier I
Zurich Open the following week, Henin reached her sixth consecutive final where she defeated Serbia's
Jelena Dokić. This win catapulted her to become the 13th world No. 1 on the WTA computer rankings on 20 October 2003. Henin temporarily lost her number 1 ranking after a week as she declined to defend her title at the
Generali Ladies Linz tournament. At the season-ending
WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles, Henin defeated Myskina and Capriati and lost to Japan's
Ai Sugiyama in her round robin matches, which was sufficient to advance and return to the top spot on the WTA ranking. In the semifinals, she lost to
Amélie Mauresmo 6–7(2), 6–3, 3–6, but managed to close a season ranked world No. 1 for the first time. Henin was named the ITF's women's singles World Champion for 2003.
2004: Australian Open and Olympic gold Henin started 2004 by winning a warm-up tournament in Sydney and then the Australian Open in Melbourne, defeating Clijsters in three sets in the final. By the end of 2004's spring hard court season, Henin had built a 25-match Tier I win streak and 22–1 win–loss record, winning her first 16 matches. At the start of the spring clay court season, Henin's health was adversely affected by infection with a strain of
cytomegalovirus and an immune system problem. She often slept up to 18 hours a day but barely had the strength to brush her teeth, let alone play competitive tennis. Although Henin decided to defend her French Open title and was seeded first in the tournament, she lost her second round match to a much lower-ranked player,
Tathiana Garbin of Italy. At the time, the loss marked only the second time in 15 Grand Slam events that she had lost before the fourth round. After months of layoff because of a virus, Henin returned to competition in August and won the women's singles
gold medal at the
Summer Olympics in Athens, defeating
Amélie Mauresmo in the final 6–3, 6–3. Henin reached the gold medal match by defeating reigning French Open champion
Anastasia Myskina in a semifinal 7–5, 5–7, 8–6 after having trailed 1–5 in the final set. Her medal ceremony was attended by fellow countryman and IOC president
Jacques Rogge. In September, she was unsuccessful in her defence of her
US Open title, losing to
Nadia Petrova in the fourth round. This defeat caused her to lose the world No. 1 ranking, which she had held for 45 non-consecutive weeks. She then withdrew from the ten remaining tournaments of the year in an effort to recover her health and improve her fitness.
2005: Second French Open and injuries Her plan to rejoin the tour at the beginning of 2005 was delayed when she fractured her
kneecap in a December 2004 training session. On 25 March, after more than six months away from competition, Henin returned to the WTA tour at the
Miami Masters. She lost to second ranked
Maria Sharapova in a quarterfinal. She rebounded at her next tournament, winning the clay court Family Circle Cup in Charleston. She won two more clay court titles before the start of the
French Open. Her victories over top-ranked Lindsay Davenport, Sharapova, Elena Dementieva, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Petrova made her a top contender for the title there. Henin was seeded tenth at the French Open and defeated the French player
Mary Pierce in the final in straight sets to take her second title at Roland Garros. The win marked Henin's 24th consecutive clay court win and her tenth consecutive final win, a streak dating back to Zurich in October 2003. In capturing the title, she defeated Kuznetsova in the fourth round, Sharapova in a quarterfinal, and Petrova in a semifinal. Henin saved two match points to defeat Kuznetsova in the fourth round 7–6(6), 4–6, 7–5 and thus became only the second woman to win the French Open after saving a match point. With her French Open victory, Henin moved from world No. 12 to No. 7 in the women's singles rankings. She was a perfect 24–0 on clay this year and joined Monica Seles as the only two currently active (in 2005) players on the WTA Tour to have won the French Open at least twice. At
Wimbledon, her win streak of 24 matches was snapped in the first round by Greek
Eleni Daniilidou 7–6, 2–6, 7–5. It was the first time that a reigning French Open champion failed to win a match at Wimbledon. A
hamstring injury sustained earlier in the year eventually limited her to playing only 11 more matches for 2005. Henin next played the
Rogers Cup in Toronto, where she reached the final after beating Mauresmo in a semifinal before losing to Clijsters in straight sets. She lost in the fourth round of the
US Open to eventual finalist Mary Pierce 3–6, 4–6. Following this, she played in Filderstadt, but after losing her first round match to
Flavia Pennetta, she decided not to play for the rest of 2005.
TENNIS Magazine placed her in 31st place on its list of that year of the 40 Greatest Players for the period 1965 through 2005. In November, at the
Tour Championships, she was named the inaugural winner of the Whirlpool 6th Sense Player of the Year, which honors the player who has demonstrated the most sixth sense intuition, that is to say "heightened intelligence, unbeatable performance and pinpoint precision".
2006: All four Slam finals In January, Henin returned to competitive tennis at the
tournament in Sydney, a tune-up for the
Australian Open. She was seeded fifth and played former world No. 1 (and newly returned to competitive tennis)
Martina Hingis in a much hyped first round match. Henin won 6–3, 6–3. At the Australian Open, Henin defeated top-ranked Lindsay Davenport and fourth ranked Maria Sharapova in three-set matches to set up a final against third ranked Amélie Mauresmo. While trailing 6–1, 2–0, Henin retired from the match, citing intense stomach pain caused by over-use of anti-inflammatories for a persistent shoulder injury. Henin stated afterwards that she feared possible injury had she continued to play. Henin was criticized by the press because she had stated after her semifinal win against Sharapova that she was at the "peak of her fitness" and was playing the "best tennis of her life". This was only the fourth time that a
Grand Slam women's singles final ended by retirement since 1900, and the first ever during the
open era. Henin captured her second title of the year at the Tier II event in Dubai defeating Sharapova 7–5, 6–2. This was her third Dubai title, having won previously in 2003 and 2004. At Tier I
Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, Henin lost in the semifinals to fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva 6–2, 5–7, 5–7, after leading 6–2, 5–2 and serving for the match twice. Henin also lost in the second round of Tier I Miami Masters to
Meghann Shaughnessy 5–7, 4–6. On
clay, she failed to retain her title at the Family Circle Cup, losing in the semifinals to third-seeded
Patty Schnyder 6–2, 3–6, 2–6. It was her first career defeat at this tournament and the end of her 27-match winning streak on clay. Henin then helped Belgium defeat defending champion Russia in a
Fed Cup quarterfinal. She beat fifth ranked Nadia Petrova 6–7, 6–4, 6–3, and 9th ranked Elena Dementieva 6–2, 6–0. Petrova had come into the tie with two consecutive clay court tournament victories and a ten-match clay court winning streak, while Dementieva had defeated Henin in their last meeting in Indian Wells and defeated second ranked Belgian compatriot Kim Clijsters on the first day of the tie. Three weeks later, Henin played the Tier I
Qatar Telecom German Open, defeating Mauresmo in the semifinal 6–1, 6–2 before losing to Petrova in a three-set final. At the French Open, Henin defeated second seeded Clijsters in the semifinals 6–3, 6–2. She then defeated Kuznetsova in the final to win her third French Open singles title in four years. Henin captured the title without losing a set and became the first French Open champion to defend her title successfully since
Steffi Graf in 1996. At the
Eastbourne grass court tournament just before Wimbledon, Henin defeated Anastasia Myskina in the final in three sets. Henin was the third seed going into Wimbledon and advanced to her third consecutive Grand Slam final without losing a set. She defeated Clijsters (who was seeded second) in a semifinal 6–4, 7–6(4) but lost the final to Mauresmo. The final featured two finesse players who used their all-court games, a break from recent years that featured a succession of power baseliners claiming the title. At almost every point throughout the match, both players approached the net to volley. Tipped as the tournament favorite, Henin won the first set. But Mauresmo recovered to win the next two sets and her second Grand Slam singles title and deny the Belgian a career Grand Slam. This was the only Wimbledon final of the decade that did not involve Venus and/or Serena Williams. Henin withdrew from Tier I events in San Diego and
Montreal because of injury but played the tournament in
New Haven. There, she defeated Kuznetsova and Davenport en route to the title. It was her 28th WTA tour title. She returned to the world No. 2 ranking and crossed over US$12 million in career prize money. At the
US Open, Maria Sharapova defeated Henin in the final after Henin had defeated Lindsey Davenport in the quarterfinals and
Jelena Janković in the semifinals. Henin became the first woman since Hingis in 1997 to reach the finals of all four Grand Slam singles tournaments in a calendar year. Henin won both of her singles matches during the Fed Cup final against Italy in
Charleroi. However, Henin retired from the deciding doubles match because of a knee injury while she and her partner
Kirsten Flipkens were trailing 3–6, 6–2, 2–0, giving Italy the championship. Henin guaranteed her year-end world No. 1 ranking by reaching the final of the
Sony Ericsson Championships, defeating Maria Sharapova in the semifinals 6–2, 7–6(5). Henin then defeated Mauresmo and won the tournament for the first time in her career. Henin was the first player since Hingis in 2000 to win the WTA Tour Championships and end the year as the top-ranked player. Henin was the first woman to win at least one Grand Slam singles title in four consecutive years since Steffi Graf from 1993 through 1996. Her prize money earnings for the year totaled $4,204,810.
2007: Dominance |214x214px On 4 January 2007, Henin withdrew from the Australian Open and the warm-up
tournament in Sydney to deal with the break-up of her marriage. Not playing those tournaments caused Henin to lose the world No. 1 ranking to Maria Sharapova. In Henin's first tournament of the year, she lost in the semifinals of the
Open Gaz de France in Paris to Czech
Lucie Šafářová 6–7(5), 4–6. She then won two hardcourt tournaments in the Middle East, the
Dubai Duty Free Women's Open (for the fourth time in five years) over Amélie Mauresmo and her first
Qatar Total Open title, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. She also reached US$14 million in career prize money and on 19 March, regained the world No. 1 ranking. At the Miami Masters, Henin reached the final for the first time in her career, where she lost to Serena Williams 6–0, 5–7, 3–6 after holding two match points at 6–0, 5–4. Her next tournament was the
J&S Cup in
Warsaw, which she won, beating
Alona Bondarenko of
Ukraine in the final, 6–1, 6–3. Later, at the
Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, Henin won her quarterfinal against
Jelena Janković 3–6, 6–4, 6–4 after being behind 4–0 in the third set, only to lose her semifinal against Kuznetsova 4–6, 7–5, 4–6. The loss was only her second to Kuznetsova in 16 career meetings. At the French Open, Henin was the two-time defending champion and top seed. In a highly anticipated quarterfinal match against Serena Williams, Henin won 6–4, 6–3. She then defeated Janković in the semifinals 6–2, 6–2. In the final, Henin defeated
Ana Ivanovic in straight sets, 6–1, 6–2 to claim her third consecutive French Open title, equalling Seles's
open era record. She also surpassed US$15 million in career prize money earnings. Henin won the tournament without dropping a set and had not lost a set at this tournament since the 2005 French Open quarterfinals. She had not lost a match at the French Open since
2004. This proved to be the last successful women's singles title defense at the French Open in next 16 years, until
Iga Świątek defended her title in 2023. The
International Women's Open in Eastbourne was Henin's first grass court tournament of the year. She and Mauresmo reached the final, which was the first time in nearly 30 years that the Eastbourne final included both finalists from Wimbledon the previous year. Henin recovered from a breakdown in the final set to win in a third-set tiebreak for the second consecutive year. At
Wimbledon, Henin lost to
Marion Bartoli in the semifinals 6–1, 5–7, 1–6, one day after Henin defeated Serena Williams in the quarterfinals. It was Henin's first win over the American on a surface other than clay. In the semifinal, she was up a break at 1–0 and 4–3 in the second set, but could not hold the lead. In August, Henin won the Tier I Rogers Cup in Toronto, defeating Janković in the final. The tournament championship was her 35th on the WTA tour, moving her past Clijsters who retired with 34 tournament championships. At the
US Open, Henin defeated her first four opponents in straight sets, with a 6–0 set in each match. Henin then faced Serena Williams in the quarterfinals for the third consecutive time in a Grand Slam tournament, and for the third time, Henin won, 7–6(3), 6–1. In the semifinals against Venus Williams, Henin was up a break in the first set but could not hold it. She finally won the set in a tiebreak. In the second set, Henin was ahead 3–0 before Williams leveled the set at 3–3. Williams then had three break points on Henin's service but could not convert and lost the game. Henin then broke Williams's serve and held her own serve to go up 5–3. Williams then broke Henin to pull within 5–4 but Henin broke Williams again in the last game to win the match 7–6(2), 6–4. Henin became only the second player to defeat both Williams sisters in the same Grand Slam tournament (after Martina Hingis at the
2001 Australian Open). In the final, Henin won her second US Open singles title, defeating Kuznetsova in straight sets, 6–1, 6–3. Henin won the tournament without dropping a set. She thus became the first women ever to defeat both Williams sisters in the same Grand Slam tournament, and go on to also win the title (Hingis had lost to Jennifer Capriati in the final of the 2001 Australian Open). Henin won her next tournament, the
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, defeating
Tatiana Golovin in the final. Two weeks later, Henin won the
Zurich Open, her ninth title of the year, by again defeating Golovin in the final. At the
WTA Tour Championships, Henin won all three of her round robin matches, defeating
Anna Chakvetadze, Janković, and Bartoli. Going into the match against Bartoli, Henin had won 22 consecutive matches since Bartoli defeated her in the 2007 Wimbledon semifinals. Although Henin had already clinched a spot in the semifinals, both Henin and Bartoli did not know Bartoli had to replace Serena Williams until several hours before the match and lost 6–0, 6–0. In the semifinals, Henin defeated Ivanovic 6–4, 6–4. In the final, Henin overcame Sharapova in three sets in a match that lasted 3 hours, 24 minutes. Sharapova won the first set on her eighth set point in the 12-minute last game. Henin won the match on her fifth match point in the final game of the match. This was Henin's longest ever match, the longest final in tournament history, and the twelfth longest women's match ever. This victory extended Henin's winning streak to 25 matches. She only lost three sets after Wimbledon. This victory made her the sixth player to successfully defend her title at the WTA's season-ending championship and the first player to claim at least ten tour titles in a year since Hingis won twelve in 1997. She also became the first woman to break the US$5 million barrier in prize money in a year, and by crossing US$19 million, Henin is now ranked fifth on the all time prize money list. Henin ended the year ranked world No. 1 for the third time in her career, having done so previously in 2003 and 2006. She was the first player since Lindsay Davenport to end the year ranked world No. 1 consecutively for two years (Davenport was ranked year-end world No. 1 in 2004–2005). She also ended the year with a 63–4 record, having lost to only four players: Lucie Šafářová, Serena Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Marion Bartoli. Her winning percentage of 94% was the best since Steffi Graf's 1995 season (Serena Williams surpassed her in 2013 with 95%).
2008: Retirement Henin started the year as the world No. 1. 14 January marked Henin's 100th career week as world No. 1, and on 10 March, Henin became only the seventh female player to be ranked world No. 1 for 12 consecutive months. The Medibank International in Sydney was Henin's first tournament of the year. She defeated Ana Ivanovic in the semifinals 6–2, 2–6, 6–4. She then defeated world No. 2, Svetlana Kuznetsova, 4–6, 6–2, 6–4, overcoming an 0–3 deficit in the final set. At the
Australian Open in Melbourne, Henin won her 32nd consecutive match in the fourth round, defeating
Hsieh Su-wei of
Taiwan 6–2, 6–2. The winning streak ended in the quarterfinals when Sharapova, the eventual winner, defeated Henin 6–4, 6–0. This was Henin's first 6–0 loss since the 2002 French Open and the first time since the 2005 US Open that Henin had been defeated in Grand Slam singles before the semifinals. At the Proximus
Diamond Games in Antwerp, Henin defeated
Karin Knapp in the final. This was Henin's second singles title in her native Belgium. Two weeks later at the Barclays
Dubai Tennis Championships, Henin was the defending champion but lost for the first time in eight meetings to
Francesca Schiavone in the quarterfinals 7–6(3), 7–6(4). Henin had struggled for three hours in her first match against
Katarina Srebotnik, eventually winning 7–5, 6–7, 6–3. After taking a four-week break, Henin's next tournament was the Miami Masters. She lost in the quarterfinals to Serena Williams 2–6, 0–6. Henin then withdrew from the Tier I Family Circle Cup because of an injury to her right knee. At the Tier I, clay court
Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, Henin lost in the third round to Dinara Safina 7–5, 3–6, 1–6, in what turned out to be her last match before retirement. In their five previous career matches, Henin had never lost a set to Safina. The day after her defeat, Henin withdrew from the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, citing fatigue. Henin announced her immediate retirement from professional tennis on 14 May 2008, and requested the WTA to remove her name from the rankings immediately. Her announcement was a surprise because Henin was still ranked world No. 1 and was considered the favorite for the
French Open, where she would have been the three-time defending champion. She said she felt no sadness about her retirement because she believed it was a release from a game she had focused on for twenty years. She also said that in the future, she would be concentrating on charity and her tennis school.
2010: Comeback Belgian newspaper
''L'Avenir'' reported on Tuesday 22 September 2009 that Henin would formally announce her return to competitive tennis after 16 months of retirement. Later that day, she confirmed her return to competition. Henin mentioned seeing Roger Federer finally complete the grand slam of titles by winning the French Open in 2009 had been an inspiration, as had Kim Clijsters' return to the tour and her victory at the US Open. Henin made her return to tennis at the
Brisbane International where she was given a wildcard. She defeated No. 2 seed Nadia Petrova,
Sesil Karatantcheva, No. 7 seed
Melinda Czink and No. 3 seed Ana Ivanovic to make it to the final. She then nearly won, losing to her compatriot Clijsters in a riveting final, 3–6, 6–4, 6–7(6) lasting 2 hours, 23 minutes. At one point, Henin was up 3–0 in the third set before Clijsters rallied and took the match to a tie break. Down 1–5 in the tiebreak, she fought back to 6-all before Clijsters took the final two points. At the 2010 Australian Open, Henin was given a wildcard as an unranked player. Henin started off with a straight sets victory over Belgian
Kirsten Flipkens. She set up a second round match of the tournament with No. 5 seed Elena Dementieva, whom she defeated 7–5, 7–6(5). Lasting two hours and fifty minutes, commentators felt this match was worthy of a final. Henin approached the net forty-three times, winning thirty-five of those points. In the third round, she defeated No. 28 seed
Alisa Kleybanova from Russia; where she made a comeback to win 3–6, 6–4, 6–2. In the fourth round she faced World No. 16 and fellow
Belgian,
Yanina Wickmayer, defeating her in three sets 7–6, 1–6, 6–3. She then defeated No. 19 seed Nadia Petrova in the quarterfinals. Henin won 7–6, 7–5 after having been down 0–3 in the second set. She then went on to defeat
Zheng Jie from China in the semifinals in convincing fashion 6–1, 6–0, setting up a clash with world No. 1 Serena Williams in the
2010 Australian Open ladies' final. This was the first time in their long rivalry that Henin and Serena Williams met in a Grand Slam final. Henin would eventually fall to Serena Williams in three sets 6–4, 3–6, 6–2. A wildcard was granted for Henin to compete at the
BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, a Premier Mandatory tournament. In the first round, Henin defeated
Magdaléna Rybáriková 6–2, 6–2 in a little over an hour. Henin then lost to
Gisela Dulko, 2–6, 6–1, 4–6, in a two-hour match. The result gave her a new rank of world No. 33 as of 22 March 2010. She defeated
Jill Craybas of US 6–2, 6–2 in the first round of
Sony Ericsson Open. In the second round, Henin defeated world No. 6, Elena Dementieva, 6–3, 6–2 in 90 minutes. In the third round, Henin defeated
Dominika Cibulková in 93 minutes, 6–4, 6–4 advancing to the quarterfinals where Henin beat Vera Zvonareva 6–1, 6–4 to set up a meeting in the quarterfinals with world No. 2,
Caroline Wozniacki. After defeating Wozniacki in a three-set match, she fell to Kim Clijsters in a semifinal battle, 2–6, 7–6(3), 6–7(6). Following her Sony Ericsson Open performance, Henin moved into the top 25 for the first time since her comeback. Henin's next tournament was the
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. Henin played through this tournament injured, having previously broken her left pinkie during Fed Cup practice. In the first round, Henin saw off German qualifier
Julia Görges 7–6(3), 6–1. In her second round, she defeated world No. 12 and fellow Belgian Yanina Wickmayer, defeating her for the 2nd consecutive time, 6–3, 7–5. In the quarterfinals, she defeated fourth seed and world No. 7 Jelena Janković 3–6, 7–6(4), 6–3 for the tenth time in her career. She defeated world No. 20
Shahar Pe'er in the semifinals, 6–3, 6–2, and reached her third final in five tournaments this year. She faced world No. 10 Samantha Stosur. Henin won the final 6–4, 2–6, 6–1 in 100 minutes, to procure her first title in 2010 (in her 3rd final). Winning this tournament also sent Henin into the top 20 for the first time since her comeback. At the
Madrid Open she was defeated in the first round by eventual champion
Aravane Rezaï 4–6, 7–5, 6–0. As a result of this loss, Henin dropped out of the top 20 to No. 23. Henin then participated at the
French Open, seeded 22nd, the second grand slam of the year where she had won four previous titles. In the 1st round, she defeated
Tsvetana Pironkova in 89 minutes, 6–4, 6–3. In the second round, Henin faced
Klára Zakopalová and defeated her 6–3, 6–3. In the third round, facing former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova, Henin ended her streak of consecutive sets at 40, losing the 2nd set to Sharapova but going on to win 6–2, 3–6, 6–3. She had then tied the number of consecutive sets won at the French Open with
Helen Wills Moody. She lost to world No. 7 Samantha Stosur 6–2, 1–6, 4–6 in the fourth round, her first defeat at Roland Garros since 2004. Henin began the grass court season at the
UNICEF Open, where she was the top seed for the first time since her return. In the first three rounds she defeated
Angelique Kerber,
Roberta Vinci, and
Kristina Barrois in straight sets. She then beat No. 5 seed
Alexandra Dulgheru in the semifinals, 6–2, 6–2. In the final, she defeated No. 7 seed
Andrea Petkovic to win her 43rd career title and second of the year. At the
Wimbledon Championships, Henin was the No. 17 seed. In the third round, she had a victory over Nadia Petrova, winning 6–1, 6–4. She was eventually defeated in the fourth round by Kim Clijsters 2–6, 6–2, 6–3, after convincingly winning the first set. Midway through the first set, Henin slipped on the court, injuring her right elbow. Further examinations revealed a partial ligament fracture in her elbow, causing her to end her 2010 season prematurely. She was awarded the
WTA Comeback Player of the Year award in December for her 2010 season.
2011: Second retirement Henin started her season at the
Hopman Cup. She did not lose any sets in the competition, earning comfortable victories over
Alicia Molik from Australia,
Sesil Karatantcheva from
Kazakhstan, Ana Ivanovic of
Serbia and
Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US in the final. Henin was the 11th seed and a defending finalist at the
Australian Open. Henin defeated
Sania Mirza from India in the first round 5–7, 6–3, 6–1 and
Elena Baltacha in the second, 6–1, 6–3. She then fell to 23rd seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, 4–6, 6–7(8). On 26 January 2011, Henin announced her definitive retirement from professional tennis, due to an exacerbation of the elbow injury she sustained the previous year at Wimbledon. == Playing style ==