THE WILLIAMS' KILLER IS BACK!!

Former world number 1 Justine Henin made it official, by announcing she will be returning to the WTA tour by the 2010 Australian Open, Which starts in the middle of January.

This is great news. To me she is still the number one player. When she left last year right before the French Open she was without a doubt the best women's tennis player on the planet. Thats right, NOT SERENA WILLIAMS. As a matter of fact Henin made a name of basically kicking the piss out of the William's sisters on a regular basis. The only player to kick her off the top of the mountain and the #1 ranking was herself by announcing her shocking retirement, and being the first ever tennis player to quit while being ranked #1.

When she returns from her year and a half sabatical she will be 27. In the women's game 27 is almost a dinosaur. Most women's players are at their peak at between 18-23 or maybe 24. 25 is normally the age where they start to slip, but not always. Serena is still elite and she is over 25. Henin doesn't have a power game. She is more of a technical player who relies on her speed and movement, to go along with her accurate ground strokes and superb volleying skills. I'm not sure how the layoff will affect her. She may have needed the rest to heal her body, or she may have lost a step. The one thing for sure is she will have a little tournament rust. But that may not take too long to work through. Fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters is proof of that.

The WTA needed Justine Henin back. Since she left it was a bit chaotic as to who would be #1. Ana Ivanovic with her first major win at last year's French (Roland Garros) she was #1 for a while. I believe Sharapova was for a week or so as well before her injury. I'm not positive. Jankovic then was #1 for a while and had a bit of controversy because she was #1, but had never won a Grand Slam title. Now up to today Serena bitches and moans about how she has won so many Grand Slams over the past year and a half and Safina still has the top ranking. The pressure of being number one without a slam may actually be affecting Safina's confidence and mental fortitude. Trying to live up to everyone else's expectations let alone the pressures put on herself. I'm getting off track here. I'll have to give Dinara a seperate blog and give my thoughts on that another time.....basically my whole point is maybe Henin's return will clear up some of the ranking nonsense and there will be more stability in the rankings.

If anything, the return of Henin and Clijsters. Also Maria Sharapova getting better after her shoulder injury. The whole women's tour will be much more interesting next year.