Justine Henin Is Queen Of Clay

Now holding four French Open titles in five years - 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007 - and several others around the world, no one would contest that claim. Certainly not Ivanovic, who came to Paris in good form and with a win in Berlin to hone her confidence but failed to capitalise on a nervous start by the world championwho trailed 1-0 and 0-40in the opening moments.

"Queen of clay is good." justine accepted when asked by Tennis Africa Magazine how she will now like to be addressed.  " It is amazing. I still don't realise what is happening now. when i was a little girl I dreamt of coming here and winning the torunament and then to do it four times, three times in a row and twice without losing a set is just great." Monica Seles, Steffi Graf and Chris Evert who has seven wins in Paris are some of the elites in the Open era.

Justine has Serbia's first ever Grand Slam finalist to thank for giving her the silver trophy on a platter of gold. Ivanovic, a heavy hitter, started the match looking calm and confident but caved in to nerves and the weight of the occassion, failing in the end to live up to her prematch ratings.

"At 40-15 in the second game," Ivanovic explained, "all of a sudden I started getting nervous and my balls were going every where. So I could not really control it (nerves). Even when I had some chances to come back and I played a few good shots, she was there.She did not give me much of a window to come back into the match. It was tough."

Besides Justine's ruthless and efficient play, there was also the handicap of being in a Grand Slam final, with all the pomp and pageantry, for the first time. Only a few, notably Boris Beckerof Germany had handled the occassion spectacularly. "The difference" Ivanovic now ranked three ahead of compatriot Jelena jankovic admitted, "was experience. She's been there before and won many Grand Slams, so she knew how to deal with the nerves. For me it was the first time and I was a little bit overexcited. I felt really good the whole tournament though, and I guess I can use the experince next time I'll be in the same situation."

Still it's been a long way to come from playing in an evacuated swimming pool to the centre stage - the women's final of the red clay courts of Roland Garros. Ivanovic ought to be proud of her contribution to having the young and small Serbian State count now as one of the great tennis nations of the world with three other players from Serbia reaching the semifinals or better.The Serbian will rise to number 6, three spots behind her compatriot Jelena Jankovic. She would have checked in at number four if she had won the title.

But the day belonged to Justine Henin, who found "love" on the court following her recent divorce from Mr Hardenne as several fans screamed " I love you" each time she unleashed one of those ferocious winners. Despite the bogey of not yet winning the greatest title of them all, Wimbledon, Justine can begin to count herself as one of the all-time greats of tennis.

Godwin Kienka in Paris