Once again, Belgium is the centre of the women's tennis universe, as, just a week or so after 'Tennis Mama' Kim Clijsters won the US Open title, Justine Henin could today announce that she is also to have a 'second career' on the professional tour.
But it would be wrong to simply lump the Belgians' stories together just because they have the same passports, because they are both former world No 1s, and just because this is happening all at once, as there are some significant differences between Clijsters' 'unretirement' and the mooted Second Coming of Juju.
For one thing, Henin wouldn't be another working mother of the sport; unlike Clijsters, she hasn't been on the journey from maternity dress to tennis skirt.
And, if the speculation in Belgium is accurate and Henin says tonight on Belgian television that she is joining the list of the women's tour's 'unretired' - as Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport and others have asked before her, why have just one tennis career when you can have two? - she is unlikely to begin by suggesting that she is doing so simply because she was encouraged by watching Clijsters win the New York slam at only her third tournament back. Even before Clijsters was celebrating on the Arthur Ashe Stadium with her daughter Jada and her husband Brian Lynch, there had been rumours that Henin was thinking about coming back, with stories in Belgium that she had ordered a batch of 14 tennis rackets. Still, Clijsters' success in America indicated that it is entirely possible that Henin could end up winning the next slam, January's Australian Open.
After all, Henin was always a more successful player than Clijsters. Though she is only 5ft 5in tall, she doesn't have Clijsters' athletic build, and, unlike Clijsters, she doesn't tend to do the splits on court, Henin always did have a backhand that was both devastatingly attractive and devastatingly effective. That backhand was the shot that brought Henin seven slam titles to Clijsters' two.
At 27, Henin is a year older than Clijsters. Belgium and Florida's Palm Beach Gardens (home to the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus) are once again the parts of the globe that matter in the women's game.
Some 16 months ago, Henin announced her retirement with immediate effect, becoming the first player, male or female, to quit while in possession of the No 1 ranking. Henin's coach, Carlos Rodriguez, disclosed that his player had 'lost the fire that drove her to success'.
Shockingly, the world's best female tennis player had simply had enough of playing tennis. In May this year, Henin was still saying that the chances of her returning to the sport were between zero and none. But in recent weeks something appears to have changed. She has been ordering in more rackets, and she has been training with greater intensity. Then last month Rodriguez's wife, who clearly doesn't have a future career with the Belgian security services, was quoted as telling a newspaper: "Something is in the offing, but I'm not allowed to talk about it."
Surely there was more to this than Henin preparing for some exhibitions in Dubai and Belgium towards the end of the year? Has Henin, a sky-diver, realised that she would get more of a thrill out of winning slams again than jumping out of planes? How about trying to complete her slam collection? She already has four replicas of the French Open's Coupe Suzanne Lenglen, two US Open titles, and an Australian Open trophy, but lacks Wimbledon's Venus Rosewater Dish.
What are the differences between Clijsters and Henin's stories? Henin hasn't been out for as long as Clijsters, who didn't compete for a couple of years.
Henin hasn't given birth. If Henin returned to tennis, it would not have the same emotional impact as Clijsters' return. Clijsters has always been the more engaging of the two Belgians; while Henin was winning slams, Clijsters was winning the unofficial popularity contests.
Casual tennis watchers enjoyed the tale of someone winning a grand slam title in between caring for her child; would they be so interested in Henin's return? During her 'first career', Henin was a serial grand slam champion, but she was never a tennis superstar. Clijsters comes from the Flemish part of Belgium, Henin from the French-speaking part.
You have to wonder what Clijsters would make of Henin returning to the tour. On the home page of the women's tour website, they were today asking how many more slam titles Clijsters will win. None? One to two? Three to five? More than five? Perhaps it is just as well that Clijsters has already won a slam during her 'second career'. On the three occasions that the Belgians have met in the final of a grand slam, at the 2003 French Open, at the 2003 US Open and at the 2004 Australian Open, it was Henin who ended up with the trophy.
The women's tour said that were 'aware of the media reports regarding Henin's comeback to professional tennis'. "At this time," a spokeswoman said, "we are unable to confirm such reports."
Little Belgium is taking centre stage again.
- Daily Telegraph