A sporting chance

Since our subscription to the World Cup channel on cable TV hasn't been activated yet, we watched the French Open and saw Justine Henin-Hardenne beat Svetlana Kuznetsova in a nervy final.

I've generally supported Henin when it comes to women's tennis. However, her hunger to win has proven on a few occasions that she's willing to keep quiet when the umpire mistakenly calls her opponent's shot out.

This time round it was Kuznetsova, who (despite being down a set) honestly conceded a point by correcting the umpire, who had pointed to the wrong spot on the clay. This provoked sounds of outrage from the audience, as the umpire was quite a bit off his mark, and prompted more support for Kuznetsova, for being so sporting.

The commentators noted as well that Kuznetsova is known to be an honest player, whereas Henin never gives her opponents any points (even if they actually deserved it). These little anecdotes usually doesn't get reported in the news, which is why I'm saying it here.

When veteran ladies' champ Martina Navratilova arrived to award Henin the trophy, I wasn't surprised if she had hoped that her doubles partner Kuznetsova would win instead. In terms of ability, Henin was slightly better, but in terms of heart I think Kuznetsova won it with the audience.

Technorati Tags: tennis, French Open, 2006, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Svetlana Kuznetsova, sportsmanship