MELBOURNE, Australia — Serena Williams loves a good underdog story and understood that most of the crowd was behind Justine Henin.
All that sentiment was put aside once she heard an insult from the stands, a crack that went right to the heart of all athletes.
Williams surged to a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory in the Australian Open women’s final Saturday, closing this chapter on Henin’s remarkable comeback from retirement.
“I think everyone was for Justine tonight,” Williams said afterward.
“But you know what really helped me out? This one guy was like, ‘You can beat her, Justine. She’s not that good.’
“I looked at that guy and I was like, ‘You don’t know me,’ ” Williams added, wagging her finger. “I think I won all the games after that because that’s totally rude.”
Williams plopped on her back at Rod Laver Arena after capturing her fifth Australian Open title, breaking her sequence of victories in this major in each odd-numbered year since 2003. It also gave her more Australian championships than any other woman in the Open era and allowed her to match Billie Jean King’s career total of 12 majors in singles.
Henin, in her first Grand Slam and only second tournament since she quit suddenly in May 2008, had gone on a stunning run to win 20 of 22 points to even the final at one set apiece and take a lead in the third.
Henin, unranked, fell one win short of emulating fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters’ amazing Grand Slam comeback at the U.S. Open last September. Clijsters beat Williams in the semifinals before taking the title at Flushing Meadows in only her third tournament back from two years in retirement.
“It’s been a very emotional two weeks for me,” said Henin, a 27-year-old, seven-time Grand Slam singles champion. “I thought it would never happen again. It’s been almost perfect. Just the last step, I couldn’t make it.”
Serena has now won three majors in 12 months, including Wimbledon and the Australian Open in 2009. Her conversion rate in Grand Slam finals now is 12 of 15, second only to Margaret Court.
