It's up to you, Henin

It is up to you, he choruses, and maybe Justine Henin should consider his words when she plans her next attempt to win Wimbledon, the one Grand Slam that continues to elude her.

For, if the quiet lady from Belgium can win twice in the frenetic Flushing Meadows environment that makes her feel uncomfortable, she can surely win at the All England Club.

That is the resolve she should take away from her second U.S. Open triumph, achieved in comfort when she overcame Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-3.

The hard work had been done in the previous two rounds by beating the Williams sisters one after the other. While the final fell desperately flat, let it be said that this title was properly-earned and in not dropping a set all fortnight it was a superb effort.

Even more so when one considers the dreadful collapse she suffered in her previous Grand Slam at Wimbledon, when she subsided so badly in the semi-finals.

Although there are constant reminders of Henin's fragile nerve — such as the slightly eerie way she always looks at her coach Carlos Rodrigues between points, as if craving his approval — she managed to hold on when it mattered.

There has not, clearly, been any long-term damage done by her defeat to Marion Bartoli on the Centre Court in early July and it now appears fatigue contributed heavily to the loss.

She had been playing five weeks out of six, which was evidently a lot for her mind and body to cope with.

What should not be any trouble is the grass at Wimbledon, which now plays so similarly to the kind of fast hard court used for the U.S. Open.

Henin said: "Wimbledon has been disappointing for me but when I lost to Marion I could accept that I lost against a better player that day. I was pretty tired emotionally and physically.

"It's not easy to push yourself all the time and be at your best level. Sometimes you have to accept that you have downs. I could take a lesson from that, a lot of humility also.

"Am I going to win Wimbledon one day? I have no answer. I'm in a little more trouble on grass than hard court. I'm the kind of girl who needs rhythm to play good tennis and I don't get it as much on grass, but I keep thinking I can do it."

It sounds rather reminiscent of the numerous great champions who have won everywhere except on the clay of Roland Garros.

Like Roger Federer, who was tackling third seed Novak Djokovic in the men's final.

By winning two Grand Slams this year (the Williams have split the other two) Henin has proved herself the season's outstanding player and cemented her place as the world's No 1.

It has been interesting that in the year that the French Open and Wimbledon caved in to demands for equal prize money all four women's Grand Slam finals have been utterly lousy.

All have been totally onesided straight set matches with on average the beaten player managing fewer than four games. The atmosphere was non-existent and those like Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, who spent so long campaigning for parity, must have been cringeing again inside as they looked on.

On the other hand, the women have provided seven different finalists — Saturday's pair, Venus and Serena Williams, Ana Ivanovic, Bartoli and Maria Sharapova — which is a good thing and illustrates some depth.

It must be pointed out, however, that it is also contributed to by the fact that the Williams sisters still refuse to play a sufficient number of tournaments.

Their failure to do that gives them a falsely low ranking and thereby leads to them meeting top players earlier than they should or, as was the case in this tournament, having a completely unbalanced draw by having them all in one half.

There are signs that both are coming round to the acceptance that the competition is strong enough for them to have to commit to playing more tournaments.

Serena seems the harder one to convince, as she declined to play anything at all between Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows.

With Maria Sharapova making a disappointing third round exit, Amelie Mauresmo ailing and the two Serbs, Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic still short of a major breakthrough, the level of the sisters' commitment may well determine how long Henin remains at the top.