New Tests for Champions

Not long after Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium hit a service winner on match point and Roger Federer of Switzerland dropped to his knees in victory at the Australian Open, the spin cycle was whirring, putting their accomplishments into context and looking ahead to new possibilities.

For Federer, the mammoth challenge -- one he called “very difficult” in his understated way -- could be the pursuit of a calendar Grand Slam. Commentator John McEnroe said that if any player can do it these days, it is Federer because of his complete game.

A simpler assignment, relatively speaking, would be winning a French Open title.

The last male player to open the year with the Australian Open/French Open singles titles was Jim Courier in 1992.

For Henin-Hardenne, the next assignment may be twofold.

She has the chance to complete a career Slam at Wimbledon, the only missing major from her portfolio. Henin-Hardenne won the French Open and U.S. Open last year and added the Australian Open on Saturday, defeating Kim Clijsters in all three finals. The more immediate task for Henin-Hardenne is to shorten her name -- erasing that attached asterisk. There is an underlying sentiment that she has been the Gap Champion, filling the void left by the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena.

And legend Martina Navratilova put the weight of her opinion behind that contention. Venus returned to competition in Melbourne, losing in the third round, but Serena hasn’t played since winning Wimbledon.

“The game needs them,” Navratilova said. “If you lose two of the biggest stars of the game, the game suffers. As great as Justine Henin has been playing, there’s an asterisk because really Serena lost the No. 1 ranking by not being around, not by losing it to someone. So you want her to come back and contend for it. That’s where the strength of the game is, in all the stars playing at the same time.”

The lack of depth on the women’s side prompted comparisons to the men’s field. At least three men’s matches arguably could have been Slam finals -- Marat Safin vs. Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals, Safin vs. Andre Agassi in the semifinals and Lleyton Hewitt vs. Federer in the fourth round.

Safin, who beat now-retired Pete Sampras here in Sampras’ final match in Australia in 2002, was asked to compare Federer with Sampras, stroke by stroke.

“I don’t want to take anything from Pete,” Safin said. “Mentally, he was the strongest player on the tour. He has the biggest serve in the world. He has an unbelievable forehand and very good hands in the volley. But sometimes he was missing a little bit the backhand.

“Roger, he has everything and a backhand. Probably he doesn’t have enough volley like Pete Sampras. But he is really good.”

Just don’t ask Federer to pump his own cause.

“Yeah, I’m maybe the most natural ball-striker, I don’t know,” said Federer, who lost only two sets in seven matches. “I’m not going to start praising myself. But just for me, my game feels natural. I feel like I’m living the game when I’m out there. I feel when a guy is going to hit the ball, I know exactly the angles and the spins. I just feel that I’ve got that figured out. And that is just a huge advantage.

“Also, when it gets important, I feel like I can raise my game.”