[Nicolás89]

YEC 2006. Close the thread.

[hablo]

I hate to say this. But there is no contest here. Peak Juju takes out Peak Sharpie. It kills me to say this.

Too much skills and better tactics from

[Brad[le]y.]

Originally Posted by Vincey!

Juju would win easily on clay, grass would go to Sharapova. On hard court I give the edge to Sharapova too, because Justine was pretty much playing at her best at the USO 06 and Maria beat her in straight sets playing unbelievably well.

This is very debatable

This match theoretically happened at the 2007 YEC final, with Justine scrapping by in three. Anyways, Martha would win on grass but I think Juju takes everywhere else.

[hablo]

Originally Posted by Vincey!

Juju would win easily on clay, grass would go to Sharapova. On hard court I give the edge to Sharapova too, because Justine was pretty much playing at her best at the USO 06 and Maria beat her in straight sets playing unbelievably well.

Why would grass go to Sharpie? Juju can volley and slice and force Sharpie to volley.

And I don't think Juju was playing her best at that USO 06. Anyway, I will let the fans defend her. Ugh.

[Vincey!]

Originally Posted by Brad[le]y.

This is very debatable

This match theoretically happened at the 2007 YEC final, with Justine scrapping by in three. Anyways, Martha would win on grass but I think Juju takes everywhere else.

Sharapova wasn't at her best in YEC 07, she was just coming back from a terrible fall due to her shoulder injury. She was getting back there but she wasn't nearly as good as she was at the AO 2008 where she crushed Justine! Even tho Justine didn't play bad, I feel that her game was there but her heart wasn't therefore I wouldn't consider that match Justine's peak. Where Justine played really well throughout the USO 06. one bad match to Jankovic and that's all.

Originally Posted by hablo

Why would grass go to Sharpie? Juju can volley and slice and force Sharpie to volley.

We're talking about Peak Sharapova on Grass here, she doesn't bring that game all the time. Teenager Peak Sharapova beat the like of Serena and Davenport so clearly her game would take out justine on grass fairly easily at her peak. Henin had everything against her even more on grass. She had a 1 handed backhand which is hard to time on grass due to the bad bounces and the quickness of the court, she was short making it tough to stretch to reach balls and Maria was much more powerful than Justine on serve and on her groundies. The only advantage Justine had was at the net as you said, but she needed to be able to get there, which I don't think is that easy against a Sharapova who hits hard and deep on every balls and going for the lines. Anyway Justine wasn't going at the net that often.

We may disagree about that HC peak, it is really debatable depending which matches you consider them at their peak, but when we're talking about Grass, Sharapova has a clear advantage in my opinion. Not only due to her past success comparing to Henin but also due to the base of their game.

[n1_and_uh_noone]

Originally Posted by Matías.

YEC 2006. Close the thread.

Pretty much . WE had die-hard Sugartards post video after video of Sugar at YEC 2006, declaring it her absolute peak, because her shoulder gave out a month later.

(Unless it happened in the semifinal when she played not-quite-peakTine ? Sugartards, anyone?)

[Leo St]

justine henin is a much better grass courter than maria sharapova.

[FakeMashabator]

Originally Posted by hablo

Why would grass go to Sharpie? Juju can volley and slice and force Sharpie to volley.

And I don't think Juju was playing her best at that USO 06. Anyway, I will let the fans defend her. Ugh.

USO 06 instantly reminds me of bagelie That double bagel in the SF

[Brad[le]y.]

Originally Posted by sickfalsetto

USO 06 instantly reminds me of bagelie That double bagel in the SF

Poor Amelie

She also got bageled in the 4th round against Serena

[forehand27]

Originally Posted by Vincey!

Sharapova wasn't at her best in YEC 07, she was just coming back from a terrible fall due to her shoulder injury. She was getting back there but she wasn't nearly as good as she was at the AO 2008 where she crushed Justine! Even tho Justine didn't play bad, I feel that her game was there but her heart wasn't therefore I wouldn't consider that match Justine's peak. Where Justine played really well throughout the USO 06. one bad match to Jankovic and that's all.

Maria at the 2007 YEC absolutely crushed everyone until the final vs Justine, mauled many of them. One 3 setter with Kuznetsova, but she won handily in the 2 victorious sets and doubled Kuznetsova in winners that day. A field with only top players. She wouldnt be capable of this with anything less than "peak" form, especialy as she is very rarely able to do something like that for a whole tournament. Yeah fine to say the 2008 Australian Open was even better, but beyond any doubt the 2007 YEC is probably one of the 5 best tournaments of Maria's career (while it was also a good tournament for Henin it probably wouldnt even be one of the top 15 tournaments of hers). No doubt this is the closest thing we ever saw of peak Maria vs peak Justine, that or the 2006 YEC, if not absolutely there, closer to it than anything else.

As for the 2006 U.S Open that is by far the worst of the 5 major events Henin played that year. The fact she would have lost 6-4, 6-2 to Jelena freaking Jankovic who is her pigeon, and who she has never lost to, in the semis, tells you all you need to know. It is true she looked pretty good until her quarterfinal with Davenport but she seemed to incur an injury of some kind in that match, and her serve went to crap and was Dementieva like her last 2 and half matches, and with a serve that bad you cant win vs someone like an in form Maria. Henin actually played much better in her 2008 Australian Open defeat to Maria than the 2006 U.S Open one, and Maria in fact managed to win that one even more easily (probably the match of Maria's career tbh) so if you want to pump up Maria you are best to speak about their Australian Open match as the best showcase of Maria's abilities vs a somewhat good Henin. The idea Henin was playing great in the 06 US Open final or in general at that event is simply ludricious. She was even playing better tennis at the 2001, 2002, maybe 2004, and maybe even 2000 events where she went out in the round of 16 each time than in 2006 where she finaled with an easy draw consisting of a bunch of clowns, granny now non contender Davenport who is an easy matchup and prime Henin's pigeon anwyay, and another pigeon and headcase and new to being a contender Jankovic.

[FakeMashabator]

Originally Posted by Brad[le]y.

Poor Amelie

She also got bageled in the 4th round against Serena

Hence the name Bagelie

[bandabou]

Originally Posted by dsanders06

Anyway, this is one match-up that DOESN'T favour Maria. Unlike Peak Venus, Peak Justine actually does have superb defensive abilities that would bring back all of Maria's best shots back into play and disrupt her rhythm. And, while Peak Maria's offensive game is streets ahead of Peak Justine's, Peaktine is certainly capable of playing good enough offense to take advantage the second Maria gives her an opening, which you have to do against Peak Maria if you're employing a primarily counterpunching strategy.

Don't agree with any of the poll options; imo, the only surface Peak Maria beats Peaktine on is slow hardcourts. Even though Maria is more accomplished than Justine on grass, I feel the dynamics of the match-up favour Justine on that surface -- just her slice and netplay is enough to expose how vulnerable Maria is to low-bouncing balls on grass (see the Wimbledon '06 match against Mauresmo).

Douchesanders totally exposed as a joke.
So peak Venus barely gets any wins against Masha, but peak Juju beats Masha on EVERY surface?!

[dsanders06]

Originally Posted by bandabou

Douchesanders totally exposed as a joke.
So peak Venus barely gets any wins against Masha, but peak Juju beats Masha on EVERY surface?!

Two strawmen, again
Please learn to READ.

[doomsday]

Originally Posted by n1_and_uh_noone

Pretty much . WE had die-hard Sugartards post video after video of Sugar at YEC 2006, declaring it her absolute peak, because her shoulder gave out a month later.

(Unless it happened in the semifinal when she played not-quite-peakTine ? Sugartards, anyone?)

Yeah it was me but she gave Henin a tougher match in YEC 2007 and Henin was playing a lot better in YEC 2007 than 06 and even the whole year.
You must be in denial if you think otherwise.

My vote goes to Henin but she would win in three sets.

It's unbelievable the number of threads Bandabou opened concerning Peak Maria btw leave our fave ALONE

Sent from my iPhone using Verticalsports.com Free App

[Vincey!]

Originally Posted by forehand27

Maria at the 2007 YEC absolutely crushed everyone until the final vs Justine, mauled many of them. One 3 setter with Kuznetsova, but she won handily in the 2 victorious sets and doubled Kuznetsova in winners that day. A field with only top players. She wouldnt be capable of this with anything less than "peak" form, especialy as she is very rarely able to do something like that for a whole tournament. Yeah fine to say the 2008 Australian Open was even better, but beyond any doubt the 2007 YEC is probably one of the 5 best tournaments of Maria's career (while it was also a good tournament for Henin it probably wouldnt even be one of the top 15 tournaments of hers). No doubt this is the closest thing we ever saw of peak Maria vs peak Justine, that or the 2006 YEC, if not absolutely there, closer to it than anything else.

As for the 2006 U.S Open that is by far the worst of the 5 major events Henin played that year. The fact she would have lost 6-4, 6-2 to Jelena freaking Jankovic who is her pigeon, and who she has never lost to, in the semis, tells you all you need to know. It is true she looked pretty good until her quarterfinal with Davenport but she seemed to incur an injury of some kind in that match, and her serve went to crap and was Dementieva like her last 2 and half matches, and with a serve that bad you cant win vs someone like an in form Maria. Henin actually played much better in her 2008 Australian Open defeat to Maria than the 2006 U.S Open one, and Maria in fact managed to win that one even more easily (probably the match of Maria's career tbh) so if you want to pump up Maria you are best to speak about their Australian Open match as the best showcase of Maria's abilities vs a somewhat good Henin. The idea Henin was playing great in the 06 US Open final or in general at that event is simply ludricious. She was even playing better tennis at the 2001, 2002, maybe 2004, and maybe even 2000 events where she went out in the round of 16 each time than in 2006 where she finaled with an easy draw consisting of a bunch of clowns, granny now non contender Davenport who is an easy matchup and prime Henin's pigeon anwyay, and another pigeon and headcase and new to being a contender Jankovic.

Well thanks for pointing out that Maria was therefore better than Henin on HC at their peak.
If you consider Henin's best form in early 2000 than I'm sorry but you haven't watch the same player. She was much more powerful on her serve and on ehr groundies from 2004 and on untill 2008 which helped her dominating the tour for a while. Somethign she wouldn't have done before and not because the player she was facing were "tougher" according to you.