Google News
Former World No. 1 Justine Henin, of Belgium, spoke about the latest injury setback for Roger Federer and the hopes for Belgian's No. 1 player David Goffin, in an interview to the Sporza website.
Justine Henin says Roger Federer has surprised them many times before in the past
The seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, Henin, spoke about Roger Federer's withdrawal from the rest of the 2020 season.
"Of course it is not a good sign that he now has to recover for a long time after that operation on his knee. He is also of a certain age. But it has been predicted a few times that it is over for him and yet he surprises us.
But if he is still motivated and he wants to pull out all the stops next year, that is possible. Or if he just wants to continue playing tennis for fun, until he gets too much trouble, that is also possible." Henin also said that what the Belgian No.
1 on the men's side David Goffin has achieved is exceptional and he can certainly go higher. "What he has already achieved is exceptional. And his career is certainly not over yet. Is there anything missing to take that step higher? Probably yes.
But I don't know him well enough to really give details about it. Kim and I have set the bar high with grand slam victories, but the fact that a Belgian man is in the top 10 is quite an achievement. He has already beat the best tennis players.
In general, I think there will come a time in a tennis career when you think: this is a good level for me. I train to keep it up. Or do you think I want more. I don't know how Goffin is. He still has the potential to show very beautiful things, but it will depend on his enthusiasm and motivation." 38 year old Justine Henin won seven Grand Slam singles titles in her career, including the French Open in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007, the US Open in 2003 and 2007 and the Australian Open in 2004.
She also won a gold medal in the women's singles at the 2004 Olympic Games and won the year-ending WTA Tour Championships in 2006 and 2007. In total, she won 43 WTA singles titles. Roger Federer has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles in his career and announced earlier this week that he would be withdrawing from the 2020 season and will be back in 2021 afetr undergoing another procedure on his knee.