Australian Open<\/a> final defeat, until one heckle changed the match in an instant.<\/p>\nAustralian Open heckler shouted at Serena Williams \u2018You\u2019re not as good as they say\u2019<\/p>\n
During the first episode of the \u2018Stockton Street\u2019 podcast, Williams shared what happened during the 2010 Australian Open final.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always had a chip on my shoulder, since I was born, probably like some form of a Dorito! I always felt like I needed to prove something. When everyone was saying, There\u2019s never been two champions [from the same family], I took it as a personal mission. I was like, I\u2019m going to do this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember in Australia, I was playing in the final, and I had a bone bruise in both knees. I think I won the first set, think I was losing the second set, and quite frankly, I was done, I was spent, I didn\u2019t have it in me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen this guy in the crowd was like, \u2018You see, you\u2019re not as good as they say, I knew it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williams proceeded to use that criticism as motivation, turning the match on its head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI looked at that guy, and thought, that\u2019s what I needed, tell me no and I\u2019ll show you that I can, I didn\u2019t lose another game,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
![\"Serena](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-96202561-1024x669.jpg\")
Photo credit should read TORSTEN BLACKWOOD\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he hadn\u2019t said that, the person that he was rooting for [Henin] would have won.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never could find that guy. I wonder who he was. I wanted to thank him. Where are you?<\/p>\n
\u201cI almost needed negativity to be better. Don\u2019t give me positivity, I need negative.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williams believes Henin would\u2019ve won the title had the heckler not intervened, but did the Belgian ever get her hands on another Grand Slam?<\/p>\n
Justine Henin\u2019s Grand Slam record after the 2010 Australian Open final<\/p>\n
Coming out of retirement to reach the final of the Australian Open was a remarkable achievement, although Henin still wanted more.<\/p>\n
Looking to add to her tally of seven Grand Slams, she competed in three more major tournaments, but failed to make it past the fourth round.<\/p>\n
2010 French Open 1R [WIN] vs Tsvetana Pironkova2010 French Open 2R [WIN] vs Klara Zakopalova2010 French Open 3R [WIN] vs Maria Sharapova2010 French Open 4R [LOSS] vs Sam Stosur2010 Wimbledon 1R [WIN] vs Anastasija Sevastova2010 Wimbledon 2R [WIN] vs Kristina Barrois2010 Wimbledon 3R [WIN] vs Nadia Petrova2010 Wimbledon 4R [LOSS] vs Kim Clijsters2011 Australian Open 1R [WIN] vs Sania Mirza2011 Australian Open 2R [WIN] vs Elena Baltacha2011 Australian Open 3R [LOSS] vs Svetlana Kuznetsova<\/p>\n
Henin played her final Grand Slam match in the third round of the 2011 Australian Open, where she fell in straight sets to Russia\u2019s Svetlana Kuznetsova.<\/p>\n
She retired for a second time shortly after, having failed to recover from an elbow injury she sustained a year earlier.<\/p>\n
The Belgian tennis legend did so as a seven-time Grand Slam champion, a tally that sees her tied for eighth in the all-time list.<\/p>\n
RankNameGrand Slam titlesYears won1Serena Williams231999-20172Steffi Graf221987-1999T-3Chris Evert181974-1986T-3Martina Navratilova181978-19905Margaret Court111960-19736Monica Seles91990-19967Billie Jean King81969-1975T-8Evonne Goolagong Cawley71971-1980T-8Venus Williams72000-2008T-8Justine Henin72003-2007Most Grand Slam women\u2019s singles titles (Open Era)<\/p>\n
In a moment that can only be produced by this wonderful sport, one singular heckle from a fan in Melbourne may have cost Henin a chance to move level with American legend Billie Jean King<\/a> on eight Grand Slams.<\/p>\nWilliams wants to thank the heckler, but it would be interesting to hear what Henin thinks about the incident\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Serena Williams was excellent throughout the 2010 Australian Open and didn\u2019t want to go home without the trophy.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[12083,6542,99,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-164181","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-australian-open","9":"tag-serena-williams","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Justine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-96227017-1024x722.jpg\")
Photo by Ryan Pierse\/Getty Images<\/p>\n