The first question posed to Justine Henin had nothing to do with her historic success at the US Open – no one had before beaten both Williams sisters in a grand-slam tournament and survived to lift the trophy – or whether she had a view on the prospect of Belgium dividing into two nations, with 43 per cent of the Flemish-speaking north supporting secession from the south. It was simply: “Justine, can you win Wimbledon?”

It was hardly what she would have expected – no more than Roger Federer first having to deal with an inane inquiry about his trust in the HawkEye line-calling technology after his fifth successive title at the All England Club in July. It seems that no one can be allowed to luxuriate a little in their moment of glory before someone tugs their attention elsewhere.

True, of Henin’s seven grand-slam event titles, the only piece missing is on grass, where she finds the adjustment from so many hours spent delivering the goods on clay so burdensome. The last player to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon back-to-back was Serena Williams five years ago, so she is not alone. But Henin can only think about Wimbledon when Wimbledon comes around – in the meantime, an year that began with personal upheaval has ended, in major championship terms, with complete and utter professional fulfilment.

No one knew quite in what shape Henin would return to the tour after the sadness of her divorce from Pierre-Yves (the on-court announcer slipped her married name into the congratulations here and had to correct himself). In her first event, the Open de Gaz at the Stade Pierre de Couber-tin in Paris, she lost in the semi-finals to Lucie Safarova, of the Czech Republic. Of ten subsequent tournaments, only twice did she fail to reach the final, in Berlin on clay, where she lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova, the Russian over whom she had a sweet revenge in the final here, winning 6-1, 6-3, and at Wimbledon, to Marion Bartoli, of France, one of those baffling quirks that happen from time to time. Otherwise, it has been a spectacular year.

And they fly by so quickly. Is it really four summers ago that Henin celebrated her second grand-slam title – and her first in New York – beating Kim Clijsters when Belgium ruled the tennis waves?

“I am a better player now, that’s for sure,” she said. “I have that much more experience, I am more mature. My muscles feel older a little bit, but I know I still have good legs. A lot of things happened in my life and I just take it as great experiences, and I have no regrets about anything. I just want to move forward.

“I want to enjoy every moment of my career because I know it’s not going to be that long any more. I don’t say one or two years [before she stops playing], but it’s not going to be for ten years, so I have to enjoy every moment of it.”

Clijsters has gone off to start a family, free of the burdens of what, for her, was fun, first and foremost. Henin has always looked frail, but – as anyone having to deal with her remarkable game will tell you – appearances are deceptive. She moves so well, generates such momentous racket-head speed, her serve has developed and, most importantly, she has a will that nothing would shake this fortnight. “I’m really proud that, not being that tall, I can compete and be the best player in the world like that,” Henin said. “Not a lot of people really thought I could do it, but Carlos [Rodrigues, her Argentine coach for 11 years] has been the only one that told me every day – you can be the No 1 player in the world. Not many thought I could win this Open with the draw I had and I did it. It’s amazing for me.”

Wimbledon? That will happen one day.