AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 27, 2004

Justine Henin

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Justine, please.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I lost many times against Lindsay, I agree. But, you know, I'm a different player right now with much more experience, with much more confidence, and I always knew that I had to come on the court and play good tennis if I wanted to win. She's a great player, great champion. And I didn't think too much about our last matches, you know, about last year or anything because I was just focused on what I had to do today in this match. You know, everything is very different right now. What I did last year gave me a lot of confidence, and it helps me in these kind of matches.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: You know, when I broke her to come to 4-1, I understood that if I kept fighting on every point, I was feeling that the match could turn at this point. And I kept my serve, you know, going to 4-2. I was feeling better and better. She started the match unbelievable. She was playing great, hitting the ball very hard, going for a lot of winners. And she was serving well. I wasn't ready for that. I was very surprised about the way she was playing at the beginning, and I needed a couple games, you know, to be in the good rhythm. When I saved the three set points, for sure, I mean, it could turn on my service game. But, no, that give me a lot of confidence to come back in this first set.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: It happened already, for sure. I mean, I don't remember right now a match like this. But I think that we had pretty good returns, and I wasn't serving that well at the beginning of the match. My percentage was very, very low. And then I had really good returns at the end of the first set. You know, I could read where she was going to serve, and that helped me to win many games on her serve. So it really was a little bit strange and special. But I think we watch a good match of tennis.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Since the beginning of the year, probably, because I had many troubles at the beginning of the tournament and here, which is normal, like I said, because it's a different situation, it's my first tournament at No. 1 player in the world, and in a Grand Slam. So it's not easy to deal with. But I knew that playing Lindsay was going to help me because I knew that I had to play a good match, a good tennis, if I wanted to go to the semis. So that was a good tennis after 4-Love down. I think I played pretty good.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: It's going to be another semifinal in a Grand Slam. I'm very happy about that. You know, it's going to be a tough match because Fabiola is a little bit like everybody's going to say the surprise here in the semis. But I can tell you that she's playing a very good tennis. She's a very talented player. And she'll have, for sure, a lot of motivation. I'm very disappointed for Amelie because she's a friend of mine, very nice person, and that's very sad what happens here. But for myself, I go on the court and be very serious because I know it's going to be another tough match, and I have to be ready for it.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I don't remember at all. I don't know. No, I don't know the last time.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I was going to say here in Australia, Hobart, but I didn't know if we played each other since that. That was in 2000, I think.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: We could see that I stayed very calm, you know, because the situation wasn't easy. I was down 4-Love. And I just said, "Okay, forget about everything else, be focused on every point." And for sure in the second set, the fact that everything I did in the past gave me a lot of experience, a lot of confidence. We could see that even at the end of the match, I wasn't that nervous like I was last year. So a lot of things happened. But I think that's not the fact that I'm No. 1 right now. I think that's all the matches I've won last year. And sometimes it's very bad situations, you know. So that's pretty good.