AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 25, 2004

Justine Henin

THE MODERATOR: Justine, over to you.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Thanks, John. No, I'm happy to be in the quarters. You know, it wasn't an easy match. I had a pretty good start. I won the first set pretty easy. I was playing good tennis, a lot of intensity. Then, yeah, at 1-all in the second set, the intensity came down a little bit and she just took her chances. She was in the court. I was a little bit too far from my baseline. Then we saw what happened. I mean, she had a break until 5-4 in the second, and then I just took my chances to come back in the match. But it was a big fight in the second set. I think she played a pretty good match. For sure I'll have to raise my level a little bit more in the next round if I want to keep going in this tournament. But I didn't serve so well today. It's gonna be another point that I'll have to work on for my next match. I mean, I'm in the quarterfinal, and that's the most important thing today.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I mean, when you don't know a player at all, it's not easy. Even if I won the first set pretty easy, after that, she had anything else to lose. She was hitting a little bit on everything. So that's not easy to deal with this kind of situation. But, you know, in this tournament I played two qualifiers, and here in the fourth round, so that's not this kind of situation I'm used to it in a Grand Slam. But I came through.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I mean, it's gonna be another match, you know, another situation. It was hard last year because it was in the fourth round. It's in the quarters here. So that's not much, much better because it's gonna be a tough match anyway. But, you know, in the quarters in a Grand Slam, you play a lot of very good players. Lindsay is a great champion. I'm sure she'll have a lot of motivation to go to the semis. So it's different because I'm not the same player anymore. Since last year, you know, a lot of things happened. I say it's not easy to deal with, but I'm sure it's gonna be a good match. And, like I said, I'll have to play my best tennis if I want to keep going in this tournament. So we'll see.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: No, not at all. I mean, you know, a lot of things, like I said, have changed in the last year. But, no, I'm used to this new situation. I feel the same person. Confident for sure, more mature also. But, like I said, the fact that I'm No. 1 in the world is not easy to be in this situation because, you know, all the other players want to beat me and they give their best on the court. But when I wake up, I feel the same person. I have the person I want around me and, you know, that's the most important thing right now. My goal is going on the court, just try to do my best like I was doing last year and try to win every point.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: It's an adjustment for sure. I think it takes a little bit of time. It doesn't come in the month that you can say, "Oh, I'm used to it now," or, "I don't care about what people say and everything." So probably it takes a little bit of time. There's a lot of pressure, I agree. But there was a lot of pressure, too, last year. I've been very comfortable with that last year so I'm sure that it's gonna work again.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: You know, Lindsay is hitting the ball very hard. She's serving pretty well. She looks like she's in confidence right now. So, you know, it's always the same point: you have to put a lot of pressure on your opponent, you have to go for the winners, you have to take chances no matter who is in front of you. I know that against Lindsay, I cannot let her play, you know, let play her game. When she is on the court, she's very, very strong. I had many troubles in the past against her. I beat her only once here last year after a thriller. I don't see myself like the biggest favorite on this match because Lindsay, she has a lot of experience and she beat me most of the times. But it's gonna be a different match, and really we will see on Tuesday.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Not really, no. I'm just gonna go tomorrow and play my game during the practice and just see what I want to do, not being afraid of she's going to do. That's what I'm going to be focused on tomorrow.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: It's been a big turn, for sure, last year, because, like I said, it was really important for me to beat her once in my career. It came last year in the fourth round. I had a very bad draw, you know, playing Lindsay in the fourth round. It's not easy at all. You know, I could lose this match, too, you know. It was 9-7 in the third. I should win it in two sets, then I was down. So it was something amazing, one of the biggest matches last year. And it gave me a lot of confidence, for sure. I just believe in myself that I could beat the top players in the hard courts especially.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: It was an important game, I agree. If I was down 5-2 with two breaks, it was a difficult situation. I think she felt a little bit the pressure at this point, even if she won her game to go 5-3. But, yeah, that was a tough game. Very long rallies. Bad mistakes also. But I took it. That was important for my confidence. There were winners and mistakes, you know, a little bit of up and downs. The big point was that I didn't serve pretty good and it didn't help me to be as aggressive as I wanted to be.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: It's very hard to say, you know. It gives you a lot of confidence but it's a lot of pressure, too. You have to find the good place and it's not easy. I agree. But what I did last year gave me a lot of confidence, for sure, because I beat the top players on every surface. I won two Grand Slams. Then, finally, I became the No. 1 player in the world at The Championships. So, you know, for sure a lot of things change. But I just try to go on the court and forget about it. It's not easy.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I mean, my relationship with Carlos is as great as it was a few years ago. We work together for seven years now, and I have the feeling that he's teaching me a lot of things every day, you know, that the relationship is not over at all, because I have many things to learn from him. He knows me pretty good. I mean, almost perfectly. So he's very important person in my life because he -- I think that he was the only person who repeat me every day that I could win Grand Slams and be No. 1 player in the world. So I'm very grateful to him for that but we still have a long way to go together.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Education continues. I'm only 21, you know. I'm sure I still have a lot of things to learn. I still have some experience to get, and I'm sure that I'll have many things to learn in the future. I just want to go step by step. It's been very quick, what happened last year. But at 21, it's not easy. But I think that I'm pretty good right now.