AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 23, 2003

Justine Henin

MODERATOR: Questions for Justine.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: For sure, I wasn't fresh like I could be if I didn't have this match. But, I mean, that's not the reason. I think that Venus played much more aggressive than me. She returned well, she served good. You know, she came more often than me to the net. She was really aggressive. So nothing to say.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: It's hard to say. I mean, you know, she just came on the court to win the match, and she played a good - very good - match, especially on the return, because she didn't give me a lot of points, she didn't do a lot of mistakes on the return. I didn't put enough pressure on her. But she played a good match, yeah.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: It's always the same question. I will answer that it's tough, that it's going to be hard. But, okay, we just have to go on the court and try to do our best and try to win the matches. But they are No. 1, No. 2 because they won a lot and they're very strong.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Yeah, I have to play more aggressive against these kind of player, but it's hard when they're playing like this way. I know what I have to do, but it's not always easy against, I mean, these strong players. So I have to keep continue. I did great tournament, and I was again the semifinal. So I think it's important. I still have to work like this.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I don't know. I have no idea. I mean, okay, Venus is again in the final of a Grand Slam, so it means that she's playing well. I don't have the answer if it's going to change or no. We will see in the future if they're going to lose more matches and if we can change the situation. But it's a big deal.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: No, it's all right. It's just my shoulder was hurting at the end of the match. It started to be hard for me to serve, and generally tired. Now the tournament is over and I need good rest, for sure.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I go back home and I will take two weeks without tournament, so it's going to help.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Yeah, because I started the year much better than I did last year. I was in the semis in Sydney, in the semis here, and I played a good tennis. It's just that today there was a better player than me in front of me.