MEDIBANK INTERNATIONAL

January 10, 2006

Justine Henin

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Yeah, pretty happy with the way I played. Conditions are very difficult. The heat is tough, and so I need some matches to get used to it. But I think today I played good tennis, pretty solid even if I lost my concentration, my aggressivity a little bit the beginning of the second set. But I'm really happy the way I'm playing.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I think the hardest point for me was the tension of the match yesterday, the different atmosphere playing Martina. I had to stay really focused and just keep like this 100 percents, and I've been very focused during my whole match. So it was difficult for me, but I could handle it, just to come back from this match yesterday to another match with different kind of conditions. So I'm very happy. It was different kind of atmosphere, different kind of court. It was warmer today than yesterday. But happy.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: No, I'm nervous before every match I play. Who says it's not nervous, I think it's not normal. You need that, you need to be a little bit nervous before your match. But yesterday was more special for sure. It was my first match of the season, and against Hingis. So that was very particular.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: The only wish I have is to stay healthy for the whole season. Every match is going to be a goal. If I keep winning, if I win matches, my ranking is going to improve. If I win tournaments, I can build something I hope stronger than in the past. Stay healthy for a couple of more years. Like I said yesterday, it's a long-term plan. So just take care of my body. That's the only thing that's going to be really my first goal this year. I think if I can stay healthy and play for the whole season, I think I can do good things this year.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Uh-hmm.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: You always try to save energy, but it doesn't depend on yourself; you have an opponent and she want to stay on the court for longer than that. You do everything you can, you try to win every point, be very focused, play point after point. And just the only goal is winning. Doesn't matter the way you win, how long is the match. If it's faster, that's better. But it's good.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Yeah, I think it's very good I could play two matches in an hour and ten minutes. That helps for the future in the tournament.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: At the beginning of the season I think you can have these kind of results. Ivanovic, she's a young player and she's improving so much. She did a great season last year, so it's probably not a big, big surprise. But it was first match for Amelie, too, and it's not easy because Ana, she played a couple of matches before coming here. So that's probably the difference right now. She's a very good player and she's still very young so we gonna have to deal with her in the next few years.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Yeah, I think it's just I need the rhythm of the competition. Even if I played well in my first two matches, I hope I'm gonna have few matches against top 10 players. That's my wish right now, and then we will see. But a Grand Slam is very different. I come from a long time off, so we'll see how I will deal next week with the heat and everything. Physically, I'm feeling well right now so that's the most important thing.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I have really no opinion about that 'cause it's the beginning of the season. It's very hard to say. You have different names that can win the Australian Open. So no comment about that (smiling).

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: No, I think there is a lot of concurrence in women's tennis right now, which is very good. I wish the time that we have all the players healthy and then we can make great events with the best players in the world. We will see what's gonna happen.