US OPEN

August 30, 2005

Justine Henin

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Justine.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I think so. I had a lot of trouble in my last Grand Slams in my first rounds. It's pretty usual for me to struggle a lot in the first rounds. So happy to win in two sets pretty easily with good, solid game. It's very hard to give conditions after one match. It's just you're happy to start that way and then you have to stay concentrated on the next match.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I think every time I walk on the court, it's to win the match. I remain very focused on every match. Now my next goal is going to be my second round. I don't want to think too much. I know my level right now, it's pretty good. I need matches. I need to play a lot. But I'm almost healthy hundred percent. That's what's most important. We'll see what's going to happen. I try not thinking too much about the issues, what's going to happen here in this US Open. I just want to stay concentrated on my goals on the court.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Yeah, I'm sure I can do that because in a Grand Slam it's much more easier because you have -- you play -- you don't play every day, so it's much better. In Toronto I had to play five days in a row, which is not easy. But I think that in a Grand Slam -- I did it at the French. I don't see any reason why I shouldn't do it here. In Wimbledon, it's been different situation. I came from very long clay court season. I needed some rest. But here the situation is pretty different. I feel fresh. But we'll see on the court. We'll see if I can give the answer on the court.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I've been very strong in the last two years on hard court. I won the US Open here two years ago. I won the Olympics last year on the same surface. I think that three or four years ago I wasn't a good player on hard court. But now I'm not afraid any more of the power of the other players on hard court. I'm not too far from my best level. I still have lots of things to improve, probably my percentage of my (half?) serve should improve that's for sure if I want to go to the end of the tournament. But I don't want to think about that too much right now. We'll see in the next round.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: You have to accept the situation. Right now there's a lot of concurrence, and the pressure is on everyone. You know, we have to deal for the pressure every day. But when I arrived at the French Open, I was clearly the favorite. Here it's probably different. I'm not thinking too much about that. I'm trying to do my job the best as I can. Everything we can say right now doesn't matter. We'll see in 10 days, the best player will win, for sure.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: It is very difficult. I've never been in the position a hundred percent to defend my Grand Slam titles in the past, because at the French last year and then at the US Open I wasn't hundred percent. I wasn't healthy. And then at the Australian Open, I couldn't play. So it's very hard for me to explain that. I wasn't really surprised that Svetlana lost yesterday. Maybe now she's going to start to feel better because it's a lot of pressure. You have to deal with it. When you're very young, when you don't have the experience or maturity, you know, we're still very young, we have a lot of things to learn. When I see Andre Agassi, he's 35, he has so much experience, so he has the best attitude on the court. I mean, it's pretty normal. It's his 20th US Open, so that's normal.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Both of that. I think the hardest part is the pressure from the outside. It's always been very difficult for all the players. Some of the players are dealing better with that than others. It depends of the personality. It's pretty emotional because you know that everybody's waiting for you. I felt that when I became No. 1 at the end of 2003 and went to the Australian Open first seed, first time in my career, so I could handle it and I was very happy, but it took me a lot of energy. When you win, it's normal. When you lose, it's not normal.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Yeah, it's very different from the last three. It's a different kind of atmosphere. A lot of noise in the stadium. New York is a crazy city, but I like that for two weeks. I think it's very different. I think all the players start to get tired also. It's almost the end of the season and it's the last Grand Slam. But I hope that we going to see good tennis in the next few days.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Oh, you have to accept that these stops are coming because it's pretty normal when you're not playing, when you don't know what's going to happen, when you know what you did in the past, you don't know if you're going to be able to do this one more time. It's tough. You don't have to fight against that, and I tried to at the beginning. Then I understood that you need to take your time. You need to be patient. One day it will turn away, I hope, and it did. When I won at the French, it was very emotional this year because I didn't think a few months ago I could do it one more time in my career. That took me a lot of energy emotionally.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I hope that -- that's what I'm waiting for. I think in the last two years I won big majors every year. I've been very consistent. I think I proved a lot of things, and I don't have anything to prove to anyone, just to myself because I'm such a big competitor. I want to win every time I walk on the court. I know it's not possible. But I'm like this. It's my personality. I'm very proud of what I did in the last two years, coming back three times on the tour in the last few months. It's been very difficult for myself, but I did it. I will try to keep going that way.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: It's very hard to stay at the top for such a long time like other players did in the past. Now the concurrence is very high. We have a lot of things to do off court. But it's part of the job. We have to accept that. It's true that it's a lot of pressure, a lot of hard work for a couple of years. We know it's not for whole life. But it's true that I think all our bodies are getting tired sometimes. That's why I'm going to try to be smart in the next few years to get the good calendar, take enough rest, and I will try to be on the tour as long as possible because I love playing so much tennis.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: For me this year is probably going to be a little bit different because I didn't play that much. I can tell you that it is very hard for me every year in September, October. I mean, the indoor season in Europe is very difficult for myself because I think we're all very tired. We're just waiting for the end of the season. And The Championships coming at the last tournament, it's a great event, but everybody's very tired. I mean, I talk from my own experience, it's been very hard for me always at the championships because the season is very long.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Exactly. But it's also mentally. When you have to be at your best level from January to November, it is very hard. I think that it's hard for all of the players. It is physically, but probably much more mentally.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I think so.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: It's very hard. I don't have really an opinion about that. Kim is a great player. I'm sure she will have her chances in the future to win Grand Slams. The day she will do it, she will probably think a big difference because that makes a big difference.