US OPEN

August 31, 2004

Justine Henin

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I think coming here after Athens is not easy because it's been a lot of emotions there. It was my coming back. And then a week after, it's another big, big tournament. It's one of the four most beautiful tournaments in the year. You need to stay focused and you need to go step by step, forget about what happened last week, and just try to adjust your game on the surface, the conditions, everything. The atmosphere is totally different. It's been a unique experience in Athens. A lot of people behind me. Here I have to stay more focused, find my motivation. But it's not easy to play the first round, but I came through, so that's the most important thing.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I think what happened from the French Open till Indian Wells this year, before I was sick, gave me a lot of experience, gave me a lot of maturity. You learning a lot of things. You also have to learn to take care of your body. That's very important to stay at the top for a long time. That's probably the biggest lesson I got. But I think now that I'm coming back, I'm very happy to be on the court. I'm very happy I can play my game. That's the most important thing right now. Enjoy my tennis.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I think it was really tough conditions today. I played well in the first set. I was serving pretty good. And then I started to sleep a little bit at the beginning of the second, and she started to play better. I wasn't really ready for it. When I was 4-1 down in the second, I found my game again. It's not an easy match because she has nothing to lose. In the first set, she did a lot of mistakes. It was really windy out there. So it's not easy playing the first round, but I'm happy I won it.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Well, first is playing point after point, not thinking about what can happen, not thinking about the future. I knew at this point I could go to a third set if I didn't stay calm and quiet and just play point after point. So you have to stay focused on your main goal. I was just trying to stay in the court. She was pushing me a lot. I didn't serve very good at the beginning of the second set so I knew it was the key to find my first serve again at the end of the second set, and I did. You need to use your experience at this point of the match. That's for sure.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Oh, I think this kind of player, they're all hitting the ball very hard, always not at the same rhythm. They're hitting the ball as hard as they can. I need to use my game to play against this kind of game. I think that with my slice, with all my variations and everything, I think I can opposite this kind of game. That's very important tactically.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Change their rhythm, that's for sure. That's what I did pretty good in Athens. I wasn't playing, you know, always at the same rhythm. I was playing high balls, then I was coming to the net, then I was playing slowly. I think that's my game, and I have to play like this.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: It was the dropshot?

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: It's one point during a match. I think it didn't make the difference today. It was a good point, that's for sure. But when I was down 4-1, I tried to find my way to play again. I was a little bit more aggressive at the end of the match than I was at the beginning of the second set. This point helped me to go to Love-30. It's only a point in the match, so it didn't make big difference.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Yeah, that's my routine. I like to do my warm-ups with my racquet because is very important to feel the movements, to imagine what you're going to do. That's very important for myself. I think it's more mental than physical at this point. In all my warm-ups, I do like this.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: It's very short. I think at the most 10 minutes. It's very short. I don't need more.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Yeah, thanks. I haven't been feeling well in the last few days when I came from Athens. I got a cold. It's been hard for me to recover in the last few days, but I start to feel better. Thank you to ask me (smiling).

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: No. After what happened in the last few months, I have to be careful about everything. Here, just the air-conditioning in the first few days, the fact also that I didn't sleep a lot last weekend because I had early flight and everything coming back from Athens, on Monday I was already in the plane to go to Florida. A lot of things that I'm not used any more to do. I haven't practiced a lot here in New York in the last few days. Only 30 minutes yesterday, nothing the day before. I start to feel better, but I'm not still a hundred percent.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Did I do a lot of weights? No, not really. I was practicing, but only an hour a day. I was an hour a day on the court, then I was three days in my bed. I didn't recover at all. But I did a lot of running. That's the only thing I could do. I was running very slowly for a long period of time. That helped me. I lost some weight, so that's pretty good.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: A little bit.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Yep.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: What happened? I didn't see it.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I'm not really interest by all these things. I want to stay focused on my game. I didn't watch the match yesterday. I don't know exactly what she's wearing. That's my last problem right now.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: It is a very tough tournament, that's for sure - maybe the toughest one during the year. The conditions are very hard. Especially this year. Today was a bit cooler. But in the last few days, it was so humid. For most of the players, not for me, but it's the end of the season almost. I think a lot of players are getting tired here also because they played already a lot at the beginning of the season. So it's not my case fortunately right now. But it is a very tough tournament, that's for sure. The atmosphere is very different. Yeah, you need to take care of yourself all the time every day during the whole tournament because you know you can be injured and sick. When you're sick, you cannot play.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Oh, no, I'm professional so I know what I can do. But sometimes you don't have the control of everything. Last year what happened, it's a great memory, but it took me a lot of energy, that's for sure, because I played more than three hours, I was cramping and everything. It was the end of the tournament already. I think a lot of players have been sick in the last few days, just got a cold and everything. It's okay. I'll recover soon, I hope.