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WIMBLEDONJune 21, 2005Justine HeninWIMBLEDON, ENGLAND THE MODERATOR: Justine Henin-Hardenne for you. Q. Justine, how do you explain a day like today? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Well, it's pretty hard, but I knew I wasn't -- I didn't have the best preparation for coming here. That was the worst draw I could get. So I'm not gonna be positive today, and I have no excuse. But it's been difficult time for me on Court No. 1 today. I never felt the good rhythm, and I missed some opportunities in the third set. So it's very hard to win when you play like this. But it's been a lot of things. It's been very short after the French. My injury got worse in the last two days, too, so it's lot of things that make the situation very difficult for myself today. Q. Were you in pain during the match today? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Yeah, but on grass, I think my injury got worse because of the grass. You have to be very low all the time. So it's going to be my main thing in the next few weeks to treat my injury, get better and get ready for the hard court. Q. It seems like you face a difficult choice when, you know, you need, for your health, to take a certain amount of rest after something as grueling as the French. But then presented with such a different surface, it would also be nice to have a chance to play a tuneup. JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Exactly. Q. How do you approach that? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: That was very clear in my head, there's no choice. I took the good decision. And even today I can say I took the good decision because my health is my biggest concern right now. So even if I lost in the first round here, I think I took the right decision. But on the other way, I agree, it's very hard to come here without any matches because you need a few matches to get used to the surface. It's very hard to find a good rhythm in your first match and when you have to play somebody that likes to play on grass, it makes the mission a little bit more difficult. Q. Would the injury be a factor in the number of double-faults today? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Oh, I don't know. No, I don't think so. Maybe a little bit, I got tight. And for sure when you think about your injury, everything is getting worse. But I think, no, I don't think it's the main reason. Q. How does it feel emotionally to go from the heights of Paris and now today? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Well, it's pretty hard, but it's tennis; it's life, and you have to keep going. You have good moments. You have, I wouldn't say bad moments, but harder moments like today, and you have to keep going. I mean, I will have other very good moments in my career, I'm sure of that, but you need to live these kind of things. You cannot win all the time. Q. What's your plan now? Will you rest? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Yeah, I don't know yet what's the schedule for me. I'm going to try to see my doctors in the next few days and take the right decisions about my injury. Q. Once you started feeling the injury getting worse, did you pretty much feel, "I'm not really going to have much of a chance to go far here," or were you able to put that out of your head fairly quickly and concentrate? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: No, I think it's not only about the injury, it's also about the situation. I knew when I came here without any matches that it would be very difficult for myself. And I did hope that I could get a few matches to come better in the tournament. But it has been a very tough first round for me so the draw didn't help me. But that's life. Q. You seemed to be distracted by something. Was it in the crowd during the tie-break and then you hit a double-fault after that? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: It was, I don't know, a lot of things, but I don't want to talk about that right now. Q. On the Wimbledon preview television show in the United States you said something very interesting. You said that your game is more suited for grass, but your personality is more suited for clay. JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Uh-hmm. Q. Could you explain that, please. Go into depth. JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Because I get very frustrated very quickly on grass because the bounce are never the same and I need to be patient, I need to stay very calm. And I'm sure I have good game to play one day well on grass, but it hasn't been this year unfortunately. I hope in the next few years I can get a better preparation. For sure, for my personality it's much harder because here, everything is in two or three shots. On clay, I like because I have the time to organize my game. Q. And stroke-wise, how is your game suited for grass court play? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I think I can improve my game going to the net. I proved it today. I've won a lot of points at the net, but it's very hard for me to take the decision going to the net so I should go a little bit more, and we will work on it in the next few years. But I'll have to wait one year from now (smiling). Q. You haven't played on a grass court match in, like, two years? Is that right? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Uh-hmm. Q. So in the course of the year, there's only one month when you play on grass anyway, so is it much different, the feeling that you have, from not having played in two years and coming to grass, or not having come in 11 months and playing on grass? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I think it makes a big difference. Two years, it's a lot. But I think grass is very special. It is your -- your first match is always difficult. I mean, I wish I would have had an easily draw, because I could come a little bit more in the tournament. But, yeah, it's pretty hard. You need some time to get used to the surface and I didn't have it this time. Q. Did you not feel comfortable today? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: No, I didn't. I think I've practiced a lot in the last few days, but competition is another thing. And in front of me I had a very good player that was playing good tennis. She loves to play on grass. She took the opportunities a little bit more than me, so she deserved to win. Q. I'm sorry if I'm the only one who doesn't know, the injury that you're referring to, is that with your thigh? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I have a problem in the hamstring. Q. Hamstring. JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Yeah. Q. That's what the bandage... JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Exactly. Q. The best thing that happened after your victory in Paris, was there something special in the days afterwards that was particularly interesting? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Oh, I took a rest, but it was too short, unfortunately. And I knew it before coming here, I knew it was going to be very short and very hard for me. But I have no regrets about that. You know, what I lived there two or three weeks ago has been pretty amazing and I'm sure I'll have these kind of moments again later in my career. Q. Did you do anything after winning? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: No, no, nothing special. Q. You got to the finals here four years ago. Do you want to contrast that play with how you are now? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I think I'm a much better player than I was four years ago, but the situation today was very different for me. It was four years ago. But I improved a lot on court, off court, so that's pretty good. We can keep positive things. Q. Sorry to go on about the injury. How long has it been troubling you? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: For two months now. Q. Two months? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Uh-hmm. Q. Did you have any blood tests done after the French Open to assess your level of fatigue? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: No. Q. How's that going? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Still ups and downs like I explained. Probably don't recover as well as in the past, but I know it and we just try to deal with the situation. But I'm sure I'll have another blood test in the next few weeks, but not right now. Q. When you got to the Wimbledon final you hadn't done as well in Paris. I'm wondering how much is just lack of preparation. The better you do in France, the less time you have to prepare for the grass at Wimbledon. Is that a factor here? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I think, you know, playing on clay and then coming here, it is so different. You change everything. So it's pretty hard. I did play a lot on clay court in the last few months, and then the rhythm is changing a lot. It's not in a few days you get used to it. But I don't have any regrets about that. I think in clay court, it's probably remains my best surface. And in the next few years I won't change anything about that. I will play a lot on clay. I hope I can play a tournament before Wimbledon next year. Q. Was there any specific place in the match that you think it might have gotten away from you? Like when you had two mini-breaks in the tiebreaker? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Yeah, I think I had a lot of chances in this match, in the first set and then in the third I had the break also. But I was playing well and then on grass everything is going very quick, you know. You play bad on two or three points and you lose two or three games. So you need to be very focused all the time, and I haven't been today. So it's pretty disappointed. But I have to accept that. Q. Obviously, the transition from Roland Garros to here is brutal, the most difficult in the sport. JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Yeah. Q. What kind of a factor would it be if they played on the Sunday before, would that affect that transition even more? JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: In the French Open, you mean? Q. No, if Wimbledon decided to play, to start play on the Sunday before the traditional opening on Monday. JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: One day wouldn't make a big difference, but I don't see why the tournament should start on Sunday. I mean, many years we play like this. I'm not really positive for that. End of FastScripts…. |
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