WIMBLEDON

July 2, 2002

Justine Henin

MODERATOR: Questions.

JUSTINE HENIN: You know, I am still in my quarterfinal. I mean, it's a little bit early to talk about what's going to happen on Thursday. But for sure was a great experience to play Venus here last year. It's going to be a different situation. It's not going to be a final. And she didn't play top players in this tournament. So, I mean, maybe I have a little advantage on this part. But, I mean, it's going to be tough for me. Especially on grass court, she's playing so well. She won so easy her matches. So I know that it's going to be difficult. But today also it was difficult and I won. I'm in the semifinal and I will have nothing to lose, for sure.

JUSTINE HENIN: It was strange in the first set, for sure, because I was leading 4-2. I did what I have to do at 4-3, and she broke back. Then the first interruption, after that, she started so fast. I wasn't really ready to fight at this time. So hopefully the rain came back at 15-Love, 4-5, and I played really solid after that, especially on my serve. She was 15-40 up on my serve at 6-5, and I came back. So it was important mentally that I did it. After that, the beginning of the second set, she played really aggressive. Maybe, you know, after I won the first set, I started to sleep a little bit more. But she played unbelievable at this time. After that, I said, "Okay, point after point I will try to come back in this second set," and I did it. The end of the match was really good, really tough, and a good tiebreak from myself. I'm pretty happy with my victory today.

JUSTINE HENIN: Like I said, it's a little bit early for me to think about this. You know, she's serving so well in this tournament. Especially here, it's very hard to have good returns against Venus. Maybe it will more depends from her than me. It's going to depend how she's going to serve. And also the key I think is going to be, like today, you know, I went to the net, I was really aggressive, I wasn't afraid, I wasn't nervous. I played without any complex. I mean, it's going to be for me the same on Thursday. Many things to win. You know, it's good for me to be again in the semifinal here. I will just try to enjoy my game and be aggressive and serve like I did today. It's going to be another day. We'll see what's going to happen.

JUSTINE HENIN: You know what happened last year. For sure I went back a little bit sad, so I didn't have time to think a lot about this, about the situation that I was in my first Grand Slam final. You know, I know that I have opportunities to go again in Grand Slam finals. For sure when I did it last year at Wimbledon, I said, "Okay, you are in the Top 10, and you can do great results also." So, yeah, I think that I knew that I could do it, but, you know, I needed more experience. And I think that this year is more positive because I played better in the first six months, and I will just try to continue on this way.

JUSTINE HENIN: They are very different, for sure. I don't like the stadium in New York because I think you have a lot of noise and people are moving during points. Here I think they have a lot of respect. I think that's the best crowd, because they are really respectful for the players. They give me a lot of support today, so I think I had great emotions last year with this crowd. They knew me last year here in Wimbledon. So for sure it's different for me this year. But in the French Open it's nice also, because I have a lot of Belgian people there.

JUSTINE HENIN: Yeah, the conditions were very difficult. It was windy and it was very dark when we had to stop. Yeah, it was very special. But I think I didn't think about the conditions and just try to play my game. That was the best important. I was really focused on me and on my game. I didn't think about everything around me.

JUSTINE HENIN: I don't know, because I had many opportunities in the past to beat her also. I lost many times in three sets. I think that today finally I wasn't afraid to play against her, and I just played my game, went to the net. I said yesterday in the press conference that the key was to be aggressive and go to take the match at the net, and I did it in the tiebreak. So I think that's the most important thing for me today, that I went to take the match.