PACIFIC LIFE OPEN

March 15, 2004

Justine Henin

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Justine, please.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Oh, you know, you never know when to expect. You just try to prepare the match the best as you can. That's what I did. I was really focused, you know. I think I played pretty good. I served much better than the last match, more regular. I've been aggressive like I had to. I think that's been a consistent match, very solid. That's good with this kind of weather to be out of the court very quickly.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I hate to lose, you know. I think everything hates to lose. It didn't happen really often in the last few months, so it hurts. But that's good because, you know, I always have many things to learn, and I did last week in Doha. You know, I came here with a different mentality. I was more focused. I'm feeling more in the tournament. I'm feeling the danger, which is good, for all the players. It's totally different. I think it's good to lose like this. Sometimes it gives you a lot of motivation, you know, for the next tournament. That's been good.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: For sure. I mean, I don't look too much at the other players in the sense that every match is difficult enough, you know. I need to keep my energy on myself, going step by step. It's really sad and unfortunate that a lot of players have been injured in the last few weeks. I have to see myself and to prepare my tournaments the best as I can. And I feel that many, many players are a danger for me. I think that I'm going to be really often in this kind of situation, they have nothing to lose against me. When you're No. 1, you need to find the motivation to compete in every match. And I think I find it. I will enjoy my tennis right now. That's really important to keep going.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: It's hard to say. Probably, for sure, the season is very long. After a couple years that you're on the tour, I think that's tough. It's a high rhythm. I think we need a longer break, for sure. Maybe it's a coincidence also this year that a lot of players are injured at the same time. I think it's not every year that we see it. But for sure players are a little bit tired at the end of the season. We don't have rest enough, then time to prepare the next season. That's a little bit hard. But I'm sure they will find the solutions for the players quickly.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I think that I take care of my body much more than in the past. I just realized many things. And I need to take care of myself. I think when we do the calendar with my coach, we always look to not playing more than two tournaments in a row. I don't play as many tournaments as probably the other players. At the end of the season, I take two weeks off, and then I take my time to prepare the next season. That's really important, to take your time. That's the only way to work, I think. And we need a little bit of time, for sure, in November and December. It's a little bit short. I'm doing hard work, so preventive for the injuries, that's great.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: You know, now it's 10 months, so that's long. Especially when you have the French, Wimbledon, US Open, and this year the Olympics. That's why I decided not playing Fed Cup. But it's a way to see, you know, your career. I want a long career. I think I play 18 tournaments in the year, which is good, which is good for the tour, which is good for me. I think I can have a long career, play a long career with that mentality.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Tactics is really important. For myself, the way that I play is really tactic in the sense that I, you know, have to use everything I have in my game to be able to compete against the strong players. If I stay on my baseline, do a lot of rallies, I'm not going to stay too long on the tour because that's not the way I have to play and that's not the way I played for winning the three Grand Slams that I won. For me, that's very important, because I'm not so tall, I'm not so strong, so I use everything I have and I need. You have to be smart on the court. I mean, hitting the ball, every shot for me, it's not tennis. I like to use everything I have in my game. That's why people like to watch me, I think.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I think it depends a little bit of the situation. When it's clear in my head before going on the court what I like to do, if it's working or not, it doesn't matter. It has to be clear what you have to do to beat the other player. We discuss a lot with my coach about that every time I'm going on the court. If it's not working, okay, maybe I try to find another solution. But, yeah, that's very complex.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I think that, you know, she learned a lot of things, and she'll get some experience. Everybody makes mistakes. When you are young, you need the good people around you. You need a good entourage. I'm sure she learned already a lot of things from what happened in the last few days.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Oh, I hate to talk about this. I hate to give a name, you know, because I need to play these players all the time. That's hard to talk about that. But I don't have really especially a game that I say, "I don't like to play against her." I think now for sure the game is really powerful. We see a lot of power, which I like. I like to play against the strong players because I feel I'm quick. I can be powerful when I want. I really enjoy my tennis when I have to play against them. But it's good to see different kind of games. That's what I like right now. You have the strong players, you have me, you have Mauresmo, you have the young players that are coming very strong on the tour, which is good for everyone - different kind of game, different kind of personalities. I think that helps the women's tennis to be more popular.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Not the whole match, because it's too long, you know (laughter). No, but I watched, yeah, the great moments of the match many times. I like to watch my big matches usually. I didn't watch yet the one in Australia, but for sure my semifinal at the French, my final at the French, my semis against Capriati. That's great moments in a career, and I like to watch them. I learn a lot of things when I watch my matches on TV. I can see, I mean, the evolution, that's unbelievable. In a year, it's just great.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I look at the positive things and look also at negative. I have to be objective. I need just to watch the match and say, "This was good; this I can improve." When I watch my matches, I can see that it's been great, you know, the great matches I played. But also if I want to win other Grand Slams, especially Wimbledon, I'll have to be more aggressive. My game is much better when I go, you know, at the net or when I'm very aggressive, when I have something clear in my head and I'm doing it from the first point until the end. It's also a question of concentration a little bit, also about the experience. I think I learned many, many things from that. That's why I'm working on it right now. If I want to win Wimbledon one day, for sure I have to work on this part of my game.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: That's probably what my coach is going to ask me tonight. Yeah, it's true. But I had some trouble with my serve in the last match, so we worked yesterday especially on my serve, putting more slice, which helped me to be more regular. But it's true that I should do it a little bit more. I totally agree. Maybe I wasn't that in confidence in the last match on my serve, so I tried to find a good rhythm today. Maybe in the next match I'll have another opportunity.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I don't watch the news, no, never. I don't read the papers, no, because it doesn't help me to be good with myself, to be good on the court, losing too much energy to listen to the comments of the other players or anybody. I don't care about that. I just try to stay focused on myself and my game.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Yeah, for sure.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Yeah, I go every day on Internet. Yeah, I heard about Madrid. There is a big thing in Belgium, this trial in Belgium. So for sure I keep in touch with all these things. That's really important for me because tennis is far from that. It's not really important when we see everything around the world. But when it's tennis, no, never.