HOME DEPOT CHAMPIONSHIPS

November 6, 2002

Justine Henin

Q. Was today an easy victory for you?

JUSTINE HENIN: I think it was a hard first match. It's always difficult, especially in the tough conditions. I mean, yeah, it's hard. We could practice only from yesterday on this court. It's hard to have good feelings, but I'm pretty happy that I made the quotas. I won 6-3, 6-3 in straight sets. Physically, I'm fine. That's important.

JUSTINE HENIN: It's strange. It's not too fast, and sometimes you can feel it's fast. Sometimes it is so slow, but it's not the same surface as of the last tournaments. They said it was going to be the same surface, but it's not really similar. It's hard to have exactly the same surface. It's difficult when you can practice only once on this court and then come and play a match, and that's why the first match is so difficult to have good feelings.

JUSTINE HENIN: I say it was hard because it wasn't so crowded. I like to play when there are many people in the stadium, so it's hard to find the great motivation. It was hard to find the energy to play my game, but when I had to play in the second set, I did my game at that point in the match. That's the most important, that physically and mentally I felt okay.

JUSTINE HENIN: The what?

JUSTINE HENIN: No, it's great to have these kind of things. It's good to have also nights like that and to enjoy our time like we did. It's not only playing on the court, we have many things that are part of the game. That's important.

JUSTINE HENIN: I don't see that. I say we are all very lucky to play the championships. It's a big chance for us to be here in LA and play these kind of matches, so I don't think at all when I'm on the court about the money. That's not my first motivation. I want to win a lot of matches. That's my only goal.

JUSTINE HENIN: She does the errors. She either makes mistakes or does winners. It's hard to find a break. I had to be careful in my defense. I did. I tried to be aggressive on the return when I could. I don't have any more comments to do about the match. It was a match and I won it in two sets.

JUSTINE HENIN: No.

JUSTINE HENIN: Because I like to wear a watch. I feel good with a watch.

JUSTINE HENIN: Both of them is going to be a hard match, and they're really playing well on the surface. I beat Chanda in the last tournament, and Kim I won the last time. It was a clay court. She's in a great confidence game. It's going to be tough. I believe in my chances. All matches are difficult and tough, so I will see on Friday what's going to happen.

JUSTINE HENIN: It's always a little bit special. I mean, it's a different match for us than to play another player. We have to deal with that, because we will have to play for sure many times each other in the future. We both are young, and for sure in Belgium it's a special match, but we have to deal with that. I will try to be focused on myself and try to forget the situation. We are both professional and we know what we have to do and it's always a little bit special.