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SONY ERICSSON OPENMarch 26, 2007Justine HeninKEY BISCAYNE, FLORIDA THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Talk about the match, how you felt your level was. JUSTINE HENIN: Yeah, it was better today. I mean, conditions are pretty tough here, windy. You never know where the wind comes from, so you need to adjust your game all the time and it's not easy. But I felt better on the court. I had a better attitude, played important on the point, and it's been tough yesterday and had another opportunity to improve my level today, to raise my level, and that's what I did. So very happy with, yeah, the way the match happened, and very happy to win in two sets like that. Q. Is this the first tournament really where you've been back where there's a lot of media, all the players are here? You obviously played in the Middle East, but is that -- I mean, it's been a few months since you've been in this environment again. Is that something that's sort of welcome, or is it sort of like, Oh, I'm back in this crazy environment? JUSTINE HENIN: It's a little bit crazy, I have to admit. There is a lot of attention, a lot of things to do. Yeah, people are waiting for myself, and I just have to accept it. But my job remains the same thing, you know, being focused on myself, do what I have to do, work hard and get focused on my goals and try to win every match, try to win every point, and try to build something pretty strong. So I won a couple of matches in a row, which gives a lot of confidence for sure. And even if this tournament is bigger than Dubai and Doha, it wasn't easy over there in the Middle East to find my rhythm again and find my place in the circuit after everything that happened in the last few months in my life. So I think I'm in a good way. I think I probably need a little bit of more time. I'm happy to be on the court. Q. Did you watch the Australian Open when it was going on? JUSTINE HENIN: Well, my mind was pretty far off tennis at that time, so I could follow the results a little bit. I just watched the men's final, but the other match I couldn't watch. When you have something else in your life you get focused on that and concentrate, and now I'm back at tennis and my mind is 200 percent on it. It's only when I can give everything that I can go on the court, yeah. Q. But were you checking the results? JUSTINE HENIN: A little bit, yeah. A little bit, but not that much. Q. When you saw Serena advancing round after round, were you as surprised as maybe some of us were that were there just to see, after not winning a title at any level for two years, that she could -- JUSTINE HENIN: Well, she remains a great champion and she proved it, and there's no doubt about that. I mean, I wasn't really surprised. I understood how big was her motivation at that time, and she proved it on the court. So it looks like she was really focused again on her tennis like she is right now, and that's great for the game. It's great to see her back. I think she brought a lot of good things for tennis, and that's very important to have different kind of personalities in the game and different kind of characters. I think it's very good for everyone, so it's great to see her back. Q. When you look back at 2004, do you look -- and the three Russians that won -- was it a little bit of a period that was possible? Because even Kim or her and the Williams sisters were playing, at that point except for maybe Maria, it looks like maybe they were able to win because a lot of players were out. JUSTINE HENIN: Well, you know, they give us a lot of trouble now, and that means they are just great players. All the Russians, and -- it's been a tough year, 2004, for a lot of players. But the others, they take their opportunities and that's great. They proved that they were great players. They won Grand Slams and they gave us a lot of trouble in the last years, and it's a big nation for tennis and very good people, too. I appreciate them a lot. But now I have the feeling everyone is back, everyone is playing. Hingis is back, Williams sisters, unfortunately -- well, Lindsay is not anymore with us, but for other very good things in her life. So I have a feeling that everyone is back, and that's great for the conference and great for everyone, for the fans. End of FastScripts |
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