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GOING HOME AGAIN
AFTER MORE THAN HER SHARE OF TRAGEDY AND HEARTBREAK, JUSTINE HENIN HAS FOUND
HER FAMILY, AND HERSELF
Bruce Arthur, National Post Published: Saturday, August 18, 2007
TORONTO -Maybe it is that Justine Henin's eyes are not made for magazine
covers. Instead of camera-friendly crystal blue, her eyes are hard and dark;
in many photographs they resemble brown wooden buttons, reflective and
opaque. Or maybe it is that she herself was not made for magazine covers.
Fiercely protective of her privacy, the world's No. 1 women's tennis player
is diminutive, unadorned and, compared to the glittering queens of the game,
just a little plain.

But for all the breathless hype we in the media expend on sports, there are
few truly extraordinary lives being lived. Justine Henin's is one.

And yet, she had never really been beloved, only admired, for a number of
reasons. For one, Henin has never talked much about her private life. It is
understandable: She and her family had already endured a barrelful of tragedy
before she cut off contact with her father and siblings in 1999, at age 17.
Her private nature meant that when she ascended to No. 1 in 2003, she was a
distant star, polite but unknowable.

Font: ****As well, her seemingly aloof manner was not popular among other
players -- verbally sparring with fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters, exhibiting
ruthless gamesmanship. In the 2003 French Open semi-final, she raised her
hand as Serena Williams served to indicate unreadiness, and Williams sent the
serve into the net. But the umpire missed Henin's gesture, and refused a
replay of the point while Henin remained silent. Her competitiveness could be
caustic.

But for all the ink we spill on Serena, Venus and Maria, Henin is the only
player in the world to have won at least one Grand Slam in each of the past
five years, with a U.S. Open, an Australian Open, and four French Opens,
including the past three. Just 5-foot-6, she is still a giant of her era,
with a story that cannot be topped.

The origins of the family's fracture were murky but absolute. Around the same
time in 1999, Henin moved in with her boyfriend, Pierre-Yves Hardenne. She
was married in 2002; the next year, as Justine Henin-Hardenne, she ended the
year ranked No. 1.

But the separation from her family was all the more poignant for the family's
history: Henin's mother, dead from cancer when Justine was 12; an older
sibling, before Henin was born, dead after a drunk driver plowed into the
grandparents' yard; a three-month-old nephew, dead in his crib. Absent war or
poverty, life does not get too much darker than that.

And even when she was beginning to succeed, tragedy stalked her -- after losing
in the 2001 Wimbledon final, Henin was informed that her grandfather had died.
Through it all, she unsentimentally plowed ahead.

But this year, everything changed. It began with divorce from Pierre-Yves,
which caused her to miss the Australian Open in January.

"Yeah, it's been tough," Henin says. "But that's life."

The bigger change came in April when her eldest brother, David, was in a car
accident and slipped into a two-day coma. Henin's sister Sarah shattered the
family silence with a call, and when David woke up, Henin was there, along
with Sarah and her other brother, Thomas. The family fracture, incredibly,
healed.

So when Henin won the French-- her first Slam without the hyphenated Hardenne
engraved on the trophy -- David, Sarah, and Thomas were there in the stands
for the first time, and father Jose was watching from his tiny village in
Belgium. And on Centre Court, in front of the world, Henin was too suffused
with pure joy not to let the world in on it.

"I want to dedicate this victory to my family," Henin said as she addressed
the crowd. "I missed you. I want to offer this victory to you. I love you
with all my heart."

Afterwards, in the post-match session with reporters, Henin said she never
doubted she would win, despite a shaky start. Maybe the nerves were because
of her family; maybe they were just nerves, plain and simple. But Henin was
clearly better for having her family near. "You cannot imagine," she said at
the time, "how strong I felt."

Font: ****"You know, when you're on the court in front of a lot of people,
you cannot lie," Henin says now. "I mean, you show how you feel ? Even if
it's been hard, you need to be strong to deal with that. But I just gave my
best. At 25 years old, it's a lot of things to deal with. But you know, it's
big experience in my life, no regrets, and I learned a lot of things.

"In six months, a lot of things happened in my life, but I just try to keep
the control in that and be myself. That's the key."

In retrospect, control has always been the key. Henin was not derailed by any
of the body blows life offered, big or small. Her competitive spirit,
hardened and compact as her frame, was never dented. She is a fine ambassador
for the game, and understands the responsibility it entails. She also says
that, incredibly, she is still learning how to move forward. She was
devastated by losing to 18th-seeded Marion Bartoli in the semi-finals at
Wimbledon this year -- one match after having finally conquered Serena on
grass -- but she learned again.

"I think that there was a better player in front of me, and sometimes you
have to accept that," she says. "That you're not at your best, and the other
one can compete, the other one can win ? Sometimes, you just have to accept
that you have moments of weakness, that's it. Physically, mentally,
emotionally, that it's a little bit too much."

This week, Henin matters because she is chief hope for salvation for this
tournament, in terms of relevance. Last night, in windy and cold conditions
against No. 6 seed Nadia Petroca, she fell behind, struggled, and fought her
way through it, knife in her teeth. Even on a shaky night, it is a pleasure
to watch her incredibly clean ball-striking, and particularly her Monet of a
backhand, one of the most sublime strokes in the entire tennis world.

But the most sincere pleasure is that of witnessing a survivor; someone whose
spirit has endured like a diamond, who understands her responsibilities to
the sport, to herself, and finally, to her family. It is a rare and beautiful
thing.

"I think I'm very proud of how I could deal with the situation this year,
because it's been big issues in my personal life," Henin says. "And yeah, I
was really focused on that, because it's been more important than my tennis
career at times. And I feel great now. I feel happy. I have the feeling
[that] I move forward.

"Every time I'm on the court, I just want to be able to compete 100%, and
that's what I'm doing. I have another life also after tennis, and I want to
stay healthy for that life, because it's going to be a real one."

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