Henin-Hardenne eyes clean sweep - 網球

Henin-Hardenne eyes clean sweep
By Piers Newbery

Justine Henin-Hardenne arrives in London looking for a first Wimbledon title
that would complete the Grand Slam set - just like last year.

Twelve months ago, the switch to grass proved too much for the Belgian
following two gruelling weeks on clay.

One of the favourites for Wimbledon in the wake of her second French Open
win, she was the victim of the first major shock of the championships at the
All England Club when she lost to Eleni Danilidou in the opening round.

Coming hard on the heels of her mastery of clay, the defeat suggested
Henin-Hardenne would always struggle to master the dramatic shift from
Parisian clay to British grass.

But she is back, as determined as ever, and convinced that she has the
weapons to prosper on the faster surface.

"What I like on clay is that I have a lot of time and there are long rallies,
so I can build my points," the 24-year-old told BBC Sport.

"On grass, I know I'm quick and I have good hands, so I know I can play well,
but I need to switch to the fact that I need to play two or three shots. How
many long rallies do you have on a grass court?

"I just need to adapt my game: serve and return are very important for sure,
using my slice the best I can and covering the court. I need a little time to
get used to it because it's a big difference.

"Mentally you need to be strong because you have to be patient. You know that
some times you're going to have a bad bounce, sometimes it can be slow or
with the slice it can be very, very fast, so you need to be ready for this.

"It takes a few days to not get frustrated any more."

Having retained her French Open title earlier this month - this time without
dropping a set - Henin-Hardenne chose this year to join the high-quality
field in Eastbourne as preparation for Wimbledon.

"It was hard for me last year," said the Belgian, who has won the French Open
three times (2003, 2005 and 2006) and also triumphed at the US Open (2003)
and Australian Open (2004).

"I was injured and my hamstrings were hurting a lot, and on grass that kind
of injury isn't good.

"Last year at the French I had pretty tough matches - three of my first four
were three sets - so I lost a lot of energy.

"But winning a Grand Slam is tough because there is a lot of tension during
the whole tournament. The hardest part is not on the court; I won all my
matches pretty easily this year.

"It's when you're waiting for your matches... the pressure, you want to win,
and emotionally it's very, very intense, so it's harder to recover from that
than physically. But the situation is very different from last year, that's
for sure."

Her impressive progress through the draw at Eastbourne was evidence of
Henin-Hardenne's relative freshness this year as she attempts to become just
the sixth woman to win all four Grand Slam titles during her career.

"Winning major titles remains the most important thing for me and winning my
fifth one at the French means a lot of things for me," said Henin-Hardenne.

"Not a lot of people won all the Grand Slams and the Olympic Games, so for
sure it would be a great achievement in my career."

She has been so dominant on clay in recent years that it is easy to forget
that Henin-Hardenne has a good record at Wimbledon, reaching the final in
2001 and the semi-finals in 2002 and 2003.

On each occasion she was stopped by the Williams sisters but Henin-Hardenne
remains convinced she can compete with the big hitters on grass.

"I think I have good qualities in my game to play against them, even on
grass," she said. "I prefer clay, it's my best surface and where I get my
best results, but I've had very good wins on grass too.

Wimbledon is a tournament where I almost always play well but I need some
confidence on the grass right now

"I've beaten Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati, so it means I can play well
on this surface, but I just need some confidence and some wins right now."

And for a player who admits she finds it hard to sleep because of the
pressure during Grand Slam fortnights, maybe it is no surprise that she is
keen take some of that pressure off ahead of the biggest tournament of the
year.

"Wimbledon is a tournament where I almost always play well but I need some
confidence on the grass right now," said Henin-Hardenne. "It's a goal for me
in my career but it wouldn't be the end (if I didn't win it).

"It's another motivation and a great challenge for me but it wouldn't be the
end if I didn't win Wimbledon one day."

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