US OPEN

September 4, 2004

Justine Henin

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Justine.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Yeah, I start to feel better. Little by little, I think my game is improving a lot. Physically I start to recover. And mentally I was feeling stronger today than I was in the last few days. But I need to get used to the Grand Slam situation again because it's been a difficult time for me in the last four months. So I think it was normal, the fact that I was feeling like that, but now I just try to take my time, go step by step. And today I think I played good match. I was very calm and I had good reaction at 4-All in the first. So it was really positive.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Yeah, I think I take care of myself, that's for sure. And I have to be careful in the next few months because I take care of me, I sleep a lot, I eat very good. So I think it's very important that I understand that things are different right now because maybe I'm a little bit more fragile now than I was a few months ago.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I think I enjoy my tennis. That's the most important thing. I enjoy being back on the court like I was in Athens. I think that when you are healthy, it's the most important thing. You can play, but I just try to give my best. It's very good to be back. I like to be again in tournaments. It's a great feeling.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I watched a little bit the first set, and then the end of the match. My husband, my coach and me, we were very happy for Olivier because he's very nice guy. We grew up together. We started playing tennis together. But for us it's not big surprise because he has the level to play there. I think he is 90 or 100, I don't know. But I think he's playing much better than that. With the attitude he got today, I think he can improve his ranking very fast.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: I think it's going to be a tough round for me. She had great fight today, and probably it's going to give her lot of confidence. Next round she will have nothing to lose, like always for me, this kind of situation. But she has big serve. She's hitting the ball very hard. So I'll have to be physically hundred percent and being very quick, move well on the court, and just try to play my game one more time.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: It proves that the first week is not easy for everyone like a lot of people are thinking. We could see surprises by the fact that Sharapova, Myskina, they lost. But Sharapova against Pierce, it's a little surprise because Pierce is playing very high level of tennis now. But I think that we have to be careful against anybody. We need to have a lot of respect for all the players because they can beat us. They have the right to beat us. We not machines, like I said. We can have bad days. That's life. You need to keep going.

JUSTINE HENIN-HARDENNE: Not yet. I don't know. It's step by step. It's going to be another level, for sure. I'm going to play a very, very good player. But Lisa played great match today, too. It hasn't been easy for me. So I think that it helps me to improve my game. I don't want to think about the future; just have to stay focused on the next round.