Superstitious Henin Not a Big Fan of US Open, On-Court Coaching

Posted on August 28, 2006

By Richard Vach, Tennis-X.com Senior Writer

Former No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne rose to No. 2 last week on the strength of the title at New Haven, defeating Lindsay Davenport who retired with injury. The Belgian's own U.S. hardcourt season has been cut short by injury, a knee problem that has been bothering her for over a year.

"It's a year and a half ago that my knee, my right knee is bothering me," said Henin after an opening-round win Monday at the US Open. "It's been really bad this year in Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami, I was feeling it. And I did push myself too hard probably at that time, so it got a little bit serious. Then in the summer it was still bothering me a little bit. I wasn't feeling ready yet to play in Montreal, unfortunately. It was the best preparation for me to go in Montreal and get a few matches; I couldn't have it, so I had to change my plan which I don't like that much. But when you have to, you do it. But now my knee is feeling fine. I just have to be careful."

Commenting on the four Slams, Henin-Hardenne declined to rank the US Open, but indicated it's not near the top, competing with the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon.

'Yeah, it's -- that's not my favorite one, I just have to agree," the straight-talking Henin-Hardenne said of the stop in Flushing Meadows. "It's a bit of a mixed feeling about my results here because I won it once and then I lost fourth round almost every year. It's last Grand Slam of the season. Everyone gets a little bit tired. It's pretty busy, I mean New York. Busy city...But it's a different atmosphere: night session and the New York crowd. It's different. I like it, but it's not my favorite one."

Henin-Hardenne is undecided on the WTA Tour's on-court coaching experiment, and says don't look for her to use it as she feels players should have to fend for themselves between the white lines.

"I didn't use it last week in New Haven because I knew that this week I wouldn't have any coach with me on the court," Henin-Hardenne said. "For me, I think we (are) working a lot with my coach about the fact that I'm alone on the court. I have to move forward. I have to find the solutions by myself. I don't see -- I don't know if we gonna have this rule in the future. I think that a lot of people thought that was great, but I cannot tell you because I didn't use it."

On Monday the diminutive Belgian also shared her superstitious side.

"I'm not as superstitious as I was in the past," Henin-Hardenne said. "I was a few years ago. Now I'm doing much better. Not really like I was in the past. For example, I started my tournament playing in white in New Haven, and then I changed for my semifinal and final I was in blue and black. I would never do that in the past. Just thinking there is nothing to do with it. So it's better to see it that way. But it's normal. An athlete does kind of have routine in everything but doesn't have to go too far."

Richard Vach, Tennis-X.com senior writer, is reporting live from the US Open this week and can currently be seen on The Tennis Channel's "Tennis Insiders: Super Insiders" episodes, and was recently awarded "Best Hard News" story for 2005 by the United States Tennis Writers Association. You can belittle him at rvach@tennis-x.com.