Serena Slammed by Henin, Holds Back Tears at US Open

Serena fought off tears Tuesday night when she hustled off the court after a 7-6(3), 6-1 loss to Henin, who the American also came out on the short end against this year in the French Open and Wimbledon quarterfinals.

In her post-match interview Serena gave a rare nod to her opponent.

"No, I just think she played better," Serena said, before attributing her opponent's play to luck. "I just think she made a lot of lucky shots, and I made a lot of errors. I don't think my level dropped."

When a reporter asked if a drop in level wasn't equal to making errors, Serena replied, "I guess it is in a way, maybe my level did drop. I definitely made a lot of errors. I think she just played a little bit more aggressive and started hitting really, really hard balls."

When asked if she lost the match rather than Henin winning it, Serena replied, "I think that's usually the case with me, that it's for me to win or lose...I really don't feel like talking about it, to be honest. It's like I don't want to get fined. That's the only reason I came. I can't afford to pay the fines because I keep losing."

On tap for Wednesday at the US Open are (6) Anna Chakvetadze vs. (18) Shahar Peer, Agnes Szavay vs. (4) Svetlana Kuznetsova, and (3) Jelena Jankovic vs. (12) Venus Williams.