[新聞] Justine Henin finds her confidence i …
loss in Australia
時間: Wed Feb 13 00:33:51 2008
Justine Henin finds her confidence intact despite Grand Slam loss in Australia
The Associated Press
Published: February 12, 2008
ANTWERP, Belgium: One loss in half a year hasn't dented Justine Henin's
confidence.
After her Australian Open defeat to Maria Sharapova last month, the top-ranked
Belgian can't win the Grand Slam. But with three majors and the Beijing Olympics
left this year, she still has plenty to play for.
"You have to keep your feet on the ground. It is already so tough to win just
one Grand Slam," Henin said ahead of Thursday's opening match at the Diamond
Games, her first test since the quarterfinal loss in Melbourne.
If Henin needs a confidence boost, there is no better place than the Sports
Palace, where more than 13,000 home fans have bought a ticket to see the
nation's greatest female sports star on Thursday.
"It will be a present to my fans. They have always supported me," Henin said
of her first WTA tournament on home soil in five years.
Henin has recently been the dominant force in women's tennis, winning two of
the three Grand Slams she played last year and building a 32-match winning
streak that lasted until Sharapova looked in a class of her own three weeks
ago.
The Russian had Henin on the run all the way and won in straight sets,
including a 6-0 to finish it off.
"I am not a machine and it took nothing away from what I achieved in the past,"
Henin said of her first defeat since losing to Marion Bartoli in three sets at
the Wimbledon semifinals in July.
"I hadn't lost in months and that became a weight too. We knew defeat would
come one day. (Sharapova) had the knife between her teeth. It is good to have
great opponents like her. It will allow me to develop further."
It was thought that Henin could equal her great idol Steffi Graf this year.
The German won all four majors and added the 1988 Seoul Olympics tennis title
for the only Golden Slam to date.
Henin was sure, though, it always was going to be a pipe dream.
"I didn't leave for Australia thinking that this year I will win all four
plus one," she said.
Instead, after the defeat, everything starts anew.
Overall, she has won seven Grand Slams and 40 tournaments. She has been No. 1
for more than 100 weeks. And considering her 2,728-point lead over No. 2 Ana
Ivanovic of Serbia, that won't change soon.
Henin's biggest fear in the past few weeks has been the tender right knee she
brought back from Australia. Medical treatment and more than two weeks of rest
have taken care of that.
On Thursday, Henin gets her first test against either the 97th-ranked Anne
Kremer of Luxembourg or Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova, who is ranked No. 76.
Henin is slated for a semifinal appearance against Daniela Hantuchova of
Slovakia on Saturday, while a final looms against Anna Chakvetadze, who won
the Gaz de France Open last week.
If all goes well, she will lift a gold-and-diamond racket studded with 2008
gems late Sunday, testimony of her second tournament victory of the year.
==
Good to know. :)
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※ 編輯: adorable 來自: 122.126.67.20 (02/13 00:35)
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