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Q. Last year in the fourth round when you beat Svetlana Kuznetsova, you talked after the match about being able to see the fear in her eyes, her inability to seize the moment and win the match. Do you believe she's a changed player now, a much more confident player than she was a year ago? JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: I can tell you I played her in Berlin just a few weeks ago, and we had a really tough fight. I really had to play well to win this match, and I know that she's gonna have a lot of motivation. She is a great player. She won a Grand Slam already. She has the experience. So it's going to be a tough one. I know I will have to be at my best level if I want to win on Saturday. We always had tough matches, especially on clay. She's very powerful. I think that helps her on clay court and especially with her forehand. She proved again today that she's a real fighter. She was down 7‑5, 5‑3 and she came back in the match, so it means that she wanted so much to be in the final. For sure she will want to win and take a bit of revenge of what happened last year here. Q. You're favorite to win this here in Paris, Roland Garros. Does it mean anything for you? JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: I don't like to talk about the favorite, because that's the paper, that's what you say. But on the court, it's another story. You have to ‑‑ you in front of someone who wants the same thing that you want. And in a Grand Slam final, it's different kind of pressure, different kind of tension, very special atmosphere. So I don't know what's gonna happen on Saturday. I cannot predict that. I want to win this title for sure, like Svetlana wants to win it. That would be too easy to say what's gonna happen. I was really confident in Australia, then everyone knows what happened. So right now, I just want to stay focused on my job, on what I have to do, having good recovery, then have good preparation to get ready on Saturday. Q. By now you've won in several places. Here, it was your first dream. The other day you remember your relation with Kim. The dream goes on, or life now is more not so a dream? It's a real thing? JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: No, it's always, for me, very special to play well here in Paris. It's the place where I want to play my best tennis and where I want to win. So it's, yeah, that's like that, it's a feeling. I think it will never change. I've been lucky to win it twice in my career, and I hope I can go for a third one. But doesn't depend only of me. Q. You had to face a break in the second set against a strong player who returns very well. Was this your best tennis of the tournament? JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: I don't know. It's been solid tennis, consistent. It's been the key in the beginning of the match. I had breakpoints against me and I served very well on these points and I've been very aggressive on these points. Then I played very well on the important points when I broke Kim to go to 5‑3 in the first set. Then in the second set it was another story. I wasn't that aggressive at the beginning of the second set, but she started to do some mistakes and I felt that I had to let her play a little bit because she started to do a lot of mistakes at that time. I've been smart enough to say, Okay, let's put the ball in the court, I mean, in a good way. And then I've been ‑‑ I had a great defense and I went to the net. I served well. So pretty happy the way I played. THE MODERATOR: Questions in French, please. Q. You didn't have the same approach as to your physical work, and the result is excellent because you've reached the final. Can you tell us the difference between the time you were really practicing hard and this time, because you're much more flexible on the clay court. JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: Well, I talked about it very much. Everybody knows I changed approaches. I'm working on recovery. I'm working on quality. Not harder, but in a more clever way than in the past. I know that I'm 24 today, and if I want to last, I have to take care of myself. I have to manage to take some rest for a few weeks, I've worked on my resistance, I'm working on my moving, which was a great strength when I worked with Pat. We're continuing to work in that direction. But for the rest, I think that most of it is mental. You really have to be motivated. You have to go for it. You have to do things with more sense than I did it in the past. This doesn't mean that you're not going to reap results ‑ on the contrary. Q. The beginning of the match was very well‑balanced up until 3‑All. What happened afterwards? JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: I think it always takes some time to get into a match, especially returning the ball. So far, I had a good serve but I wasn't playing that well. Little by little, I started to come into the game, in the match. I realized that Kim was as nervous as me on the opposite side. I wasn't really fearing anything. Yesterday I was very nervous, and this morning as well. But once I walked on the court, I felt very well even though sometimes I wasn't attacking so strongly. I was very constructive. I got a great number of first serves through, so I think that was very important. Q. What made you most nervous? Was it Kim's form of playing or your physical state? JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: No, you know when you play a semifinal at a Grand Slam, it's not an easy game. There's a lot of tension, and there's a lot of pressure. The same will happen on Saturday. So I tried to transform this pressure into something that takes you forward and not something negative, something that allows you to construct and to build. That's what I'm going to try to do up until Saturday. Q. Can you explain the paradox between what happened with Kuznetsova. You were leading 1‑All, then you lost. What happened? JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: Well, my statistics are fairly strong, but you can't base yourself on that. We're both going for it. It's a final of a Grand Slam. So the context is totally different. I've never played in that type of a situation, and these are all the best players on clay. It's somebody who is playing much better this year than last year, and she's shown it because her results are very consistent. I know that her motivation will be enormous. We have great respect for each other. We appreciate each other. It will be another great match, and we will have to cope with it properly, and this is going to be decisive for both of us. Q. We feel that you're already playing your final. Am I wrong? JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: No, but I don't want to make any mistakes. This match was a very emotional one. In this type of a situation, sometimes you can have a lull, and I want to avoid having that now. I am not through. There's still a match to go. I have to prepare as well as possible. Of course you have to savor the victory and you can relax a little bit, but you have to be mentally very focused on the tournament because the important point will be on Saturday. Q. Is your stomach better? JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: I won't be taking any antiinflammatories or steroids on Saturday, I can assure you. Q. The fact that you have a chance to win again a Grand Slam and to erase the bad moments you've had, is that very encouraging? JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: Well, I must say that it was hard for me not to be able to defend my chances at a hundred percent. When you try to win and you can't, and you can't defend yourself, it's a bit tough, you know. It was a difficult moment to go through. Today, once again, I'm lucky to be again in the final of a Grand Slam tournament. From the beginning of the year, I realize that I've been very consistent, I'm much healthier this year than the past years, and that's what's important. My goal is always to qualify for the Masters and playing them, and that's the most important point today. Visit the Justine Henin-Hardenne page here
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