Q. You're 24 years old. You've won five Grand Slams. Assuming there's only one Belgian that's going to retire in a year and a half, can you win as many as 10 Grand Slams before you decide tennis is over for you?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: I'm not thinking too much about that right now. But every time on walk on the court, in a Grand Slam or not, I just try to give my best. That's what I'm doing for a couple of years now.

And that brought me results. It's been a lot of sacrifices in my career, a lot of work. And now, I mean, that really pays off. And even if I had a lot of trouble the last two years, I keep winning a major title every year so that's not a bad average.

I'm very happy the way it went this week. Winning here for the third time means maybe more than the fifth Grand Slam for me, I mean, because it's physically and mentally very hard on clay. I've been very calm during the whole tournament, even if I never really played my best tennis. I played very well on the crucial points, and today again. So I'm very, very happy the way it goes right now.

Q. What was happened with Amélie Mauresmo in Australia always in the back of your mind to drive you until the end?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: Not really. It wasn't a kind of revenge. I been very frustrating. Last January I couldn't take my opportunities to win a fifth one at that time, and this time I knew it was another opportunity and I took it.

So I wanted to forget about what happened in Melbourne, but it was a little bit in my mind. But it was more motivation than a revenge. I'm just happy. It was my second Grand Slam final this year, and I could win it. So I am more and more happy today.

Q. I know you're a big admirer of Steffi Graf when you were growing up. What does it mean to be the first person to defend the title here since she did?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: It's pretty amazing. I mean, she won here six times. She's a real champion. I think Sanchez, Seles won here three times and now me. So it's amazing to be, you know, with all these names.

But it's only my fifth Grand Slam. I will never be like all these players. I give my best all the time. I'm very proud of what I'm doing. But life keeps going. Even if I enjoy it right now, I know in tennis you have to start again, start again.

I want to enjoy it, but I know that after there will be other tournaments and I don't have to forget about that.

Q. How much credit do you give to your coach Carlos on all this success that you've had?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: A lot. I mean, you never know what could happen if I never met him, but that's the way it went.

Now in June it's 10 years, 10 years of trust, 10 years of respect, 10 years of ups and downs, and we still together. So it's amazing. I will never play tennis without him. That's the only thing I know right now.

And, again, this week, it could find the words. Before a few matches I wasn't feeling that well. He knows me so well, he knows how to talk to me. He always finds the good words to talk to me, so that's very important. He's a big part of my success for sure.

Q. Even if it's not very original, can you give us three different feelings you had in the three different wins in Roland Garros? Three different objective for each of them.

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: Yeah, the first one was very emotional because it was the first Grand Slam I won. And then it was the confirmation last year. And then this year, it's, I don't know, right now I cannot find the words to describe it. It's too early right now.

But I know when you win three times the same tournament, it probably means a lot, especially in this kind of tournament on clay. It's very tough to win here. So right now, I still not realize that I won three times the French Open. Maybe tomorrow I can answer better your question.

Q. Svetlana seemed to be coming back into the match a couple of times there. You seemed to effectively shut the door on her. Can you talk about her game, how you lifted your game, do you think experience mattered there?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: Yeah, she's been very powerful. She tried to put a lot of pressure on my serve. I was playing too short. Physically I did suffer a lot. It was time for me that this Grand Slam would end because I wasn't sleeping well at all for a couple of nights. I was feeling very tired with the heat also.

So I just, when she came back in the match, just trying to play point after point. There were crucial games. And, you know, this game at 4‑3 in the first set, I could go to 5‑3, was very important. Then in the second set, she gave me some error, 2‑0, 30‑Love. Then I come back to 2‑1. But she did a couple of mistakes at that point, and that was very important for me to come back very early in the set. Then crucial game at 3‑All in the second. I played my best tennis. I did return and volley. I took the opportunity.

So I probably didn't play my best tennis during the whole match, but at very important games, that's what I did. That's been the same during all my seven matches this week. So I'm very happy about that.

Q. Justine, on court, for you, what is the more important weapon, your heart or your mind?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: Oh, it's tough. It's a bit of everything. I mean, you just try to give your best on every shot, and I've been very calm during these last two weeks, more than in the other Grand Slams I won in the past.

So, no, I just fight on every ball, and that's very important. For sure I feel the surface much better than the other surfaces. I can slide. I have more time to organize my game. I have good defense. So that ‑‑ I know that all these kind of players, they don't like when the ball is coming back all the time. That's what I try to do in my last couple of matches, and it really went well.

Q. In terms of your mental toughness, your fighting spirit, how has Carlos helped you and taught you in that area?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: Yeah, a lot. When I was a bit younger, when I arrived on the tour, I had a couple opportunities here in the semifinal in 2001, and I won. I lost a couple of very close matches. At that time, everyone was saying that I wasn't strong enough mentally. And then, you know, I started to build something. I started to work on myself with Carlos. He always found the good words to help me. If there is someone who really believe I could become No. 1 and win Grand Slams, it was him, and he was telling me this every day. That's what happened. So for sure he's a big part of what happened in the last few years.

But when you're on the court, you alone and you have to take your responsibilities. That's what I'm doing right now.

Q. There are players on this tour in the Top 10 who not only play tennis but appear in motion pictures, television, they model for high‑fashion magazines. You're a very fundamental person, both personally and in your tennis. How did you arrive at that philosophy, that that's the way you wanted to live your life?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: I'm very different from a lot of players. And that's good to have different kind of personalties and different kind of styles of game in the women's tennis. I think that's very important.

But for me, what I love in the life I have, it's just to be on the court and to fight on the court and to push my limits. The other things, I'm not really interested. I mean, the best part is when I'm on the court, and then it's part ‑‑ everything else I have to do, it's part of my job and I accept it, but that's not why I'm playing tennis. I'm playing tennis because of these very close situations. Today, you know, this tightness, when you're nervous, on the crucial points, on breakpoints, that's what I love.

Q. This is only one of the titles of a huge collection, because we are talking about Sampras, about the possibility of Grand Slam in male tennis, but you got to the final in Wimbledon. So, I mean, you want more, or you're gonna stop?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: No, I'm not gonna stop playing tennis. It's not in my personality. I keep saying I want a long‑term career.

But if I want to do this, I have to stay healthy. To stay healthy, I have to take the good decisions. That's going to be very important for me. I have the feeling it's been another career that started for me this year because I really realize if I want to keep playing a few more years, I have to take care of myself.

So maybe it's more important the quality than playing too many tournaments. So Wimbledon remains a dream in my career, a goal for sure. There will be ‑‑ I mean, that would be the best. But I don't know. We'll see.

Q. Do you think you are the top of your possibilities technically and physically, or do you think you can do more? Which part of your career do you think you are?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: Which is good is that I won this Grand Slam without playing my best tennis all the time, and that's very important because sometimes you don't hit the ball as well as you would love to. But that's ‑‑ you have to accept it.

But when you facing a breakpoint and you playing well on that point, that's very important. I know that mentally it's been very good these last two weeks. And then I know I still have to work on the fact that I lose a lot of energy because I'm very nervous during a Grand Slam, and at the end I start to feel it. I'm getting tired a little bit. It's not a question of conditioning problem, it's just a question of that I'm thinking too much about what's happening in the tournament.

But it's in my personality, and I will probably never change about that. So I accept it and I live with that.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in French, please.

Q. You just said you were happy because you didn't play at your best level, you were nervous. How can you explain that this is a Grand Slam where you were the most calm? How can you explain that?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: Well, that's the point. I was able to manage my nervousness. Nervousness is present for all players. I don't believe a player can sleep well the day before a final here. I don't believe it's possible. This is the reason why there's a difference between the top players and those who win the major tournaments. It's normal to feel that. After, you have to manage it. How do you manage your tension? That makes a difference.

In the past I was taken over by those emotions. I couldn't manage them. But these two weeks, I accepted that things were not going too well all the time and that I was playing not so good, and I was able to manage that a lot better than in the past. Winning a Grand Slam without losing a set is not insignificant, and I was able to pull out from complicated situations during those two weeks, and I was very calm. This is why I was able to get out of it.

If I had lost my nerves, the task would have been more difficult.

Q. Can we say that today experience won, and how can we win against you?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: I don't believe nobody can beat me on clay, not at all. I believe today the difference was a couple of points, the important points. There was that game at 4‑3 in the first set where I was able to break back. And in the second set, at 2‑Love, 30‑Love, she let me come back into the match. At 3‑All, I played the best game of the whole match, and that was enough after to go towards victory.

So I managed those moments better, even though we might say she was more solid than I was.

Q. But how can we win against you?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: It's the other players who have to think about how to beat me.

Q. The third final here in Paris, wasn't it the one where you were most nervous and more tired?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: Not maybe most nervous, but the conditions were difficult. It was windy in the beginning of the match, and it was very hot. There were weather changes a lot during the past two weeks, so I felt I had this opportunity of winning a Grand Slam. It made me nervous.

But in the end, I managed that well. It was very difficult today, but I was able to manage. Of course I lost a lot of energy at the end of the tournament because I wasn't able to sleep. That's it. But this is part of me.

Of course when I play too defensive, it's not a physical problem, it's because I step back and I get more tired compared with when I control the situation.

Q. We say that you are the best on clay today. Do you believe it?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: I don't think about that kind of thing. I try to win every match that I have to play. Of course clay is my easiest surface, but I lost also matches on clay this year. You have to ask to those players how they managed to beat me.

I take everything I can. It's a bonus for me. I didn't believe one day I could win three times here. Now everything is a plus. It's great.

Q. Were you surprised by the way she played and the way she became nervous also?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: No, but I knew she was going to try to pressure me. I expected that. She wanted to do something else than the last times we played together.

But at one stage, she started making mistakes. At an important moment, I put pressure on her, and this changed the end of the match. I was happy to win in two sets. It was important for me today.

Q. There was a beautiful wave in the crowd at one stage and after another time also you laughed.

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: Well, it helped me because in those moments you have to wait a little bit, let things calm down and not be in a hurry. So it was good for me to wait. So it was useful for me.

But I felt a lot of emotion.

Q. You said you didn't sleep before a final. But do you sleep before doing your parachuting?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: Yes, I sleep. Tomorrow I might jump.

Q. It's your fifth Grand Slam. Do you have the impression you opened a new door? Before it was two, three, now it's five.

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: It's difficult to say. There are no rules. But five is becoming a big figure. When I started playing, people thought I had a lot of quality in tennis. People were saying, She's talented. But then they realized that physically I worked a lot and that I was strong mentally, so I changed a lot in a few years.

So maybe it's a revenge now, because many people thought I could do that in my career, and I did it now. It's very satisfying. But it's not an end. I'm going to continue to work and to give everything as I've been doing the past years. The major thing is health. During the first six months of the year, I proved it, although it's still difficult, but consistency is there. I'm able to play tournament after tournament.

Q. The results of a career, is it something you are thinking about? What is most important in women's tennis for you?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: Some players did things that cannot be repeated. There were great champions. I wouldn't even dream of comparing myself to them. It's incredible winning so many Grand Slams. It just can inspire your respect.

As far as I'm concerned, I try to follow my path. Everyone has a different history. I try to give my best. Now my results are starting to be more numerous, and it's wonderful because it's been more than 20 years that I've been giving everything for that. I started playing tennis when I was five years old. Since then, my life depended on tennis and was guided by tennis, so it's important to know those big moments of happiness, and it gives you strength for the future.

Q. What is the most difficult thing in tennis? Isn't it to play the French Open and Wimbledon after?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: I don't even want to think about it. It's very difficult. Not many players are able to do that.

But in Wimbledon, it's another story for me. I'm not as familiar with the surface as here. I'll see what I can do. I'm dreaming of winning Wimbledon one day. It would be the cherry on the cake. We'll see what the future will say. I have a few years ahead of me.

Q. You believe you can join all the major champions of the world? Which champion do you want to sit next to?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: I'm not thinking about that. I would like to win again the French Open, several times in the future. But the only thing that counts is working every day, daily work. Of course you need to have ambition, but you have to remain realistic. The daily work is very hard. I think very few people can realize that.

So I'm going to try to enjoy my tennis, to enjoy being on the court in good health, and we'll see what the future has for me. I have many years ahead of me, I hope.

Q. You dedicated part of your victory to Denis. Can we know who it is?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: No, it's something private. He was with me in difficult moments, and I wanted to say I was thinking about him today.

Q. All this work you've been achieving, do you feel that sometimes just a little thing can change everything, you don't have a hundred percent confidence?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: Well, when you play the final, the opponent wants the same thing that you do and you can't give up for a second. The opponent wants the same thing that you want, so it's not simple.

Even Federer has doubts, and he's the greatest at the time, and certainly for a certain time still. But sometimes I can see him on the court not feeling good, and I'm sure he doesn't sleep well before big matches. There's no reason why it should be different for champions.

Q. Do you have an explanation for why you didn't play your best tennis today or during this tournament?

JUSTINE HENIN‑HARDENNE: Well, it's not really important now. It doesn't count. What people are going to remember is that I played well from the beginning to the end or that I won the French Opens. It's not important how.

Visit the Justine Henin-Hardenne page here

Betting box Only one click and you're in the sports zone soccer tennis formula 1 boxing basketball a. football golf ice hockey horses specials FOLLOW YOUR INSTINCT