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Justine Henin-Hardenne (pronounced zhoo-STEEN EN-ah ar-DEN listen) (born June 1, 1982, Liège, Belgium) is a former world number one ranked tennis player from the Wallonia (francophone) region of Belgium.

Family life

Her official name was (and still is) Justine Henin before her marriage with Pierre-Yves Hardenne on November 16 in chateau de Lavaux-Sainte-Anne, 2002. She uses the name Henin-Hardenne on the tennis court but as Belgian law does not provide for a wife taking on the name of her husband, she legally still is Justine Henin. They live in Wépion, Belgium, when not on tour.

Her late mother, Françoise Rosière, was a French and History teacher. She died of intestinal cancer when Justine was only 12. Justine has two sisters : Sarah and Florence (deceased) and one brother : David. Her father is José Henin.

Tennis career

Justine has been coached by Carlos Rodriguez since she was 14. She regularly reached late rounds of international competitions and won five ITF tournaments by the end of 1998. She started her professional tennis career in the WTA tour in 1999 as a wildcard entry in Antwerp, and became the fifth player at that time to win her debut WTA Tour event.

Justine established herself as a major competitor in 2001. She reached the semifinals of Roland Garros, the final of Wimbeldon and entered the WTA top 10 by the end of the year, with three titles to her name.

In 2002, she won two more WTA titles, reached four finals and finished the year as a top 5 player.

2003 was the year when Justine asserted her prominence on the tour. On June 7, 2003 she won her first Grand Slam tournament, the French Open, defeating her Flemish compatriot Kim Clijsters. On September 7, 2003 she won her second Grand Slam tournament, the US Open, once again against Kim Clijsters. She reached the final after defeating Jennifer Capriati in the semi-finals. On October 19, 2003 she achieved the number one ranking on the WTA list, taking over from Kim Clijsters. She was named the International Tennis Federation's women's singles World Champion for 2003.

Before the 2004 season, she trained with strength and conditioning coach Pat Etcheberry, who in the past has been the fitness guru for other world-class players like Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Jennifer Capriati.

On January 31, 2004 Justine won her third Grand Slam at the Australian Open, again defeating Kim Clijsters in the final, and returned to the number one ranking on the WTA list. Unfortunately, right after winning the Grand Slam, she was struck by a strain of the cytomegalo virus, whose effect was further complicated by an immunity problem she had. She often slept up to 18 hours a day and did not have the strength to drive a car, let alone play competitive tennis. She was seeded first for the 2004 French Open. But still plagued by the viral infection contracted a few months before, she lost her second round match against a much lower-rannked Tathiana Garbin. Justine subsequently decided to withdraw from the upcoming Rosmalen and Wimbledon 2004 tournaments. She came back in August, 2004 on the court to win the gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, defeating Amélie Mauresmo in two sets. She, however, was unable to defend her US Open crown, losing against Nadia Petrova in the 4th round. As a result, she lost her number one ranking that she held for 45 straight weeks. She withdrew from the rest of the tournaments in 2004, and recuperated from the viral infection. But her intention to join the tour in the beginning of 2005 was foiled when he fractured her kneecap in a training session in December, 2004.

In March, 2005, after almost five months of inactivity, Justine returned to the WTA circuit at the NASDAQ-100 open in Miami, where she lost to the new Russian star player and world no. 2 Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals. She captured the title in her very next tournament, the Family Circle Cup Tier-1 event at Charleston, posting victories over world no. 1 Lindsay Davenport (quaterfinals), 13th seed Tatiana Golovin (semi-finals) and 2nd seed Elena Dementieva. Later in April, she captured her 21st career title by winning the J&S Cup in Warsaw, defeating 2nd seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. In May, 2005, she avenged her loss to Sharapova, convincingly defeating her in straight sets in the quarterfinals of the German Open, a tournament she eventually went on to win. This was Justine's 9th consecutive final win, a streak stretching back to Zurich in October, 2003. It was also her 3rd straight title on clay, making her a top contender for the 2005 French Open.

Awards

• 2003: Belgian Sportswoman of the Year
• 2003: ITF World Champion
• 2004: Belgian Sportswoman of the Year
• 2005: Family Circle/State Farm "Player Who Makes A Difference"

Titles (24)

Singles (22)

Singles Finalist (10)

• 2001: Wimbledon (lost to Venus Williams)
• 2001: Hawaii (lost to Sandrine Testud)
• 2001: Filderstadt (lost to Lindsay Davenport)
• 2002: Gold Coast (lost to Venus Williams)
• 2002: Antwerp (lost to Venus Williams)
• 2002: Amelia Island (lost to Venus Williams)
• 2002: Rome (lost to Serena Williams)
• 2003: 's-Hertogenbosch (lost to Kim Clijsters)
• 2003: Leipzig (lost to Anastasia Myskina)
• 2003: Filderstadt (lost to Kim Clijsters)
• 2005: French Open (to be determined, June 4 vs. Mary Pierce)

Doubles (2)

Performance timeline

See also

• List of female tennis players
• Belgium at the 2004 Summer Olympics

External links

• Official site
• Profile on WTA website
• justin-henin.net: a fansite
• justinehenin.tk: a fansite

• 1982 births
• Olympic tennis players of Belgium
• Belgian tennis players
• Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics