Relaxed attitude mixed with killer instinct is Henin’s recipe for grand slam win
January 27th, 2010 - 4:09 pm ICT by ANI
Sydney, Jan. 27 (ANI): Justine Henin has revealed that she has become a much more relaxed tennis player than she was in the past, and the real challenge that lies before the seven-times grand slam winner is to reconcile her new easier-going self with the necessary killer instinct.
“I’m much more relaxed than I was in the past, that’s for sure. I hope it’s not only because it’s the beginning, and I’m not going to get crazy again in six months,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted her, as saying.
It is still honeymoon time for the divorcee who left the game in May 2008 with her competitive fire extinguished by the desire to discover the person beyond the tennis player, to learn about herself, having sucked all she needed from the game.
This is just the second tournament after her comeback and Henin has already noticed that she is expending less energy than before.
“In a grand slam, I was really in my bubble - now we just go forward. We try many, many different restaurants. I’m more open to a lot of things. That’s the way I have to keep going. To find the right moment to put the intensity and the concentration and to get away from that, it’s probably with the experience and the maturity we can get it. But that takes for me a little bit of time because it’s really new … it’s [a] very interesting experience for me this week,” she said
Henin is booked in for a semi-final tomorrow against unseeded Chinese Zheng Jie, having yesterday eliminated 19th seed Nadia Petrova in the first of her 10 matches this January played under the Australian sun.
Now she is within two matches of outdoing Clijsters by winning a major in just her second comeback tournament. Clijsters took three.
Australia, she said, was the ideal starting point for her second career, despite her mixed experiences in previous years.
“But I just keep positive things. When I come back here, I don’t feel anything negative. It’s only good things. I’m here again in the last four. It’s just much more than what I could expect, and the dream continues, yeah,” she said. (ANI)
- 'Comeback queen' Henin beats Petrova to reach Australian Open semi-finals - Jan 26, 2010
- Belgian rivals set up fourth-round showdown, Isner crashes - Jun 26, 2010
- Henin sets up showdown with Zheng Jie - Jan 26, 2010
- Henin, Williams both looking for history in Melbourne - Jan 29, 2010
- Australian Open: Cilic chips away to overcome Roddick (Lead) - Jan 26, 2010
- Injury cuts short Henin's comeback run - Jan 10, 2010
- Oz Open: Nadal, Clijsters touted as favourites to win - Jan 16, 2011
- Clijsters wins battle of Belgium in Brisbane final - Jan 09, 2010
- Belgian comeback queens in dream Brisbane International final - Jan 08, 2010
- Clijsters to face Zvonareva in US Open final - Sep 11, 2010
- Sania Mirza goes down fighting to Henin in opening round of Australian Open - Jan 17, 2011
- Serena saves Williams pride as Venus knocked out (Lead) - Jun 30, 2010
- Unseeded Belgian Henin defeats China's Zheng Jie in Australian Open semi-final - Jan 28, 2010
- Henin is glad to be back - Jan 16, 2010
- 'Grown up' Henin says tennis back in focus ahead of Australian Open - Jan 16, 2010
Tags: australian sun, clijsters, comeback tournament, competitive fire, divorcee, grand slam winner, ideal starting point, intensity, justine henin, killer instinct, maturity, morning herald, petrova, previous years, relaxed attitude, right moment, seven times, sydney morning herald, tennis player, zheng jie
