Four-time French Open queen Justine Henin confessed on Monday that she would not be devastated if she never wins Wimbledon.
EASTBOURNE: Four-time French Open queen Justine Henin confessed on Monday that she would not be devastated if she never wins Wimbledon.
But the Belgian added that she will be making an aggressive run at the only Grand Slam title she is lacking, beginning her preparation on grass this week at the Eastbourne Championships.
"To win all four Grand Slams would be a great achievement," Henin said on Monday, little more than a week after she beat Serb Ana Ivanovic in the Roland Garros final.
"But I don't know if it would make me any more happy. But to somehow win Wimbledon would be amazing, it would be another great adventure."
Henin said she was still riding the wave of emotion unleashed in Paris.
"I only arrived here last night," she said of the rainy English seaside town.
"After a few days, the emotions started to do down, you are still a bit tired, but it was back to work last Tuesday."
Henin said that she decided only at the last minute to keep her date at Eastbourne, the prime WTA tune-up for Wimbledon which begins in a week.
The defending champion won the title here a year ago out of the box, but said that she had not been sure about returning to defend in the wake of the Paris victory earthquake.
"I'm still not fully recovered but if I'm here, I'm here to play. I want to get a couple of matches here," said the 25-year-old, who lost last year's Wimbledon final to Amelie Mauresmo.
Henin said she spent the immediate days after her Paris trophy with her family, with whom she has been slowly reuniting over the past half-year since splitting with her husband at the start of 2007.
The champion's team also includes a new 'physical coach' in Belgium who now advises her along with her personal physio, her nutritionist and long-time coach Carlos Rodriguez.
The six-time Grand Slam champion said that her strict regime includes no sugar before bed, 'so I cannot eat Belgian chocolate.'
The world number one said that she feels better than she did at this time last year in the run-up to Wimbledon, with two days to train on the lawns of Devonshire Park before playing her opening match in the second round after a bye.
Henin is seeded for a final against Mauresmo, the defending Wimbledon winner, who played the semi-final here in 2004 but lost opening matches at the last two editions.
The top seed said that after her personal trauma of 2007, she has emerged stronger and with a firmer idea about her own life.
"In January, when she missed the Australian Open due to the strain of her marriage break-up, I was just a woman, trying to move forward and find my way."
"But I came back and rediscovered the joy of tennis. I know that a new life, my real life, will start in a few years," said the 25-year-old.
"I'm now focusing on the moment, I now have control of my life."
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