Football
19y

Tennis-Comeback win for Henin-Hardenne

By Eleanor Preston

MIAMI, March 25 - Former world number one Justine
Henin-Hardenne was happy to be back after making a successful
return to the women's tour on Friday following a lay-off lasting
nearly seven months.

The Belgian, who had been out of action since last year's
U.S. Open, beat American Abigail Spears 6-4 6-3 to earn a place
in the third round of the Nasdaq-100 Open.

"I was pretty nervous but actually it's very normal,"
Henin-Hardenne told reporters. "Even if everything was not
perfect, far from it, I enjoy my tennis and I know I need to be
patient.

"Everything will come back with competition and playing a
lot of matches. It feels very good, even if it's still hard at
the beginning to find the rhythm and everything.

"Just the fact that I'm back on the courts, it's great.
That's the only thing that was really important for me today."

The last 12 months have been a frustrating cycle of illness,
comeback and injury for the Belgian, dating back to when she was
first stricken with the debilitating virus mononucleosis this
time last year.

ILL-FATED COMEBACK

Henin-Hardenne made an ill-fated comeback attempt during the
clay-court season in the hope of defending her French Open
title.

After going out in the second round at Roland Garros she
retreated back to her sickbed and did not return until the
Athens Olympics in August.

She won a gold medal in Greece but the effort caught up with
her a fortnight later at the U.S. Open and, after reaching the
last 16, she did not play again during 2004.

Henin-Hardenne attempted another comeback in January before
the Australian Open, only to injure her knee while practising at
a warm-up event in Sydney.

"My knee is very good now (but) I lost a lot of confidence
last year when there were days I couldn't get up," she said.

"It's been ups and downs. Mentally, it was very, very
difficult. Fortunately I got a lot of support from my family, my
coach, my friends.

"That helped me a lot with this experience. But it's been
really, really hard."

Henin-Hardenne's next opponent in Miami will be Spain's
Nuria Llagostera Vives.

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