http://0rz.tw/852VR GOING HOME AGAIN AFTER MORE THAN HER SHARE OF TRAGEDY AND HEARTBREAK, JUSTINE HENIN HAS FOUND HER FAMILY, AND HERSELF Bruce Arthur, National Post Published: Saturday, August 18, 2007 TORONTO -Maybe it is that Justine Henin's eyes are not made for magazine covers. Instead of camera-friendly crystal blue, her eyes are hard and dark; in many photographs they resemble brown wooden buttons, reflective and opaque. Or maybe it is that she herself was not made for magazine covers. Fiercely protective of her privacy, the world's No. 1 women's tennis player is diminutive, unadorned and, compared to the glittering queens of the game, just a little plain. But for all the breathless hype we in the media expend on sports, there are few truly extraordinary lives being lived. Justine Henin's is one. And yet, she had never really been beloved, only admired, for a number of reasons. For one, Henin has never talked much about her private life. It is understandable: She and her family had already endured a barrelful of tragedy before she cut off contact with her father and siblings in 1999, at age 17. Her private nature meant that when she ascended to No. 1 in 2003, she was a distant star, polite but unknowable. Font: ****As well, her seemingly aloof manner was not popular among other players -- verbally sparring with fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters, exhibiting ruthless gamesmanship. In the 2003 French Open semi-final, she raised her hand as Serena Williams served to indicate unreadiness, and Williams sent the serve into the net. But the umpire missed Henin's gesture, and refused a replay of the point while Henin remained silent. Her competitiveness could be caustic. But for all the ink we spill on Serena, Venus and Maria, Henin is the only player in the world to have won at least one Grand Slam in each of the past five years, with a U.S. Open, an Australian Open, and four French Opens, including the past three. Just 5-foot-6, she is still a giant of her era, with a story that cannot be topped. The origins of the family's fracture were murky but absolute. Around the same time in 1999, Henin moved in with her boyfriend, Pierre-Yves Hardenne. She was married in 2002; the next year, as Justine Henin-Hardenne, she ended the year ranked No. 1. But the separation from her family was all the more poignant for the family's history: Henin's mother, dead from cancer when Justine was 12; an older sibling, before Henin was born, dead after a drunk driver plowed into the grandparents' yard; a three-month-old nephew, dead in his crib. Absent war or poverty, life does not get too much darker than that. And even when she was beginning to succeed, tragedy stalked her -- after losing in the 2001 Wimbledon final, Henin was informed that her grandfather had died. Through it all, she unsentimentally plowed ahead. But this year, everything changed. It began with divorce from Pierre-Yves, which caused her to miss the Australian Open in January. "Yeah, it's been tough," Henin says. "But that's life." The bigger change came in April when her eldest brother, David, was in a car accident and slipped into a two-day coma. Henin's sister Sarah shattered the family silence with a call, and when David woke up, Henin was there, along with Sarah and her other brother, Thomas. The family fracture, incredibly, healed. So when Henin won the French-- her first Slam without the hyphenated Hardenne engraved on the trophy -- David, Sarah, and Thomas were there in the stands for the first time, and father Jose was watching from his tiny village in Belgium. And on Centre Court, in front of the world, Henin was too suffused with pure joy not to let the world in on it. "I want to dedicate this victory to my family," Henin said as she addressed the crowd. "I missed you. I want to offer this victory to you. I love you with all my heart." Afterwards, in the post-match session with reporters, Henin said she never doubted she would win, despite a shaky start. Maybe the nerves were because of her family; maybe they were just nerves, plain and simple. But Henin was clearly better for having her family near. "You cannot imagine," she said at the time, "how strong I felt." Font: ****"You know, when you're on the court in front of a lot of people, you cannot lie," Henin says now. "I mean, you show how you feel ? Even if it's been hard, you need to be strong to deal with that. But I just gave my best. At 25 years old, it's a lot of things to deal with. But you know, it's big experience in my life, no regrets, and I learned a lot of things. "In six months, a lot of things happened in my life, but I just try to keep the control in that and be myself. That's the key." In retrospect, control has always been the key. Henin was not derailed by any of the body blows life offered, big or small. Her competitive spirit, hardened and compact as her frame, was never dented. She is a fine ambassador for the game, and understands the responsibility it entails. She also says that, incredibly, she is still learning how to move forward. She was devastated by losing to 18th-seeded Marion Bartoli in the semi-finals at Wimbledon this year -- one match after having finally conquered Serena on grass -- but she learned again. "I think that there was a better player in front of me, and sometimes you have to accept that," she says. "That you're not at your best, and the other one can compete, the other one can win ? Sometimes, you just have to accept that you have moments of weakness, that's it. Physically, mentally, emotionally, that it's a little bit too much." This week, Henin matters because she is chief hope for salvation for this tournament, in terms of relevance. Last night, in windy and cold conditions against No. 6 seed Nadia Petroca, she fell behind, struggled, and fought her way through it, knife in her teeth. Even on a shaky night, it is a pleasure to watch her incredibly clean ball-striking, and particularly her Monet of a backhand, one of the most sublime strokes in the entire tennis world. But the most sincere pleasure is that of witnessing a survivor; someone whose spirit has endured like a diamond, who understands her responsibilities to the sport, to herself, and finally, to her family. It is a rare and beautiful thing. "I think I'm very proud of how I could deal with the situation this year, because it's been big issues in my personal life," Henin says. "And yeah, I was really focused on that, because it's been more important than my tennis career at times. And I feel great now. I feel happy. I have the feeling [that] I move forward. "Every time I'm on the court, I just want to be able to compete 100%, and that's what I'm doing. I have another life also after tennis, and I want to stay healthy for that life, because it's going to be a real one." -- 難得非關比賽的文章... 寫Henin很詳細呢....... 大家練練英文 --

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