ANTWERP (AFP) - Justine Henin credits pure emotion with prompting her first WTA appearance on a home tennis court in five years. The all-business Belgian who has mellowed remarkably since a reapproachment with her formerly estranged family last spring, makes her start at the Diamond Games on Thursday after a first-round bye. "It's not often that I change my schedule," said the four-time Roland Garros champion who owns 40 career titles. "But I wanted to play at home. "Since things changed in my life I became closer to my friends. And I wanted to give them the chance to see me play for one last time at an official event here. "I also think of this as a gift for some of the things that have happened to me over the last few years," said the 25-year-old world number one who went through a painful and private divorce in early 2007. "I made the decision to play here, I took it by myself and I'm happy that I did it. "I'm looking forward to a great week, I feel at home here." The tournament will fall victim to a WTA calendar change from 2009, dropping from the official schedule. Henin begins play against the winner from veteran Anne Kremer of Luxembourg and Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova. Seeded second is Russian Anna Chakvetadze, winner of last week's indoor event in Paris, ahead of Slovak Daniela Hantuchova, an Australian Open semi-finalist, and Swiss fourth seed Patty Schnyder. Henin will be competing for the first time since losing a heartbreak quarter-final in Melbourne to Maria Sharapova. The Belgian admitted that she had been disappointed by the behaviour of Sharapova's father Yuri who had made a throat-slitting gesture after his daughter's straight sets win. "I was really annoyed and I telephoned Larry Scott (WTA president) to ask his opinion. He told me that he found the gesture unacceptable," said Henin. "You shouldn't have to see this type of thing in a tennis stadium. It takes away from the image of women's tennis and can open the door for all types of problems. "I didn't take the gesture personally but it shocked me for tennis." Henin added: "She (Sharapova) largely deserved to win but now I've analysed this defeat and I'm ready to bounce back." It was the Belgian's first loss since going down to Marion Bartoli in a Wimbledon semi-final last summer. "It was a very tough loss, but I had to accept it," she said. "It's not easy to lose after being unbeaten for seven months. "But I had a knee problem and I knew I had been beaten by a better player on the day. I'm ready and focused on the future and am looking forward to this week." The Belgian said that in the three-plus weeks since the loss, she was unable to train for more than a fortnight as her problem knee injury healed. Her last appearance in Antwerp was a 2003 semi-final loss to Kim Clijsters. Henin lost a final here to Venus Williams in her Antwerp debut in 2002. == 莎娃打的真的很棒,值得勝利及冠軍 但是莎爸呢...不與置評 如果有人不知道什麼是莎爸的手勢, 這裡有,在影片結尾46秒的地方 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6iMbwXS-v8 就是他著名的割喉手勢 --

※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 122.126.67.20 ※ 編輯: adorable 來自: 122.126.67.20 (02/13 01:00)