THE tennisreporters.net NEWSLETTER: FRIDAY, MARCH 26, NO, 78

Justine's coach: She's not ducking anyone
Rodriguez: 'We like the rivalry with Serena and the game needs the charisma that their rivalry brings'

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA

Defending her Roland Garros title is a top priority with Henin-Hardenne.

There are few coaches and players with a better relationship than top-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne and her coach of seven years, Carlos Rodriguez. It's match made in corporate heaven by the likes of Donald Trump and Martha Stewart: a go-getter meets a go-getter, perfectionist egging on another perfectionist.

"We are such a good pair," Henin-Hardenne said. "We understand each other perfectly. But I think he is the most critical one. Sometimes he's telling me to be more tolerant with myself, but sometimes he is very critical. I know why he is like this, and he helps me to be the player that I am right now."

As great has Henin-Hardenne has become over the past nine months, Rodriguez is not satisfied and picks apart her game like a hungry angler de-boning a fish. She's not playing the NASDAQ-100 this week, putting her under severe criticism in some quarters. But after her title run at Indian Wells, Henin-Hardenne had played for four weeks straight and there was no way she was going to change her schedule just because Serena Williams picked Miami to come back, especially because her next major goal is to defend her Roland Garros crown.

"We never expected back in October and November when we made our schedule that Serena was not going to play all those tournaments she entered: Australia, Antwerp, Doha," Rodriguez told tennisreporters.net. "That was a lot [to miss]. I hope she does come back and all the top players do so we can start competing against them again, because with all these injuries, it's a bad moment for women's tennis."

'We like the rivalry with Serena and the game needs the charisma that their rivalry brings'
Justine says that she's not avoiding Serena, who she's beaten two out of the last three times they've played. In fact, Rodriguez says that she's relishing a chance to test her amped up power game against the Williamses, but wouldn't be brow beaten into entering Miami. Rodriguez says that Kim Clijsters isn't pushing Henin-Hardenne enough anymore, which is why she's itching for another series of battles between with the sisters.

"We have hoped Serena would come back even sooner because it's great motivation for us," Rodriguez said. "Justine wants to play the best players and Serena has been the best player. We like the rivalry and the game needs the charisma that their rivalry brings. Serena is more competition for Justine and it will more difficult for Justine with Serena playing, but that's what people want to see. Serena has pushed Justine to improve. When they play against each other, they both get things out of it."

Henin-Hardenne has played five tournaments this year and won four titles. Rodriguez and her fitness trainer, Pat Etcheberry, don't believe that it's a smart idea for their filly to play too many tournaments back to back. Rodriguez lives in constant fear that the same fate that befell the Williamses, Kim Clijsters, Jennifer Capriati, Amelie Mauresmo, Monica Seles etc., etc., could land on Henin-Hardenne: a serious injury or illness that take her out of serious contention.

"The [rash of injuries] has scared me. Justine has a lot injuries in past and she gets sick. She a great athlete and is very fit but she's very fragile, when she changes weather, food and surfaces she has to take time off. I've learned over the years that she needs time to get prepared. Plus, as No. 1, she has responsibilities to go to tournaments healthy and go to play your best game to the people to who pay for the tickets. That's how you show to respect to the fans."

Due to the Olympics, the 2004 schedule is more compacted. After training for two weeks at the Saddlebrook Academy, Justine will play back-to-back weeks at Amelia Island and Charleston, where Serena is also scheduled to play. Even though the top players aren't requited to play week in and week out, Rodriguez says that the pressure is there from all sides to stay on court as many weeks as possible.

"We have made the decision to the say to the WTA, 'Look guys, there needs to be a better balance,' " he said. "The game and the public suffers because the quality of the tennis goes down. For me, the most important thing is Justine's health. Now have two big tournaments that come together (Indian Wells and Miami) and then the clay courts come together. Over the last five years, we've had the most amount of players ever that have both charisma and power. That's been great for women's tennis. But when they don't play, it takes a big part of the excitement away. We've arrived at that point because all of us – coaches, sponsors agents, the WTA – have pushed to try to gain something, but sometimes we forget the players. Now we've arrived this moment of injuries. Everyone has to do something together."

Even though Henin-Hardenne won '03 Roland Garros, Rodriguez was not satisfied with the direction that her game was going. The bar he set for her was not just to out-think and out-race the Williamses and Clijsters on clay, but to beat them back on fast surfaces. That's why Henin-Hardenne's serve, forehand, return are so much bigger now and why when she's zoning, she'll attack the net a good 15 times a match.

Rodriguez said that US Open champ Henin-Hardenne learned firm lessons at '03 Wimbledon, when Serena knocked her out in straight sets in the semis, and in the US Open semis, when Jennifer Capriati has her on the ropes all night long before choking.

"If you are realistic about what happened at the US Open, Jennifer played the best tennis in the last two years at times during that match," he said. "She had Justine under pressure for two-and-half hours, running around almost all the time. Jennifer dictated the match and Justine followed. The only time when Justine tried to go for lines and played more aggressive was when she was down. Jennifer gave her help in certain times during that match. In similar situation, Venus and Serena wouldn't have missed those opportunities."

SERENA, VENUS HAVE DOMINANATED THE LAWNS
Even though Henin-Hardenne has reached the Wimbledon final, Rodriguez doesn't think she plays ambitious enough on grass. It's one of the Belgian's main goals to go around the block and grab Slams on all surfaces this year. Rodriguez expects her to make better use of her weaponry on the surface, just like she does on dirt.

"There's no question that the Williamses have been better on grass. Just like Justine is on clay, they are just as effective on grass," he said. "Justine has to play more aggressive. She lost against Venus and Serena there they are so good and powerful. Serena plays on the rise and moves so well. If Justine don't take some risks, play some slices, mix it up, come in, and make them play more in the back. Justine has done all the work, with her fitness, her improved forehand and her backhand variations, but she has to use those things. She cannot beat the sisters if she stays back. But if she goes to the net more, maybe we'll see something interesting."

Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA

The showdown between Serena and Justine won't happen in Miami.

With Henin-Hardenne winning nearly every match she's played since '03 Wimbledon, it's not easy for Rodriguez to convince her that a long-term approach to success is worth experimenting with in matches. Even though her serve has improved tremendously over the past year, he still sees much work to be done. It's Rodriguez plan to make sure that Henin is nearly as effective defending her second serve as well as she is her first, and he makes the point that as of late, her winning percentage between of her first and second serves has been reduced to about 10 percent. He's pleased with that, but doesn't always feel that the 5-foot-5 Henin-Hardenne is ambitious enough.

"She does not have a good serve," Rodriguez. "It's irregular. When she's aggressive and is thinking about going forward, her serve is very good, but when she's not and playing more defensive, it's not so good. When she's in danger, she serves well, but she doesn't always play tactically well with her serve. At her height, you have to expend a lot of energy serving. So we try to play a lot with spins so the difference between her first and second serves isn't that great. That's more important so players like Lindsay Davenport can't kill her with two balls. For Justine, the most important thing is to keep the control of her side of court."

With three Slam titles, Henin-Hardenne is already a slam-dunk Hall of Famer. But she knows that she needs to gather another armful of major crowns if she's to be considered an all-time great. Henin-Hardenne needs three more Slam titles to pass Martina Hingis and be called the best "little" player of the Open era.

Justine and Rodriguez are aware of the fact that it was the powerful Williamses and Davenport (along with foot injuries) that pushed Hingis into a premature retirement. The only pushing that Rodriguez wants from the Williamses is to shove her to greater heights.

"They are going to push her more and help me to say to Justine, 'You cannot play defensively against these kind of players. You have to go and expand your possibilities.' It's hard for me to say to her that 'your first serve isn't good enough' when she was only broken once in a match and wins. The Williamses won't let her win by playing defensive. The Williamses playing will actually help make my job easier."