Henin-Hardenne prevails

PARIS – She doesn’t model for high-fashion magazines between tournaments and doesn’t accessorize on the job.

But Justine Henin-Hardenne proved with her 26th title Saturday, at the French Open, that, for her, fundamental and basic works just fine.

On a warm and windy afternoon when she didn’t play her best tennis and Svetlana Kuznetsova played much worse, the 5-foot-5 Belgian with the feet that fairly dance around the court needed only 1 hour and 36 minutes to win 6-4, 6-4, to become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1995-96 to win back-to-back championships here.

This triumph won’t be memorable for the play, which produced 33 winners, 68 unforced errors and no spectacular shot-making. But it was historically significant.

Henin-Hardenne swept through the draw to win her third French without losing a set or being pushed to a tiebreak, and that hasn’t been accomplished at this most demanding of majors since Chris Evert won in 1974.

She did it the way she has been winning since she turned pro in 1999 – with hard work, intelligent shot selection and nothing that would appeal to the paparazzi.

“I’m very different from a lot of players, and that’s good to have different kinds of personalities and styles in women’s tennis. But, for me, what I love in the life I have is just to be on the court and fight on the court and push my limits,” she said.

“The other things, I’m not interested in,” she said in a clear reference to Serena Williams’ movie and TV appearances and Maria Sharapova’s myriad photo shoots.

This was her fifth Grand Slam title, a feat at age 24 that matches Venus Williams.

“Winning here for the third time means more than the fifth Grand Slam, because it’s physically and mentally very hard on clay,” she said.

She has won at the French, the U.S. Open and Australian Open, and reached the final at Wimbledon in 2001. A title at the fourth Slam is a major goal on her to-do list, and she’ll begin working on it in two weeks on the grass at Eastbourne.