ESPN Tennis

Updated: June 13, 2006, 12:54 PM ET

Home away from home for Henin-Hardenne

With her second straight French Open title and third in the last four years, Justine Henin-Hardenne has proven that Roland Garros is her favorite place to play tennis. Greg Garber explains.

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By Greg Garber
ESPN.com
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PARIS -- Everyone has a favorite place -- a secret garden, a room with a hearth, a bench in the park -- where they feel safe and happy. For Justine Henin-Hardenne, Roland Garros has come to be that place.

She grew up in nearby Belgium, and her late mother brought her here as a 10-year-old girl. Today, this grand yet curiously quaint venue resonates for her with a feeling of home.

On Saturday, the 24-year-old won her third French Open singles title, dissecting Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-4, with a stylish and complete game that so complements the red clay.

Jack Guez/AFP/Getty ImagesSince 2003, Justine Henin-Hardenne is 22-1 at the French Open.

Afterward, tears burning her eyes, Henin-Hardenne clasped her hands on her head and allowed herself to feel the love of the 15,000 assembled at Court Philippe Chatrier.

"The first one was very emotional because it was the first Grand Slam I won," Henin-Hardenne said. "And then it was confirmation last year. And then this year, I right now cannot find the words to describe it. It's too early right now.

"I still not realize that I won three times the French Open. Maybe tomorrow I can answer better your question."

At Roland Garros, Henin-Hardenne is in a class by herself. She is the only active player to have won here more than once and she joins an elite list of three-time French Open champions that includes, among others, Chris Evert (seven titles), Steffi Graf (six), Margaret Court-Smith (five), Monica Seles and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (three each).

"[Graf] won here six times," Henin-Hardenne said. "She's a real champion. I think Sanchez, Seles won here three times and now me. It's amazing to be with all these names.

"But it's only my fifth Grand Slam. I will never be like all these players."

How dominant has she been?

Henin-Hardenne has won three of last four titles at Roland Garros. If a strange and terrifying virus hadn't doomed her 2004 title defense, we might be talking about four straight. That hasn't happened here since Suzanne Lenglen and the Roaring Twenties.

Moreover, the Belgian has now won 22 of her last 23 matches here, and she ran through seven matches without dropping set; the last women to negotiate the field without losing a set was Sanchez-Vicario a dozen years ago.

"I was able to manage my nervousness," she said. "I don't believe a player can sleep well the day before a final here. I don't believe it's possible. In the past, I was overtaken by those emotions. These two weeks, I accepted that things were not going too well all the time, and was able to manage that a lot better than in the past.

"Winning a Grand Slam without losing a set is not insignificant. I was able to pull out from complicated situations during those two weeks, and I was very calm."

Henin-Hardenne and Kuznetsova previously had met 11 times, with the Belgian winning 10. If you are Kuznetsova, how do you overcome that kind of history?

It was only the second Grand Slam final for the 20-year-old Russian, although she held match points in the fourth round against the two eventual champions -- Anastasia Myskina and Henin-Hardenne -- the last two years at Roland Garros.

After her semifinal victory over Nicole Vaidisova, Kuznetsova did not sound confident she could beat Henin-Hardenne.

"I just want to give a fight," she said. "I know it's going to be tough, very tough opponent."

Henin-Hardenne is considered by most of her peers to be the best clay-court player on the women's side. She has a marvelous command of the red clay and there were few in tennis who gave Kuznetsova a realistic chance in the final. The first game confirmed that sentiment.

The Russian's strengths -- her powerful baseline shots -- are better served on hard surfaces, as her 2004 U.S. Open championship attests. On clay, it is only a matter of time before her margin for error evaporates. Serving to open the match, she committed five unforced errors and a costly double-fault set up Henin-Hardenne's flying forehand winner.

It was a hole from which Kuznetsova never emerged, although she did fight.

Matthew Stockman/Getty ImagesSvetlana Kuznetsova had 2-0 lead in the second set before Henin-Hardenne broke back and won six of the final eight games.

Kuznetsova broke Henin-Hardenne in the second game of the second set, but just as quickly, the Belgian broke her back. The sixth game was her finest. After struggling to hold serve, she blitzed Kuznetsova, breaking her with the minimum number of four points. The end came for Kuznetsova when Henin-Hardenne raced to net, carved a gorgeous backhand volley and followed it with a resounding overhead.

"It looked so much similar to other matches," Kuznetsova said. "I just don't use the chances. If you don't use the chance, you don't win the matches."

Henin-Hardenne has now won five of the last 13 Grand Slam singles titles contested. And while it is not Federeresque dominance, it is beyond what anyone else has done on the women's side. The way she is playing, the WTA Tour's new No. 3-ranked player will be a factor at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, too.

The post-match scene of Henin-Hardenne smiling with the sterling trophy for a battery of photographers was markedly different from the one that played out five months ago in Melbourne. This victory will mitigate the bitterness that flowered after she retired while trailing Amelie Mauresmo 1-6 and 0-2. Henin-Hardenne quit, claiming a gastrointestinal illness brought on by painkillers taken for an injured shoulder prevented her from continuing.

"It wasn't a kind of revenge," Henini-Hardenne said. "I've been very frustrated. Last January I couldn't take the opportunities to win a fifth one at that time. This time, I knew it was another opportunity and I took it. So I wanted to forget about what happened in Melbourne, but it was a little bit in my head."

One Grand Slam is a lifetime achievement. Two or three is unusual, but four and now five? That puts Henin-Hardenne in a different category.

"There are no rules," she said. "But five is becoming a big figure. Maybe it's revenge now, because many people thought I could not do that in my career, but I did it now.

"It's very satisfying. But it's not an end. I'm going to continue to work and give everything."

Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com.