Tennis: Nervous Henin Clears First Hurdle

Justine Henin-Hardenne, the French Open champion and world No1, arrived here not knowing exactly what to expect having not played any competitive tennis since early April after suffering from glandular fever. She remains a little unsure, but duly won her opening match 6-4, 6-4 against Sandrine Testud of France.

Court Philippe Chatrier, the Parisian equivalent of Wimbledon's centre court, was far from full as Henin stepped out to begin her defence. At a distance she still appears a remarkably pale and diminutive figure, perhaps the more so yesterday morning, her face being taut with first-day nerves.

"When I'm not nervous any more before a match then it's going to be time to stop tennis. I'm always extremely nervous before any match," said Henin, who understandably struggled to find her touch in the opening games.

"The beginning of the match was very difficult because naturally I was short of confidence having not played the pre-French tournaments on clay."

As much as she tried to concentrate on the matter in hand, her mind inevitably flashed back to last year's final when she defeated her fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters for her first slam title, the precursor to further triumphs at the US Open and this year's Australian Open.

"Yes, of course I had flashbacks, but I knew I needed to concentrate hard. The only thing I wanted to do was win; it didn't matter too much how well or badly I played."

Initially she struggled with her serve in particular, but by the end of the match the rhythm had returned, while her sumptuous backhand was flashing winners past Testud.

France's Amélie Mauresmo, the No3 seed and the winner of two recent tournaments, was predictably more than a little nervous herself, but was still too powerful for Ludmila Cervanova of Slovakia and won her first match 6-3, 6-3.