Henin believes her time has come

In a time before illness and injury, Justine Henin-Hardenne was the first Belgian to play in a Wimbledon singles final.

She can, she believes, do it again.

Wimbledon is the only grand slam trophy missing from Henin-Hardenne's collection and the world number three feels she has the game to succeed on grass.

Buoyed up after retaining her French Open title earlier this month, Henin-Hardenne switched to grass with her first visit to the Eastbourne women's tournament, where she found the relaxed atmosphere to her liking -- though she was less keen on the seaside resort's breezy weather.

All she needed to be ready for next week was a little faith in herself, she said.

"I just need to get confident with more games on grass," she told reporters in Eastbourne.

"My results from the past have to give me confidence; I have beaten pretty strong players on the surface. The only thing is that I don't have many matches (on grass) in the last few years."

Last year's Wimbledon gave her scant time to get to grips with the surface. Henin-Hardenne lost in the first round to Greek Eleni Daniilidou.

"Last year I was injured and my hamstrings were very painful," Henin-Hardenne said.

"I had no chance to win Wimbledon last year in the shape that I was in."

An energy-sapping virus and a knee injury both took their toll during 2004 and 2005.

SHOULDER INJURY

In the Australian Open final against Amelie Mauresmo this year, Henin-Hardenne pulled out midway through because of an upset stomach brought on, she believed, by the anti-inflammatory tablets she was taking for a shoulder injury.

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Her health has improved, though the debilitating virus has left a legacy: "I still have to be very careful and I can't train or work as hard as I once did," Henin-Hardenne said. "But I have a great team around me and I get checked every two months."

Mentally, though, she is fighting fit.

"I always fight, maybe harder than anyone, and never give up," the 24-year-old said. "That's very important on grass because it's a frustrating surface."

Henin-Hardenne's mental toughness stems, in part, from her personal life. Her mother died when she was 12 and she is estranged from her father. Her grandfather, to whom she was close, died on the day she lost to Venus Williams in the 2001 Wimbledon final.

"Even now there is not an hour in my life when I don't think of my mum," she said. "I know I will never recover from that experience."

Approaching Wimbledon, however, Henin-Hardenne preferred to dwell on the positive things in life and cited her relative lack of height -- she is 1.67 metres tall, while defending champion Venus Williams stands 1.85 metres -- as an advantage on grass where she can make the bigger players run for the ball.

"If I can keep the ball a little bit longer and just try to open up the court after two or three shots, that can help me," she said.

"I've already done well at Wimbledon, with a final and two semis, and I'm much better now than I was then."