Justine Henin Biography, Life, Interesting Facts
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Water
Childhood And Early Life
Professional Belgian tennis player Justine Henin was born on the 1 June 1882 in Liege to Francoise Rosiere and Jose Henin. She has three siblings: a sister Sarah and two brothers, David and Thomas. When she was an infant, the family moved to Rocheford. Henin was 12 when her mother died.
Rise To Fame
As a child, Justine Henin grew up with a tennis club closeby and started playing the game at a young age. She also used to be taken to the French Open with her French mother who was a fan of the game. It was at 1992 final that she saw Steffi Graf and Monica Seles play and she became a fan of Graf’s game. Her mother died in 1995, and it was around this time that Justine Henin met tennis coach Carlos Rodriguez and he became her trainer. Under his coaching, she won the junior girls singles at the French Open (1997) and started preparing for turning professional.
Professional Tennis Career
She started playing professionally in 1999 and eventually went on to spend 117 weeks as the No 1 women’s tennis playing in the world. She was number 1 in 2003, 2006 and 2007. Justine Henin retired in 2008, made a comeback in 2010 and retired again in 2011.
Awards And Achievements
Over the course of her professional tennis career, Justine Henin won the French Open four times (2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007). She also won the US Open twice (2003 and 2007) and the Australian Open (2004). Henin was also awarded a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. Tennis Magazine honored her by placing her number 31 on their list of the 40 Greatest Players (1965-2005) and Time Magazine named her on their list of the 30 Legends of Women’s Tennis: Past, Present & Future (2011). In 2016 she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Personal Life
Justine Henin married Pierre-Yves Hardenne in November 2002. The couple adopted a son Justine Henin-Hardenne. She separated from Hardenne in January 2007 and in 2015 married Benoit Bertuzzo. The couple had two children together Lalie (2013) and Victor (2017).