....Justine hasn't confirmed anything, but neither did Kim at first.

The article below:



The article is first in French, and then translated.



Bientôt de retour?
Justine Henin songerait à un come-back
Après sa compatriote Kim Clijsters, c'est l'ex-no1 mondiale Justine Henin qui pourrait faire son grand retour sur le circuit, rapportent certains médias belges.


Justine Henin serait sur le point d'imiter sa compatriote Kim Clijsters. (Photo: Keystone)Selon le groupe de presse belge Vers l'Avenir, l'entourage de Justine Henin a confirmé qu'elle a repris l'entraînement il y a quelques mois. Mais officiellement, ce serait dans l'optique de matches exhibition que la Belge doit disputer en fin d'année à Charleroi.
Par ailleurs, l'épouse de Carlos Rodriguez, ancien coach de Justine Henin, a déclaré de son côté «que certaines choses se préparent, mais que je n'ai pas le droit d'en parler», peut-on lire sur le site 7sur7.be.

Egalement porte-parole de l'ancienne championne, Elke Van Dongen-Rodriguez poursuit: «Justine a effectivement recommencé à se préparer physiquement et à frapper la balle un peu plus souvent ces derniers temps».
Agée de 27 ans, Justine Henin avait annoncé le 14 mai 2008, à la surprise générale, qu'elle mettait un terme à sa carrière. Depuis la création des classements professionnels, jamais un numéro un mondial en exercice (homme ou femme) n'avait quitté la scène au sommet de la hiérarchie.
Le 26 mars dernier, sa compatriote Kim Clijsters officialisait son retour à la compétition. Elle a fait sa première apparition sur les courts le 10 août, lors du tournoi WTA de Cinncinati.


Soon to return?
Justine Henin songerait a come-back
After his Kim Clijsters compatriot, is the ex-# 1 World Justine Henin that could make his great return on the circuit related some Belgian media.


Justine Henin would be to imitate his Kim Clijsters compatriot. According to the future Belgian press group, Justine Henin entourage confirmed resumed training a few months ago. But officially, it would be in the light of matches exhibition that the Belgian must play at the end of the year in Charleroi.
Furthermore, the former coach of Justine Henin, Carlos Rodriguez wife said his side "some things are preparing, but I do not have the right to talk about", can be read on the 7sur7.be site.

Also spokesperson for the former champion, Elke Van Dongen-Rodriguez continues: "Justine actually resumed prepare physically and hitting the ball a little more often lately."
Aged 27, Justine Henin announced on 14 May 2008 to General surprise, put an end to his career. Since the creation of professional rankings, never a number a world in-Office (man or woman) no had left the scene at the top of the hierarchy.
On 26 March, its Kim Clijsters compatriot officialisait his return to the competition. She made his first appearance on the short August 10, of the Cinncinati WTA tournament.
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Apparently its been all over Belgium news today and would be huge for the game. Again, didn't care for Justine the person...loved her tennis!!! This would be a bombshell as far as I'm concerned because I really expected her to be gone for good. Reaction has been mixed. Some are already saying that her "doping" suspension that was kept undercover is over (ahh gotta love conspiracy theorists). Others have said she didn't want Kim to have the spotlight for too long. Her die hard fans are ecstatic. Look I don't care. It will be interesting to see if its true and she does come back. I want players to have more shots at Justine, particularly Serena.

Her abrupt retirement was surprising, of course. And doping is possible, I guess...just as it is for any athlete playing anything (really, I didn't inhale). But it could really have been her body breaking down and her motivation leaving her. With the long break, if she has regained the desire....that would be wonderful to see.

Capriati had a second career, for all intents and purposes. And Agassi essentially did as well. Now Kim and possibly Justine are doing a Belgian version. They might not have any better results than Hingis did, but here's hoping they do.

If we could talk Bret Favre into wearing a tennis skirt, maybe he and Henin could do an exhibition circuit.

If there were enough money and attention involved, Favre would do it.

There was a brief mention of this yesterday during the Pilot Pen tournament. First I had heard at all. Understandably, it's been kept pretty quiet. I hadn't heard about the doping issue at all. Guess I'll have to try to research that.

Thanks Voicemale. We already had a folder for this topic, so I put your post over here.



This is very interesting news! And since there aren't any majors in the near future, she'll have time to test herself at low key events. --------According to a Belgian Newspaper:

"Justine Henin will announce her return to competiton on Tuesday, reports Le Soir.

Belgian press also report that Henin has agreed to be a guest on Belgian news program RTL-TVI on Monday or Tuesday night, after previously declining interview requests."

I'm glad she's coming back - mostly because there's such a gap between the players of her caliber (which also includes Clijsters, Venus, Serena, and when she can fix that brutal serve motion - Sharapova) and the wannabes like Ivanovic, Jankovic, Safina and the myriad of "ova's" and "eva's". That said, Justine can be an unpleasant person to listen to, abrasive in her personality, and these endless ongoing dialogs she has with Coach Rodriguez in the stands during a match make a mockery out of the coaching rules .

Now if we could only get Mary Pierce's knee re-designed, Jennifer Capriati's shoulder re-aligned and Martina Hingis's blood de-cokeified the WTA will be as deep and as interesting to watch as the men

Its official...Justine Henin will return to the WTA tour in January 2010. Fasten your seatbelts...its going to be a bumpy ride. This is going to be really interesting. Can't wait to see Serena vs Justine, Kim vs Justine, Venus vs Justine. So much drama. According to Justine's coach, she saw Roger win the French Open and realized how much she really wants to win Wimbledon. Great news!! I hope this motivates other players and helps them step up their game. Its all too soon to know exactly how she'll do. I'm not sure she'll have a Clijsters-like return, but I don't see why she can't being as though she was a better player than Kim. But, each comeback is different. She said she plans to play at least until the Olympics in 2012 so let the games begin!!

*laugh* So you're not all that interested in Vika vs. Justine, Wozniacki vs. Serena, Kim vs. Jankovic or Venus vs. Safina? It's funny how the leading lights and emerging stars of the last two years already seem like an afterthought with the Belgians coming back. Women's tennis has certainly become more interesting now with five veteran, multi-slam champions all in the mix (including Sharapova).

On a sort of related note...I just noticed something while looking at the rankings that makes things more understandable as to why Kim and Justine are back: Caroline Wozniacki is only 800 points from displacing Venus as the World No. 3! Basically if Venus's knee injury keeps her off the circuit this Fall and Caro keeps on playing a ton of tennis, as is her MO, she can very easily end the year in the Top 3.

I always thought that Justine gave about 150% of what her body was capable of, and she just used it all up. Burned up and burned out. She had nothing left and she knew it. I don't see how she can get back to that level, although she was a (comparatively!) dominant #1. Kim has more physical gifts. But we shall see! Maybe she's just play at whatver level she gets to just for the fun of it.

I like that Wimbledon is her focus. That speaks to a deeper motivation. And puts her in line to compete against Serena and Venus where they have been so dominant. Her presence might stir Serena's competitive desires as well. Serena hasn't really seemed to think that the remaining crop, except for Venus, is truly on her level. But Justine was, and proved it many times. In addition to Kim's strong performance, having Justine back might give Serena the desire in the regular events...so that she has motivation to improve...which can help her in the majors.

Already looking forward to the AO, lol.

Justine and Serena should make a pact: Justine will let her win the French (so that she can finally have at least two of each major) so long as Serena lets her win at Wimbledon to complete the career Slam.

Of course, Venus might have something to say about that, but I kind of feel like this was her last year to win it, unfortunately.

I guess she got all the PED's out of her system

Serena craps bigger than Justine. I hope she treats her the way she threatened to treat that lineswoman.

Henin to debut new serve for Australian OpenAssociated Press


BRUSSELS (AP) - Just 16 months away from tennis was enough for Justine Henin.

She'll return in January ahead of the Australian Open, complete with a new serve in her quest for a Wimbledon title. It's the only Grand Slam she didn't win in a 10-year career that produced nearly $20 million in earnings.

Henin's goal is to achieve 70-percent success on her first serves. That improvement, along with her daunting whip backhand, will have opponents scrambling.

"We said that perhaps, one day, we will get there," Henin said Wednesday at a news conference, a day after announcing her comeback. "I am not (tall), so technically it has to be perfect."

At 5 feet, 6 inches, accuracy and consistency on her first serve had been a problem. With more than three months before her first competitive match, she has time to retool her serve.

"Justine is convinced we can reconstruct her serve," coach Carlos Rodriguez said. "We have time."

A powerful serve is especially essential to dominate on the grass of Wimbledon, and it will complement the rest of her solid game.

"The balance between things is what makes Justine what she is — power, explosiveness, endurance, coordination, intuitiveness," Rodriguez said.

That balance also applies to her personal life. Henin said the yearlong break has given her more confidence to become a leader and provided a broader outlook on life after serving as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador.


Justine Henin and her coach, Carlos Rodriguez. (Yves Logghe / Associated Press)

On the comeback trail, Henin will clash again with fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters, who won the U.S. Open this month just three tournaments into her comeback after more than two years away.

"It is a source of inspiration and motivation," Henin said. "I have come to realize that I would not have been this strong if she had not been there at the time."

Henin defeated Clijsters to win three of her first four Grand Slam titles in 2003-2004.

"Justine's comeback is extremely good news for women's tennis, but even better for Belgium in general," Clijsters said in a statement.

Henin wants to play at least until the 2012 London Olympics. By then, she hopes to have won Wimbledon — the only Grand Slam title missing on her resume of four French Open titles, two U.S. Opens and one Australian Open championship.

She won singles gold at the 2004 Athens Games.

Henin expects to play exhibition tournaments in Charleroi, Belgium, and Dubai to hone her skills ahead of a competitive return at the Australian Open.

Sydney tournament organizers are hoping Henin will play there before the season-opening Grand Slam. Her announced return to Melbourne Park was warmly greeted by Australian Open officials.

"Any time you can welcome a past champion on a comeback trail it's an opportunity you would never want to miss," tournament director Craig Tiley said. "We would love Justine to be a part of the Australian Open again."