Author Description

A gritty girl with a gruesome family history, Justine Henin-Hardenne is no ordinary tennis star. Her Wimbledon Final appearance in 2001, aged 19, was a sign of things to come. In 2003, she won the French and US Open titles to finish the year as World Number One. True to form, she began 2004 by making it a hat trick of Grand Slam triumphs with victory at the Australian Open. Yet behind her amazing triumph, tragedy and discord had torn her family apart. Untimely deaths had struck five generations in less than 30 years. Justine's mother, sister, nephew, grandfather, and great-grandmother lost their lives in exceptionally sad circumstances. Her family almost appeared to be cursed. Yet she chose to treat many surviving relations as though they too had ceased to exist. When Justine married Pierre-Yves Hardenne in 2002, her father and brothers were among those left off the invitation list. How did it come to this? And how did Justine overcome such misery to become queen of world tennis?