Justine Henin-Hardenne(June 1, 1982, Liège) is a former World No. 1 ranked tennis player from the Walloon (French-speaking) region of Belgium. She is well known for her mental toughness and her marvelous one-handed backhand, a stroke that John McEnroe has called the best backhand by any player in the world, female or male.

Her official name was (and still is) Justine Henin before her marriage with Pierre-Yves Hardenne on November 16, 2002, in the Château de Lavaux-Sainte-Anne. She uses the name Henin-Hardenne on the tennis court but as Belgian law does not provide for a wife taking on the name of her husband, she legally still is Justine Henin. They live in Monaco, when not on tour.

Her late mother, Françoise Rosière, was a French and History teacher. She died of intestinal cancer when Justine was only 12. Justine has two sisters: Sarah and Florence (deceased) and one brother: David. Her father is José Henin.

Henin-Hardenne, known as Juju to her many fans, has been coached by Carlos Rodriguez since she was 14. She regularly reached late rounds of international competitions and won five ITF tournaments by the end of 1998. She started her professional tennis career in the WTA tour in May 1999 as a wildcard entry in the Belgian Open at Antwerp, and became the fifth player at that time to win her debut WTA Tour event.

She established herself as a major competitor in 2001. She reached the semifinals of the French Open, the final of Wimbledon and was ranked number seven by the WTA at the end of the year, with three titles to her name.

In 2002, she won two more WTA titles, reached four finals and finished the year as a top 5 player. Her German Open victory in May 2002 was particularly noteworthy, as she beat Jennifer Capriati in the semi-final and Serena Williams in the final.

2003 was the year when Henin-Hardenne asserted her dominance on the WTA tour. On June 7, 2003 she won her first Grand Slam tournament, the French Open, defeating her Flemish compatriot Kim Clijsters. On September 7, 2003 she won her second Grand Slam tournament, the US Open, once again against Kim Clijsters. She reached the final by defeating American Jennifer Capriati in a semi-final battle of extremely high quality, winning 7-6 in the final set. In that match, which finished after midnight in New York, Capriati came within 2 points of victory no less than 11 times, but Justine refused to be beaten. On October 19, 2003 she achieved the number one ranking on the WTA list, taking over from Kim Clijsters. She was named the International Tennis Federation's women's singles World Champion for 2003.

Before the 2004 season, she again trained with strength and conditioning coach Pat Etcheberry, who in the past has been the fitness guru for other world-class players like Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Jennifer Capriati. The remarkable changes in her body and improved strength caused unsubstantiated anabolic steroid use rumors to swirl. On January 31, 2004 She won her third Grand Slam at the Australian Open, again defeating Kim Clijsters in a three-set final. She confirmed her world number one form by winning two more tournaments in February and March 2004.

On March 22, 2004, Henin-Hardenne accumulated the highest point total (7,626) in the history of the WTA rankings. Since the awarding of quality points was eliminated in 2006, and it is not possible to surpass Henin-Hardenne's record point total without the benefit of scoring any quality points, this is a tour record that may never be broken.

Unfortunately, her health was then devastated by a strain of cytomegalovirus, whose effect was further complicated by an immunity problem. She often slept up to 18 hours a day and barely had the strength to brush her teeth, let alone play competitive tennis. She was seeded first for the May 2004 French Open, but still ill with the viral infection, she lost her second round match against a much lower-ranked player, Tathiana Garbin. Henin-Hardenne subsequently had to withdraw from the upcoming Rosmalen and Wimbledon 2004 tournaments.

She came back in August, 2004, somehow finding the strength to win the gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, defeating Amélie Mauresmo of France. On the way to the gold, Henin-Hardenne rallied for a miraculous win against Anastasia Myskina of Russia in a semifinal match. After falling behind 5 games to 1, Justine found a way to win the final set 8-6, confirming her reputation as a great fighter on the court. In September 2004, she attempted to defend her U.S. Open title. However, she remained weakened by the cytomegalovirus and lost to Nadia Petrova in the 4th round. As a result, she lost the number one ranking that she had held for 45 weeks. She then withdrew from the rest of the tournaments in 2004 to recuperate from the infection. Her plan to rejoin the tour in the beginning of 2005 was delayed when she fractured her kneecap in a training session in December 2004.

On March 25, 2005, after more than six months of inactivity, Henin-Hardenne returned to the WTA circuit at the NASDAQ-100 open in Miami. She lost a hardcourt match to the new Russian star and world no. 2 Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals. She captured the title at her next tournament, winning on clay at the Family Circle Cup Tier-1 event at Charleston, posting a victory over world no. 1 Lindsay Davenport, then besting 2nd seed Elena Dementieva in the final. In April 2005, she captured her 21st career title by winning the J&S Cup in Warsaw, defeating 2nd seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final.

In May 2005 she avenged her loss to Maria Sharapova, convincingly defeating her in straight sets in the quarterfinals of the German Open, a tournament she went on to win over Nadia Petrova. It was her 3rd straight title on clay, making her a top contender for the 2005 French Open. She was the 10th seeded player in the tournament, and on June 4 defeated the French player Mary Pierce to take her second title at Roland Garros. The win was also Justine's 24th straight match won on clay and her 10th consecutive final win, a streak stretching back to Zurich in October 2003. In capturing the title, Justine managed a fourth round comeback win over Svetlana Kuznetsova, saving two match points. She also demolished Maria Sharapova in the quarters and Nadia Petrova in the semi-final.

With her French Open victory, Justine moved to number seven in the world rankings. She joined Monica Seles as the only two currently active players on the WTA Tour to have won the French Open at least twice.

At Wimbledon 2005 Justine Henin-Hardenne's winning streak of 24 matches was snapped in the first round by Greek Eleni Daniilidou (6-7, 6-2, 5-7). With this defeat she became the first French Open champion in the Open Era to lose in the opening round of Wimbledon.

In August, as No.4 seed at Toronto, she dropped just one set en route to the final, posting wins over Diaz-Oliva, Zheng, Vaidišová and No.2 seed Amélie Mauresmo before falling to No.7 seed Kim Clijsters (7-5 6-1).

At the US Open in September 2005, Henin-Hardenne was hampered by a right hamstring strain and lost to Mary Pierce in the fourth round (3-6, 4-6). In September, she was forced to withdraw from a tournament in Luxembourg.

In October, making her first Tour appearance since the US Open, Henin-Hardenne lost in the second round of Filderstadt, after a first round bye, to unseeded Flavia Pennetta. Following this, she decided to withdraw from further tournaments and announced the end of her season on October 31, 2005. The hamstring injury sustained earlier in the year limited Henin-Hardenne to 11 matches since she captured her second Roland Garros title.

In 2005, TENNIS Magazine put her in 31st place in its list of 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era. In November, at the 2005 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships, she was named the inaugural winner of the Whirlpool 6th Sense Player of the Year which honors the player who has demonstrated the most 6th sense intuition, that is to say heightened intelligence, unbeatable performance and pinpoint precision.

In January 2006, Henin-Hardenne returned to competitive tennis in Sydney, a tune-up for the 2006 Australian Open. She was seeded 5th and drew former world number one Martina Hingis in a much-hyped first round match. Henin-Hardenne overpowered her opponent in straight sets by the score of 6-3 6-3. Finding excellent form, she routed former U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in a semi-final match (6-3 6-1) before playing Francesca Schiavone in the final,which she won 4-6 7-5 7-5.

Afterwards, Henin-Hardenne played the Australian Open where she beat World No 1 Lindsay Davenport and No 4-ranked Maria Sharapova in tough three-set matches, setting up a final against Frenchwoman Amélie Mauresmo, the World No. 3. While trailing 1-6, 0-2, she retired from the match with stomach pain, probably caused by a small ulcer. Henin-Hardenne's decision to give up was greeted with controversy, as she became only the second player, and the first woman, to retire from a grand slam final in the Open Era.

Henin-Hardenne captured her second title of the year defeating Maria Sharapova 6-2 7-5 in the Tier II event in Dubai. This was her third Dubai title, since she also won in 2003 and 2004. Overall, Henin-Hardenne is one of the most consistent players on the tour.

Last week she played the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells. Unfortunately she lost in the semifinals to world no. 8 Elena Dementieva. The score was 6-2 5-7 5-7.

She is currently competing in the 5th Grand Slam of the year, the Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami.