Henin has a happy return to Roland Garros

Having walked away from tennis on the eve of the French Open in 2008, the four-time champion is back in her stride straight away.

Justine Henin returns a backhand to Tsvetana Pironkova at Roland Garros yesterday.

When Justine Henin walked away from tennis on the eve of the 2008 French Open, it was to discover life beyond the game. After 20 years the sport had become an all-encompassing passion. "I couldn't stop thinking about it, ever," she explained. "It was tennis, tennis, tennis, morning, noon and night, whatever I did." She needed the self-imposed exile "to realise that I can exist away from the courts and without tennis". And she did just that for 15 long months, working with Unicef in the Congo during that time, rediscovering and rejuvenating herself until the urge returned.

She was back on the circuit in January and reached the final of the Australian Open to show her sublime talents, which made her one of the better artists of the game, were still intact. The tennis world, though, was waiting for her return to Roland Garros, the Belgian's home from home, where she is unbeaten since 2004. The wait finally came to an end yesterday afternoon when the 28-year-old stepped back on the Court Philippe Chatrier. Playing on Parisian clay for the first time since her demolition of Ana Ivanovic in the 2007 final, Henin needed 89 minutes to brush aside Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4, 6-3, firing an impressive 31 winners during the match.

The victory took her winning-streak at Roland Garros to 22 matches and 37 consecutive sets, but it was the joy of returning to the centre court, where she has won four titles, that overshadowed all the statistics. "I was feeling very happy just to be back on centre court," she was quoted as saying on the French Open website. "It's something that I never expected. That's probably the tennis court on which I had the most beautiful emotions in my life, so it has a special place in my heart, and that will never change. That's why it was emotional."

Tennis had always been Henin's prop through the rough tumble that her life has been. It had been her rock through the many emotional upheavals. Time away from the game has, however, shown that she does not need these crutches. "As a person, I wouldn't say I've changed," she said. "But I realised and I understood a lot of things [about] myself, and it's very rich to come back with all the things I know that I didn't know two years ago or three years ago.

"Just to be away from the courts helped me trust myself without my tennis racket, which is something important, as I lived 20 years of my life only for that. "I just learned I was someone else away from the courts. That was really important, just to face the world and the reality. And, of course, my travelling with Unicef has been something very strong, and that brought me a lot of things. "I probably started to accept myself just the way I am? away from the courts, and that was really important as I am more tolerant probably now than I was in the past."

Henin was the world No1 when she stepped away from the spotlight in May 2008. Dinara Safina, who beat the Belgian in her last game before retirement, captured that ranking 10 months later and stayed there for the next six months. The Russian, however, was never really accepted as the top player by her peers, and the ranking system drew plenty of criticism. Safina has slipped down the rankings since to No 9, through a mixture of injuries and inconsistent form. But her real problem has been her own mental fragility and it came to the fore yesterday in the first round against a 39-year-old opponent who was playing at the French Open for the first time since 1996.

Safina, who lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final last year, imploded against Kimiko Date Krumm, 15 years her senior, after winning the first set comfortably. That was her fifth defeat in 10 matches this season and she should probably consider taking a break like Henin to rediscover herself. @Email:[e-mail]