Mentally and physically she has been tested so often it is a wonder she has not bent and broken.

But the little Belgian, who lost her mother at 11 and whose marriage broke up in January, is rehabilitating her Grand Slam career in the French Open after two-and-a- half months out of the game to deal with her personal issues.

She has already won the French Open three times and is the defending champion and number one seed.

Such was Henin’s distress at the end of her relationship with husband Pierre-Yves that she couldn’t even set foot in Melbourne to take part in the Australian Open in January.

Henin, 25, said: “I have had to fight against many things in my life. But I cannot allow myself to have bad feelings about what has happened.

“I don’t consider I feel I have to take my revenge against life by winning and winning.” But she added: “I feel ready to be in a big tennis situation again.”