By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, March 10, 2016
"You have to adapt yourself to the personality of the player. Playing and coaching and giving advice is so different," says Justine Henin of working with Elina Svitolina.
Photo credit: Christopher Levy
As an all-court champion, Justine Henin was adept at using her variety to create solutions on court.
As a coaching consultant to Elina Svitolina, Henin hopes to share her varied experiences to help the world No. 14 problem-solve and continue to rise in the rankings.
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"It's really dealing with the moment. Being top 20 in the world is something great already," Henin told the media during a conference call announcing her induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. "I think she has the ambition to get further. It's just my role to try to bring a few things, not changing everything for sure, because a lot of things are working. It's just trying to help her.
"She's still very young, to get to the next step, sharing the experiences like I said. The way I can give it to her and the way she can receive it is something important, but also it's just the beginning for us."
As a player Henin formed a deep bond with her only coach, Carlos Rodriguez, who molded her all-court game and served as a surrogate father. She later worked with Rodriguez a the Sixth Sense Academy before launching her own Academy.
"The relation I had with Carlos for almost 15 years, it's been amazing," Henin told the media. "Not so many players can live this kind of experience like being so long with a coach. I started with him when I was so young. I was just playing tournaments in juniors at that time, so I really had to build myself at that time."
In contrast, the new Hall of Famer is working with a fully-formed Top 20 player in Svitolina, who has four career titles and a distinct playing style. Henin is not trying to reconstruct Svitolina's game, she aims to refine it.
During her playing days, Henin and Rodriguez were a tight unit. As a coaching consultant, Henin joins a team that includes Svitolina's full-time traveling coach, Iain Hughes, who did a fine job calming his charge during her comeback win over Genie Bouchard in the Kuala Lumpur final.
Learning her role on the team and how she can best communicate her knowledge and experiences are Henin's immediate tasks.
"Here with Elina that has her coach. I'm just coming for a few weeks during the year," Henin said. "It's completely different in the way that she is Top 20 already and I have to know her, not really find my place, but respect what she does already and just try to share my experience and my conviction of what she can do more or give more to her game, just try to get better.
"It's really sharing my experiences as a top player. It was very different. I'm not really in the position of the coach here. It's just like trying to give my advices and share especially also mentally and emotionally the experience of at least a couple of important matches."
Teaching runs in the family. Henin's mother, Francoise, who died when Justine was 12, was a teacher. The four-time French Open champion was an all-court player who was a fine volleyer. Svitolina, a former French Open junior champion is more comfortable countering from behind the baseline.
Acknowleding their different playing styles, Henin says she believes Svitolina shares a similar ambition and attention to detail that she had as a player.
"We're also different. Something that works for one player doesn't always work for another player," Henin said. "You have to adapt yourself to the personality of the player.
"Playing and coaching and giving advice is so different. What I learned from my coach was something amazing: being focused on the goal, trying to do everything to reach the goal, and being very professional, a lot of discipline, and a way of thinking positively, thinking with a lot of ambition. I think it's been something that I learned a lot with my coach. I've been so, so lucky of that."