 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||
8 July 2006 Amelie Mauresmo strolled into the press conference after her title-winning Wimbledon final sporting a T-shirt with the slogan "2006 Wimbledon champion: I am what I am". What she was right at that moment was a woman totally assured with her place in the world. The T-shirt, she explained, had been prepared in advance by her sponsor - as a sign of their confidence in her. And, as she revealed, her own confidence that she was destined to join the roll of honour at a Championships she described as "the most prestigious in the world" was key to her success in beating Justine Henin-Hardenne. She said: "There were some tough moments but I always thought I could make it." That confidence did not even take a knock when she went a set down in the final against the Belgian. Mauresmo said: "My serve and volley was not working and I was missing quite a few volleys. "You feel like 'OK, what do I need to do? What am I going to do? How am I going to change things around? How am I going to make it go my way?' "Then I was really able to pump myself up right from the beginning of the second set. And then a totally different match started." Asked about special moments she would savour from the final, Mauresmo nominated her serving in the last game. "Two aces on key moments, that's always very nice and very comfortable to feel and to think that you can rely on this big weapon which a couple of days ago did not work so well in the middle of the match. But then today I was able really to come up with probably my best service games in the last set. So that made life a little bit easier in the last game. "I was a little bit nervous on the match point which is probably understandable. But I was really focusing on the game, on what I had to do, on my serve, on my volley. That was about it." That strong finish ensured that the Wimbledon title was hers for the first time. When Henin-Hardenne netted on Championship point, Mauresmo dropped to her knees with joy. However, the Frenchwoman admits it hasn't sunk in yet that she's the 2006 Wimbledon Champion. "I still can't believe it," she said. "I did not really expect coming here, I wasn't feeling great. But then all of a sudden everything came together. "It feels great. It's the most prestigious tournament in the world and it really is a special moment for me."
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
|