Henin Celebrates Comeback

On Halloween, Justine Henin will hold a comeback celebration with long-time coach Carlos Rodríguez at their 6th Sense Tennis Academy at Mission Inn Resort & Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida.

The festivities begin Saturday morning at 9:30am, when Henin and Rodríguez hold a one hour practice session followed by a 30-minute autograph session and press conference. Following this, there will be tennis demonstrations, games and on-court activities for prizes sponsored by Tecnifibre with Henin and Rodríguez. The celebration will conclude with an on-court practice demonstration with Henin and Rodríguez using the 6th Sense Tennis Academy mini-tennis methodology, where players can hit with Henin. All activities are open to the public with the exception of the press conference.

"I am very excited to make my comeback to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in 2010 and hold the celebration with Carlos at our Academy in Florida to share with everyone," Henin said. "The time away from the Tour has helped me better understand myself, but I missed it a lot and now I have new objectives and purposes I want to accomplish because tennis is an important part of my life."

Howey-in-the-Hills is home of the first 6th Sense Tennis Academy in the US and was launched by Henin and Rodríguez in September of 2008 to offer their proven, specific, differential philosophy to other rising tennis players.

"For me, this is a new start with Justine because during my break I organized a lot of things for the Academy in Belgium and the US," Rodríguez added. "My relationship with Justine is so truthful, deep and respectful, and during our conversations about her comeback I knew her flame, and my flame, was there."

Since the Academy's inception in 2008, it now has students from all over the world training at its top-level facilities, and has acquired a new Academy Director - Michael Dermience - from Belgium, who can effectively implement the method and philosophy formed by Henin and Rodríguez. Essential components of the 6th Sense Tennis Academy philosophy that have been passed on through knowledge to the students include cohesion, solidarity, commitment, investment, listening, mutual respect and trust.

"For my part as the Director of the Academy here in the US, I'm very happy about this comeback," Dermience said. "It's a very good thing for the Academy because our students can see Justine practice several times during the season, and she will be a very good motivation and example. Her technique and tactics are very efficient, but most important for the Academy is the fact that she is going to show with Carlos their relationship again around the world and their values that unite them which are unique that we develop in our Academy."

Mission Inn Resort & Club is a secluded, 1,000-acre resort located just 35 minutes northwest of Orlando in beautiful Howey-in-the-Hills. For more info about the academy, go to www.6senstennisacademie.com.