TIE BREAK! - Hardcover

A gritty girl with a gruesome family history, Justine Henin-Hardenne is no ordinary tennis star. Her Wimbledon Final appearance in 2001, aged 19, was a sign of things to come. In 2003, she won the French and US Open titles to finish the year as World Number One. Yet behind her amazing triumph, tragedy and discord had torn her family apart. Untimely deaths had struck five generations in less than 30 years. Justine's mother, sister, nephew, grandfather and great-grandmother lost their lives in exceptionally sad circumstances. Her family almost appeared to be cursed. Yet she chose to treat many surviving relations as though they too had ceased to exist. When Justine married Pierre-Yves Hardenne in 2002, her father and brothers were among those left off the invitation list. How did it come to this? And how did Justine overcome such misery to become queen of world tennis? Read on.

Mark Ryan has reported on sport for a variety of national newspapers since 1986, travelling the world in pursuit of a good story. In one year alone, the London-based Mail on Sunday sent him on more than 30 foreign assignments, almost unheard of for a freelancer. His career has taken him from Brazil to Australia, South Africa to Sweden. Back home, he covered Wimbledon several times during the 1990s. Ryan first became aware of Justin Henin-Hardenne's extraordinary background in 2001, when she reached the Wimbledon Final. He was commissioned to interview her estranged father, Jose, in Belgium and was deeply moved by what he heard. Also an experienced media trainer, Ryan teaches executives how to handle interviews in fields as diverse as science, education, health and sport. He lives in Northamptonshire.