Tennis: Picture of happiness following comeback

By Foster Niumata

Her self-portrait is not of the face we've come to know: spiky hair, lips open, cheeks bunched, eyes full of mirth, happy even mocking herself.

Julie Halard-Decugis, a born giggler, thought it was funny when the tutor in her art class made the students themselves their first assignment, but it was hard to hold that look.

"I am not smiling," said Halard-Decugis, who in her day job was playing a tennis quarter-final in the ASB Bank Classic at Stanley St last night.

The students had mirrors and Halard-Decugis became too busy concentrating to keep giggling. The end result: "It's colourful," she laughed.

The painting hangs in her new home near Lausanne, Switzerland, with no intention of its being seen outside the family. There are others of her teddy bear and a smiling Arnaud, her coach of nine years and husband of four.

Does he like his? "I don't know, he didn't say anything. But it's in our room so I think he likes it," she said.

Halard-Decugis, born in the French town of La Baule on the Atlantic coast, also loves the mountains - she and Arnaud have climbed Mont Blanc, Europe's highest at 4807m - another passion she indulged while recovering from injuries to her wrist, shoulder, knee and stomach that kept her off the WTA tour for 18 months until she came back to Auckland a year ago.

With a wildcard, she reached the quarters for the fourth time in as many visits, launching one of the most incredible single-season comebacks ever in women's tennis. From no ranking, she was 22nd by the end of 1998.

Since the WTA rankings began in 1975, only three others have done better: Monica Seles to No 1 in 1995, Jennifer Capriati to No 8 in 1990 and Tracy Austin to No 12 in 1977. Only Seles was also injured, stabbed in the back by a deranged fan.

The 28-year-old Halard-Decugis said that if she had known she would be out for even a year, she might not have returned to tennis, where she was No 15 before her body fell apart.

The original plan was to get to 50, a ranking good enough to play in most main draws. She achieved that by June.

"Even when you are No 15, you always hope for more, you want to go up and up. When I play tournaments I try to get the trophy, it's better not to think about rankings and points," she said.

After Auckland, it took her four months to get used to the stress and intensity again. Finally, at Strasbourg in May as a wildcard, "I find the rhythm," she said. She beat No 5 Amanda Coetzer, making the final, her first in two years.

Halard-Decugis won at Rosmalen in June unseeded, beating the second, fourth and fifth seeds on grass to join an elite list of 18 others who have won on all four surfaces in the Open era. She is proud of the feat.

After the US Open, the European swing went indoors and though she was ranked 26, she had to try to qualify at Filderstadt (she failed), Zurich (she succeeded) and Moscow (she failed).

Seeking sun and sand to celebrate a great year, she and Arnaud treated themselves to a holiday in Phuket, Thailand after her first Pattaya Open, where she won the singles and doubles, doing the first sweep of her 13-year career.

Said the mountaineer who has not finished climbing yet: "I was very, very happy with my year."