WIMBLEDON, England -- When you have a heart like Justine Henin's, size does not matter.

Only 5-foot-5, Henin played like a giant to conquer comeback queen Jennifer Capriati and reach her first Grand Slam final.

Pale and frail in appearance, 19-year-old Henin is the first Belgian -- man or woman -- to reach a Wimbledon final.

She can wallop a tennis ball with the best of them, but the real source of her strength is not found in a gymnasium -- Henin has a will of steel to go with her natural on-court grace and guile.

The combination is proving devastating, but the tough demeanor has been acquired at a cost.

Wise beyond her years, Henin has suffered more than her fair share of heartbreak.

At 12, she lost her mother, Francoise, to cancer -- a trauma that almost ended her tennis ambitions before they had got off the ground.

"It was really, really difficult for me to play after this," she says. "I think when my mother died, I became more mature than I would be if she was still here."

Francoise had been a major influence in Justine's tennis and one particular moment stands out.

"My mother had taken me to Roland Garros when I was 10," she recalls. "I saw the match between Steffi Graf and Monica Seles in a big final in 1992.

"I was in the stadium and I said to my mother 'I will play on this court one day.' "

She fulfilled her promise in 1999, five years after her mother's death, when she played Lindsay Davenport in the second round at Roland Garros.

She came mighty close to winning, bowing out 7-5 in the third set. "When I played there it was fantastic and I thought about that moment (with my mother)," she says.

Henin stopped playing tennis when her mother died to help raise her younger sister, Sarah.

At 14, though, she went to the Association Francophone de Tennis in Marloie, where she is still based and teamed up with Carlos Rodriguez, who is still her coach.

She now travels with Rodriguez after an argument last year ended in a family split and she says she no longer has any contact with her father, Jose -- who used to travel with her -- or with her siblings.

Henin is reluctant to talk of the row but her tennis certainly has not suffered.

She won two titles early this year, on the Gold Coast and Canberra.

On the Gold Coast, she demolished seasoned South African Joanette Kruger 6-1, 6-1 to kickstart her year in style. She dedicated the title to her mother.

"When my mother died, I didn't want to be away from home," she said. "I play for her. I hope she is proud of me.

Her tennis is scaling heights she had only dreamed of when she visited Roland Garros, and she also has found happiness off court with fiancé Pete Yves-Pierre.

He is also a coach, but the pair don't hit the practice courts together.

"He travels with me but we don't play tennis together," she says smiling. "He doesn't like to lose."