Henin hungry for success on diet of straight-set wins

For a Belgian there could be no greater sacrifice. Justine Henin, the world No 1, revealed yesterday that her nutritionist had told her to cut out late-night raids on the chocolate box.

Henin suffered stomach problems last year which were so severe that she retired halfway through the Australian Open final. "I've had to stop eating a lot of things," the French Open champion said on her arrival in Eastbourne for this week's International Women's Open. "I can't eat sugar any more before going to bed. I miss Belgian chocolate a lot."

Having appointed a new physical coach and made changes to her training programme, Henin said she felt ready to play again despite the exertions in winning the French Open 10 days ago. "I felt very good in Paris," Henin said. "I won all my matches in two sets. I think I feel fresher than I was before Wimbledon last year."

Britons Katie O'Brien and Elena Baltacha earned places in the main draw at Eastbournewith good wins yesterday. O'Brien (world No 188) beat America's Jill Craybas (61), while Baltacha (412) beat Germany's Julia Schruff (114).

Another Briton, Melanie South, had an excellent win in the first round, beating Australia's Alicia Molik, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6.

Tim Henman is preparing for Wimbledon at this week's Nottingham Open, where he starts against America's Michael Russell. The former British No 1 is short of match practice, having failed to progress beyond the first round of a tournament since October, but insisted that any talk of retirement was premature.

"The bottom line is I love what I do," he said yesterday. "We have a short career, so why on earth would I want to cut it even shorter?"

Andy Murray has still not given up hope of playing at Wimbledon. The Scot, who is recovering from a wrist injury, has not been named in the eight-man field for the Boodles exhibition event starting today in Buckinghamshire, but may play there in a specially arranged match this week. Murray, who practised at Roehampton yesterday, has climbed to a career-high No 8 in the world.

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