WIMBLEDON, England -- Any talk of disrupting the Sister Sledge dynasty in women's tennis -- and what more is there to talk about on another rain-plagued disaster day at the All England Club? -- never fails to avoid mentioning little Justin Henin from little Liege, Belgium.

	Justine Henin is only 5-foot-5 and 125 pounds, but her incredible backhand helps her against the power players.

The Capriatis and the Hingises and the Davenports -- the latter two the victims of injuries -- may come and go (mostly go south these days; Capriati in her increasing snippiness, was out-powered by clay-court specialist Amelie Mauresmo in the quarters Wednesday ). But here is Henin again in the latter stages of a Grand Slam -- her semifinal against Venus Williams is scheduled for Thursday, a rematch of their three-set championship tussle last summer -- all barely 5-foot-5, 125 pounds of her virtually hidden under that ever-present ballcap, not to mention under that avalanche of press notices that everybody else gets.

Just as an example, when the WTA tour unveiled its new official magazine with a flashy launch at Harrods the day before Wimbledon began last week, more than 150 pages were filled with a multitude of picture montages depicting the Williamses in slinky evening wear and Hingis and the ubiquitous Anna Kournikova in various stages of hair tossing. But there was only one photo of Henin.

If the tartarettes of the tour (Venus and Serena) are Shaq and Kobe, Henin is Allen Iverson. Yet she beat Venus, who at 6-1 towers over her, the first time they played on the clay at Berlin in 2001 and, though she has lost their past five confrontations, Henin (pronounced EN-ih) seldom goes quietly. In four of those defeats, she grabbed a set off the world champion, including that surprising final here last year.

	“	After last year, I knew I needed more experience, but I also knew I could do this. ”
		— Justine Henin, 2001 Wimbledon runner-up

Consolidating her breakthrough season, in which she jumped 41 places in the rankings to No. 7, Henin has been even better this year. She has lost three finals to Venus -- Gold Coast, Antwerp and Amelia Island, blowing a 6-2, 4-0 lead in the latter. (Hey, you want to try punching out Lennox Lewis for 10 of 12 rounds and see what happens?) And then she proceeded to take on Serena in two finals, as well, beating the younger Will Sis in a third-set tiebreak to win the tournament at Berlin before losing to her the very next week in Rome.

"After last year, I knew I needed more experience, but I also knew I could do this," Henin said after her first-ever victory over Monica Seles in Wimbledon's quarterfinals. "It was a great experience to play Venus here last year. But this time it's going to be a completely different situation. She's serving so well, it's very hard to have good returns against her. Maybe in that regard, more will depend (on) her than on me."

Another key might be Henin keeping Venus far enough back on her heels with that glorious one-handed shot off the backhand wing -- "greatest backhand in the game, men or women," says John McEnroe -- so that the Belgian girl can command the net as she did against Seles. "The key may be me (going) to the net," she agreed. Against Monica, "I was really aggressive. I wasn't afraid. I wasn't nervous. I played without any complex."

Belgium is, of course, a walking complex of a nation: three-pronged at least, French, German and Dutch, with all the cultures and languages besides. Before 1979, the Royal Belgian tennis federation operated as one organization, but then it split. Henin's compatriot, Kim Clijsters worked with the northern Flemish section, attending the national training center in Wilrijk, while Henin advanced through the French side, training at Mons in the southern Walloon region.

Still, she seems to dwell in the shadow of the more glamorous and higher ranked (fifth to her sixth) Belgian Waffle, Clijsters, who suffered another disappointing second-round loss to Elena Likhovtseva here. It is the blonde, bubbly Clijsters, after all, who played that history-making final at the French Open last summer against Capriati and, as she seems to be nursing injuries constantly, spends much time in the players' spectator box watching her boyfriend, the No. 1-ranked Lleyton Hewitt. Clijsters is also the high-profile daughter of Leo, one of Belgium's premier soccer players who won the country's Golden Boot award as player of the year in 1988, and Els, a three-time junior national gymnastics champ.

	Venus Williams has defeated Justine Henin in three finals this year.

Contrarily, Henin's fiancée is just a regular Yves -- Pierre-Yves Hardenne. And her dad, Jose, is a retired postal worker whose involvement in her tennis was a subject of contention until she asked him to stop traveling with her a couple of years ago. That was long after she had lost her mother, Francoise, to intestinal cancer and after she had helped Jose care for her two older brothers and a younger sister.

At 14, Henin rededicated herself to tennis, driving 110 miles roundtrip with her father to Mons to practice every day. In 1997, she won the junior girls event at Roland Garros. Two years later she became the fifth player on the WTA tour to win the first pro tournament she entered, in Antwerp.

Still, hard work couldn't prevent her narrow, bony frame from imploding. Over the past two seasons, Henin has had wrist, arm, toe, ankle and foot injuries. The day before the Wimbledon final last July, her foot was so tender she could barely walk. Yet she has never used her size or her injuries as an excuse. "There is a place for this kind of player," she says.

Meaning, an Iverson-type who will freewheel, scrap and hustle and jump in the other women's grills and slap that incredible backhand past them every chance she gets. Oh, yeah, and come to the net and volley. A 5-5 volleyer? When Henin glides up there close enough to the tape, you even expect her to flash some Iverson-type tattoos.

After she shocked Capriati in the Wimbledon semis last year -- denying the Capster a third straight Grand Slam title -- her finals performance against the older Williams became the second-most watched sporting event on TV in Belgian history, behind only a 1986 soccer match. The streets and shops were empty, and since then children's tennis camps around the nation have flourished while equipment sales and club memberships have exploded. Last winter, Henin and Clijsters shared the national trophy for Sports Merit -- an honor that can only be bestowed once in an athlete's lifetime. Both women were received by King Albert II and Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.

On Thursday -- weather permitting -- Henin will be received again at the court of (two-time champion) Queen Venus.

But, as Henin made a sly note of, Williams has faced less than formidable opposition so far in the fortnight: Jane O'Donoghue, Virginia Ruano Pascual, Maureen (The Canadian Sunset, uh, Sunglasses) Drake, Lisa Raymond and Likhovtseva at the loss of but one set and 12 other games.

"She won so easy her matches. (But) she didn't play top players in this tournament," Henin said in her fractured English. "So, I mean, maybe I have an advantage on this part."

Maybe. The same advantage Iverson has. But what Henin probably will need is some of those tattoos.

Curry Kirkpatrick is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at curry.kirkpatrick@espnmag.com.