Justine Henin has admitted she has been struggling to regain full fitness with the new season just weeks away.

Henin made an astonishing return to the tour in January, reaching the Australian Open final in just her second tournament back but her 2010 was cut short in June when she tore a ligament during a fourth round Wimbledon defeat to Kim Clijsters.

Henin played her first match since then against Clijsters in an exhibition last week in Antwerp which Clijsters won 6-1, 3-6, 10-5, but she revealed afterwards that she has been fighting an uphill battle to stay injury free.

"I have had to limit myself enormously when it comes to serve," she said. "My goal is to progress little by little, step by step.

"I take minimum risks. Each time that I stepped up the rhythm there was a backlash of inflammation in my elbow, as a result I had to slow down the last few weeks so that my elbow can adapt itself to this.

"So my preparation didn't progress that far, but that didn't prevent me from working on a lot of things. I am not at all panicked or stressed with that in mind, there is still a couple of weeks left. Moreover, the beginning of a season might well serve that aim, to get back the old reflexes and rebuild things little by little."

"In the end, I have stopped telling myself the last weeks that I am getting old, I prefer to think that I am getting more mature. I think that if on the health level everything goes as planned, there is still a lot of potential for me."