Born in Canada [Images] to an American father and a French mother, Pierce had for years a difficult relationship with the French crowd, who perceived her as slightly arrogant and struggled to understand what she said.

She was still a teenager when she reached her first final at Roland Garros in 1994.

"I was so nervous," she said on Thursday, remembering that moment.

"I couldn't sleep the night before. I'm like, "Oh, my gosh, my French isn't that great and I have to do a speech in French. What am I going to say?"

The polite cheers from 1994, when she was beaten by Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, became roars of approval six years later. In 2000, she became the first Frenchwoman to win the tournament since Francoise Durr in 1967.

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In the meantime her French had improved and she had also helped France [Images] lift the Fed Cup in 1997, proving to those who accused her of being an individualist that she could be a team player.

Pierce, who is the first to admit that she was "a bit difficult" in her early years on the circuit, has definitely changed.

MORE CHEERFUL

More mature and more relaxed, she is also a lot more cheerful and happy to chat away, in French or English.

The times when she made headlines because of the brushes of her father Jim, who coached her then, with the sport's officials are over.

After fighting a string of injuries that threatened her career, the 30-year-old is clearly enjoying herself on and off the court.

"I believe in myself and the few people who believe in me, that I have in my life, have really helped me a lot to get where I am," said Pierce, who is now coached by her brother and number one fan David.

"That's why I'm here today. It's because I had something inside of me when I had my injuries that was telling me, 'You know, you're not done. There's still something for you to do in tennis, still some things for you to accomplish'."

Justine Henin-Hardenne, who meets Pierce in Saturday's final and has her own comeback story, will start favourite but Pierce has done enough already to win the French fans' hearts and will be happy whatever happens next.

"I don't think I've beaten Justine before," said Pierce, who indeed has not.

"It's going to be a really exciting match. It's going to be a lot of fun. I almost really couldn't ask for anything better, to be playing against Justine in the final."

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