PARIS — The last time Serena Williams and Justine Henin met at Roland Garros, Henin gave Serena “the hand”: that little wave, unnoticed by the chair umpire, that suggested Henin was not ready and caused Williams to push a serve into the net. Henin didn’t own up to her deed, and the flustered Williams was charged with a fault and eventually blew the match.

Yesterday, Maria Sharapova gave us “the racket”: an act of gamesmanship in the decisive set that drew a warning, which cost her nothing, and appeared to rattle Patty Schnyder, who squandered a 40–15 lead on her serve and lost the match 3–6, 6–4, 9–7.

Sharapova had saved two match points and willed herself to an 8–7 lead in the third set, but Schnyder seemed on the verge of tying it after a Sharapova error made the score 40–15. As Schnyder prepared to serve, Sharapova trotted to her bag and pulled out a new racket; by the time she had returned to the baseline, the chair umpire had given her a warning for delaying the match. The crowd, which had been pulling for Schnyder, booed loudly, but Sharapova didn’t care and didn’t miss. She took the next four points and when the crowed booed her off the court, she blew kisses.

Sharapova said she didn’t intend to disrupt Schnyder. New balls were introduced that game, she said, and she decided to grab a fresh frame after she made two errors. But Schnyder suggested that the incident bothered her, telling reporters, when asked if it was fair play, “Ask her.” She did however, give Sharapova a pass on a reprise of “the hand”: earlier in the set, Schnyder held her hand up as Sharapova served what was later ruled an ace. It was clear that Schnyder asked too late, and that Sharapova didn’t see her.

Sharapova’s response to the incidents captured everything fans have come to expect — and both admire and dislike — about her over the years.

“It’s tough playing tennis and being Mother Teresa at the same time and making everyone happy,” she said. Always a gritty competitor, she’s willing to take a point any way she can, manners be damned.

Like it or not, this sort of me-and-me-only attitude can work wonders on a tennis court — one need look no further than Jimmy Connors for confirmation. Fitting, then, that we are reminded of this on the day when Williams and Henin won their fourth-round matches, setting up their first meeting at Roland Garros, in Tuesday’s quarterfinals, since their semifinal match of 2003, when Henin played the role of Sharapova.

Williams was serving at 4–2 in the third set, and the crowd’s displeasure with her turned to anger after she circled a mark left by an errant Henin shot (the chair umpire checked it and sided with Williams). As Williams went to serve at 30–0, she saw Henin’s hand, held up as a warning that she needed more time. Williams dumped her serve into the net, the chair umpire called a fault, and Henin played dumb. Williams didn’t win another point that game and lost the match 6–2, 4–6, 7–5. She gave Henin a curt, getaway-from-me handshake and was booed as she walked off the court.

The real reason to look back at this moment has nothing to do with Henin’s unsporting conduct. The more shocking, and relevant, occurrence that day was Williams’s failure to win when victory was so near; her failure to block out the chaos that surrounded her.

As often as the 2003 story is retold, it’s rarely described in full detail. Even after Serena lost her argument for another first serve, she put her second one in the court and lost the point on an error. She lost that game and the next one, and she couldn’t hold serve at 4–4, either, despite leading in the game. When Henin served for the match at 5–4, she looked every bit like a 21-year-old who had never won a major: She double faulted twice, made two errors, and was broken at love. Williams was back in the match until she lost her serve — the best serve in the history of woman’s tennis — for a third consecutive game, again after leading. She committed 75 unforced errors in the match.

As tough a champion as Williams is — and there’s no one, ever, in women’s tennis who can claim to be a more determined competitor — that day four years ago uncovered a soft side that can be exploited. Say what you will of Williams, she has never stooped for a point. In 2003, her sense of fairness, and her sensitivity, cost her a trip to the final.

When she spoke to reporters yesterday, Williams said she always has been a “glass as half empty” person — a statement some might think is odd considering how much she has accomplished despite growing up poor in Compton, Calif., and without the help of a professional tennis instructor. Whatever Williams’s view of the world off court, she’s always seen the glass as half full once she’s on it — except in that 2003 match. It remains the only late-round match in a major that she should have closed out and didn’t (her other three losses in the semifinals and finals of majors were against her sister twice and Sharapova, and she was beaten handily in all of them.)

Tomorrow she might find herself in the same situation against the two-time defending champion, whom the French admire so much. If she is to win, she can’t let the fans get to her again.

“If the crowd gets involved, I’m just going to be there, zone out, just focus on me,” she promised.

She wasn’t around for any of us to ask if she had watched the ultimate “me” player, Sharapova, kiss her French tormentors goodbye, with a smile on her face.

tperrotta@nysun.com