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Kim Clijsters

May 04, 2023

Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters[2] (Dutch pronunciation: [kɪm ˈklɛistərs] (listen); born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. Clijsters reached the world No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles, having held both rankings simultaneously in 2003. She won six major titles, four in singles and two in doubles.

Kim Clijsters
Kim Clijsters in 2011
Country (sports) Belgium
ResidenceBree, Belgium
New Jersey, U.S.
Born (1983-06-08) 8 June 1983 (age 39)
Bilzen, Belgium
Height1.74 m (5 ft 8½ in)
Turned pro17 August 1997
Retired2007–2009; 2012–2020; 12 April 2022
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
CoachFred Hemmes Jr. (2020–2022)
Prize moneyUS$24,527,039
Int. Tennis HoF2017 (member page)
Official websitekimclijsters.com
Singles
Career record523–132 (79.8%)
Career titles41
Highest rankingNo. 1 (11 August 2003)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenW (2011)
French OpenF (2001, 2003)
WimbledonSF (2003, 2006)
US OpenW (2005, 2009, 2010)
Other tournaments
Tour FinalsW (2002, 2003, 2010)
Olympic GamesQF (2012)
Doubles
Career record131–55 (70.4%)
Career titles11
Highest rankingNo. 1 (4 August 2003)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian OpenQF (2003)
French OpenW (2003)
WimbledonW (2003)
US OpenQF (2002)
Other doubles tournaments
Tour FinalsF (2003)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
French Open3R (2000)
WimbledonF (2000)
US Open2R (2012)
Team competitions
Fed CupW (2001)
Hopman CupRR (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)

Clijsters competed professionally from 1997 in an era in which her primary rivals were compatriot Justine Henin and Serena Williams. Coming from a country with limited success in men's or women's tennis, Clijsters became the first Belgian player to attain the No. 1 ranking. Together with Henin, she established Belgium as a leading force in women's tennis as the two of them led their country to their first Fed Cup crown in 2001 and were the top two players in the world in late 2003. Individually, Clijsters won 41 singles titles and 11 doubles titles on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour. She was a three-time winner of the WTA Tour Championships. Between singles and doubles, she has been a champion at all four Grand Slam tournaments, winning the US Open and the Australian Open in singles and Wimbledon and the French Open in doubles partnering Ai Sugiyama. Her success at the majors was highlighted by winning three consecutive appearances at the US Open.

Plagued by injuries and having lost some of her desire to compete, Clijsters retired from tennis in 2007 at the age of 23 in order to get married and have a daughter. She returned to the sport two years later and won her second US Open title as an unranked player in just her third tournament back. She defended her title the following year and then won the Australian Open in 2011 en route to becoming the first mother to be the world No. 1. Along with Margaret Court, she also holds the record for most Grand Slam singles titles won as a mother, with three such titles, and was the first to win one since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980. Clijsters retired again following the 2012 US Open. Seven years later, she began a second comeback in early 2020, ending in 2022.

Clijsters was born to athletic parents with backgrounds in professional football and gymnastics. She was renowned for her athleticism, which was highlighted by her ability to perform splits on court in the middle of points. She built the offensive side of her game around controlled aggression while also using her exceptional movement to become an elite defensive player. Clijsters was very popular and well-liked as a player, having won the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award eight times. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2017.

Early life and background

Kim Clijsters was born on 8 June 1983 in Bilzen, a small town in northeastern Belgium. She grew up with her younger sister Elke in the nearby town of Bree in the Flemish province of Limburg.[3] Kim is the daughter of Lei Clijsters and Els Vandecaetsbeek, both of whom were accomplished athletes. Her mother Els was a Belgian national artistic gymnastics champion. Her father Lei was a professional football defender who played for a variety of clubs in the top-flight Belgian First Division, including KV Mechelen with whom he won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1988. He was also a member of the Belgium national football team, tallying 40 caps and competing in two World Cups.[4][5] Clijsters credits her parents for giving her a footballer's legs and a gymnast's flexibility.[2] She also attributes her success to the freedom they gave her when she was a young player, saying, "Without the support I've had from my family, I wouldn't be where I am. They've let me make my own decisions."[6]

When Clijsters was five years old, her father built a clay tennis court at their home as a gift to his daughter to celebrate him winning the 1988 Gouden Schoen, an award given to the player of the year in the Belgian First Division. He had previously announced the idea of the gift as a celebration of the award during a television interview.[4][7][8] Clijsters began playing tennis earlier that year after attending a lesson with her cousins and her uncle while her parents were away.[3] From then on, she became fixated on the sport. She began playing with her sister at the Tennisdel club in Genk by the time she was seven. Her first coach Bart Van Kerckhoven recalled that she was extremely energetic and never wanted to leave the tennis court, adding that, "If the group before her did some sprints to finish off the session, Kim would join in. Then she put her heart and soul into her own training session, after which she joined the next group for their warm-up exercises."[7]

At the age of nine, Clijsters began working with Benny Vanhoudt in the more distant town of Diest. Along with her sister, she trained for fifteen hours a week, including five hours of individual instruction, which Vanhoudt said was "an insane amount [of total hours]."[9] She continued to train in Diest until she was twelve. During this time, she also first worked with Carl Maes and Wim Fissette, both of whom would coach Clijsters later in her professional career. When she was thirteen, Maes took over as her primary coach at the Flemish Tennis Association in Antwerp.[10]

Junior career

Clijsters had success at both the national and international levels at a very young age. In 1993, she won the 12-and-under division of the Belgian Junior Championships (the Coupe de Borman) in doubles with her future longtime rival Justine Henin. At the time, Clijsters was ten years old and Henin was eleven.[7] A year later, she won the 12-and-under singles event at the same tournament.[11] Clijsters continued to play alongside Henin, winning the doubles event at the 14-and-under European Junior Championships as well as the 14-and-under European Junior Team Championships for Belgium, both in 1996 and the latter of which also with Leslie Butkiewicz.[7][12] Her first big international junior title came at Les Petits As, a high-level 14-and-under tournament. She defeated future top 25 players Iveta Benešová and Elena Bovina in the semifinals and final respectively.[7]

Clijsters played two full seasons on the ITF Junior Circuit, the premier junior tour that is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF). At the very end of 1997, she partnered with Zsófia Gubacsi to win her first ITF title in the doubles event at the Grade A Orange Bowl, one of the highest level junior tournaments.[13] In 1998, Clijsters had her best year on the junior tour, finishing the season at career-high rankings of world No. 11 in singles and world No. 4 in doubles.[14][15] She won two junior Grand Slam doubles titles, the French Open with Jelena Dokic and the US Open with Eva Dyrberg.[16][17] She defeated her French Open partner Dokic in the US Open doubles final.[17] In singles, she made it to the Wimbledon final, but finished runner-up to Katarina Srebotnik.[10]

Professional career

1997–99: Maiden WTA title, Newcomer of the Year

 
Clijsters (right) with her idol Steffi Graf in 2009. Graf won their only meeting on the WTA Tour in 1999.

As a fourteen year old, Clijsters could only enter professional tournaments through qualifying since the WTA Tour's policy did not allow players her age to receive main draw wild cards. In August 1997, Clijsters qualified for her first main draw at her second career tournament on the lower-level ITF Women's Circuit, which was held in the Belgian coastal town of Koksijde. She won seven matches in total, including five in qualifying, to reach the quarterfinals. Clijsters did not enter another professional tournament until after her runner-up finish at the Wimbledon girls' singles event the following summer. Playing in Brussels in July 1998, she won both the singles and doubles events for her first career professional titles. Clijsters continued to excel at the ITF level, winning four more titles within the next year, two in both singles and doubles.[10][18]

Clijsters began 1999 with a WTA singles ranking of No. 420 in the world.[19] Around this time, Belgian women's tennis was beginning to flourish. Both Dominique Van Roost and Sabine Appelmans had been ranked in the top 20 within the previous two years, complementing the rise of Clijsters and Henin on the junior tour. This success helped lead to the revival of the only WTA tournament in Belgium, which was relaunched as the Flanders Women's Open in Antwerp after not being held in six years. Clijsters made her WTA debut at the tournament in May, entering the main draw as a lucky loser after losing in the final round of qualifying. She won her first career tour-level match against Miho Saeki and advanced to the quarterfinals, where she was defeated by top seed Sarah Pitkowski despite holding match points.[20]

One week after Clijsters turned sixteen, she entered Wimbledon as the youngest player in the top 200. After barely having a high enough ranking to get into the qualifying draw, she ultimately made it to the round of sixteen in her Grand Slam tournament debut. She defeated world No. 10 Amanda Coetzer in the third round and did not drop a set until losing to Steffi Graf one round later, her only career match against her childhood idol.[3][21][22] Clijsters also had a good showing at the US Open, losing to the eventual champion Serena Williams in the third round after squandering a chance to serve for the match.[22] Clijsters next played at the Luxembourg Open held in the town of Kockelscheuer just outside the capital. She won the title with relative ease in just her fourth career WTA event, taking affinity for the friendly atmosphere of the smaller tournament and the faster carpet courts. Most notably, she faced off against Van Roost in the final and only conceded four games to the top-ranked Belgian.[23] Clijsters also made the singles final in Bratislava at her next tournament, finishing runner-up to No. 11 Amélie Mauresmo. Nonetheless, she was able to win the doubles event with compatriot Laurence Courtois as her partner.[24] At the end of the season, Clijsters was named WTA Newcomer of the Year, having risen to No. 47 in the world.[25]

2000–02: French Open finalist, Tour champion

Clijsters was unable to repeat her success at the Grand Slam tournaments in 2000, not advancing past the second round at any of the singles events.[18] However, she continued her steady climb in the rankings up to No. 18 on the strength of two more titles,[19] one at the Tasmanian International in her first tournament of the year[26] and another at the Sparkassen Cup in Germany near the end of the season.[27] The latter victory was Clijsters's first at a Tier II event (the second highest level tournament) and followed up a loss in another Tier II final to world No. 1 Martina Hingis earlier that month.[28] In the middle of the year, Clijsters also finished runner-up at the Wimbledon mixed doubles event alongside her boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt.[24]

 
The Kockelscheuer Sport Centre (Heather Watson pictured), where Clijsters won five Luxembourg Open titles, including three consecutive from 2001 to 2003

At the Indian Wells Open in early 2001, Clijsters finally defeated Hingis in her fourth meeting against the world No. 1 player to reach her first Tier I final.[29] After winning the first set of the final, she ended up losing in three sets to Serena Williams. The match was overshadowed by the controversy of the crowd booing Williams for her sister Venus's late withdrawal from their semifinal, leading to both sisters boycotting the tournament for 14 years.[30][31] A few months later at the French Open, Clijsters became the first Belgian to contest a Grand Slam singles final. She had defeated No. 16 Henin in the semifinals in their closest and highest profile match to date, coming back from a set and a break down, and also having saved three break points that would have put her behind 5–2 in the second set.[32] The final against Australian Open champion and world No. 4 Jennifer Capriati was an even tighter match. Playing a day after her 18th birthday, Clijsters won the first set but lost the second. After a French Open final record 22 games and 2 hours 21 minutes in total, she was defeated by Capriati 12–10 in the deciding set.[33][34] The match was ranked as the greatest French Open women's final in Open Era history by Tennis.com.[34] Clijsters would go on to make it to at least the quarterfinals at each of the next three majors.[18] She also played in her first Grand Slam doubles final at Wimbledon later that year, with Ai Sugiyama as her partner.[35] She won three singles titles in 2001, including her second titles at both the Luxembourg Open and the Sparkassen Cup, to help her finish the season at No. 5 in the world. With four doubles finals in total, she was also ranked No. 15 in doubles at the end of the year.[18][19]

Clijsters maintained her top ten ranking throughout 2002[19] despite struggling with an ongoing shoulder injury in the first half of the year.[36] Her best result at a Grand Slam event came at the Australian Open, where she lost another three-set match to Capriati in the semifinals in their first meeting since the French Open final.[37] Nonetheless, she continued to rise in the rankings to No. 3 by March, her best ranking for the season.[19] Although Clijsters did not reach another Grand Slam quarterfinal the rest of the year, she won three more titles leading up to the year-end WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles.[18] She received her third invite to the event, which only the top 16 players in the world are guaranteed entry. Clijsters made it to the final with ease after dropping only six games in the first three rounds, including a victory over Henin in the quarterfinals[38] and a retirement due to injury from Venus Williams in the semifinals. Her opponent in the final was Serena Williams, who entered the match with a 56–4 record on the season and having won the last three majors of the year. Although Serena had won their first five encounters and was considered a clear favourite, Clijsters upset Serena in straight sets to win the championship.[39] After the tournament, she said, "This is the best victory of my career."[36]

2003: World No. 1 in singles and doubles

The 2003 season was Clijsters's "annus mirabilis".[40] She competed in 21 singles events, reaching the semifinals in all but one of them, advancing to 15 finals, and winning nine titles. With a record of 90–12, she was the first player to accrue 90 wins since Martina Navratilova in 1982 and the first to play more than 100 matches since Chris Evert in 1974.[41] Clijsters also played an extensive doubles schedule, compiling a total of 170 matches between both disciplines.[40] She partnered with Sugiyama the entire year, winning seven titles in thirteen events.[18] This season also marked the peak of the rivalry between Clijsters and Henin, as the pair faced each other eight matches, the last six of which were in finals.[42] In doubles, five of her ten finals were against the team of Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suárez.[18] With her success, Clijsters became the first Belgian world No. 1 in singles or doubles, achieving both feats in August.[19]

Singles: Two Grand Slam finals, Tour Championship defense

Clijsters began her singles season by winning the Sydney International over Lindsay Davenport, her third consecutive title.[43] She extended her tour win streak to 17 matches—all without dropping a set[18]—before she was defeated by Serena Williams in an Australian Open semifinal where she had a 5–1 lead in the third set as well as two match points on serve. She said afterwards, "The only thing I regret a little bit, is those two double faults [to start the game at 5–4]. I could feel that she was really trying to step it up, and that she was hitting the balls a lot more aggressive and had almost no unforced errors at the end."[44][45] Williams won the title to complete her "Serena Slam".[46] After losing in the final at her next two tournaments, Clijsters recovered at the Indian Wells Open to win her first Tier I title. Like in Sydney, she defeated Davenport in the final.[47] She won another Tier I title on clay in May at the Italian Open over No. 4 Amélie Mauresmo, who had a chance to serve for the match in the second set.[48]

At the French Open, both Clijsters and Henin reached the final to guarantee that the winner would become the first Belgian Grand Slam singles champion.[40] Henin had won their only meeting in a final in 2003 thus far at the German Open, which was also their only other encounter on clay.[42] While both players had match points in Germany,[49] Henin won in Paris in a lopsided affair where she only lost four games.[50] After losing in the semifinals at Wimbledon to Venus Williams,[51] Clijsters rebounded to win two Tier II titles at the Stanford Classic[52] and the Los Angeles Open. With the second of those titles, she attained the world No. 1 ranking, in part because the top-ranked Serena Williams had not played on tour since Wimbledon due to a knee injury.[40] She was the first woman to become No. 1 without winning a Grand Slam singles title.[41][53] Clijsters regained the top ranking in doubles the following week to become only the fifth player in WTA history to be No. 1 in singles and doubles simultaneously.[41][54] Despite playing the US Open as the top seed, Clijsters again lost to Henin in the final in straight sets. Clijsters had been regarded as the favourite entering the match because of her performance in the earlier rounds and Henin's lengthy semifinal match the previous day.[40][55] The title helped Henin rise to No. 2 in the world.[56]

The last stage of the season featured Clijsters battling Henin for the top ranking. Clijsters defeated Henin in the final of the Tennis Grand Prix in Filderstadt to defend her title and her world No. 1 ranking. This was the eighth time in WTA history where the top two players in the world faced off for the top ranking.[57] Although Clijsters lost the top ranking to Henin the following week,[58] she regained it a week later by winning the Luxembourg Open for the third year in a row.[19][59] She finished her season by defending her title at the WTA Tour Championships in the first year where the tournament switched to a round robin format in the initial stage. Clijsters swept her group of Mauresmo, Elena Dementieva, and Chanda Rubin.[60] She won her semifinal against Capriati before defeating Mauresmo again for the title. With the million dollar prize, Clijsters finished the season as the tour prize money leader and became the first player to earn four million dollars in a season on the WTA Tour.[61] Nonetheless, Henin took the year-end No. 1 ranking by improving on her performance at the event from the previous season.[62]

Doubles: French Open and Wimbledon titles

 
Ai Sugiyama, Clijsters's doubles partner in 2003

In the early part of the season, Clijsters and Sugiyama won three titles on hard courts.[18] However, they did not win any big titles through May, losing in the Australian Open quarterfinals to the Williams sisters and finishing runners-up at their first two Tier I finals.[18][63] They entered the French Open and Wimbledon and made it to the finals at both events. Clijsters and Sugiyama defeated the top seeds Ruano Pascual and Suarez in both finals for Clijsters's first two Grand Slam tournament titles. The French Open final was a tighter match, ending 9–7 in the third set.[40][64] Despite these titles, the duo remained behind Ruano Pascual and Suarez in the rankings until August when Clijsters became world No. 1. She held the top ranking for four non-consecutive weeks.[19][65] The pair were the top seeds at the US Open, but withdrew in the second round due to rain delaying Sugiyama's fourth round singles match for three days.[66] They ended the season by finishing runners-up to Ruano Pascual and Suarez at the WTA Tour Championships.[67] Despite Clijsters's success in 2003, she seldom played doubles during the rest of her career.[68]

2004–05: Extended injury absence, first Grand Slam singles title

Although Clijsters maintained her form into 2004, her season was ultimately marred by injuries. It was feared that she would need surgery and miss the Australian Open after she injured her left ankle in the Hopman Cup.[69] Nonetheless, she competed at the event and reached the championship match without dropping a set, despite aggravating her ankle injury in the quarterfinals.[70] Her opponent in the final was Henin and unlike their previous two Grand Slam finals, Clijsters was able to win a set. With Henin up a break at 4–3 in the third set, the chair umpire incorrectly overruled a line call on break point that would have leveled the match. Henin ended up winning the game and the match. Clijsters said afterwards, "I'm just as disappointed as after the last two grand slam [finals], but I played a lot better this time".[71] In February, she won her next two tournaments, including the Diamond Games in Antwerp for her first WTA title in her home country.[72] After Clijsters withdrew from the Indian Wells Open following one match with a torn left wrist tendon, she only played in two more WTA events the remainder of the season. She returned to the WTA Tour six weeks later with a wrist brace, but again withdrew after one match. In June, she found out she would need surgery to remove a cyst in her wrist.[73][74] As a result, she remained out until the Hasselt Cup in Belgium where she needed to retire in her third match.[73][75]

There were few expectations on Clijsters entering 2005, as it still was not certain whether she would be able to play.[76] After missing the Australian Open, she returned to the tour in February. In her second and third tournaments back, Clijsters won both Tier I events in March, the Indian Wells Open and the Miami Open, to become the second woman to complete the Sunshine Double after Steffi Graf in 1994 and 1996.[77][78] She defeated world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport in the final of Indian Wells, as well as No. 2 Amélie Mauresmo and No. 3 Maria Sharapova in her last two matches in Miami.[79] These titles lifted her ranking from outside the top 100 back into the top 20.[19][76] Clijsters was unable to continue her success into the clay or grass court seasons, winning just one title and losing in the fourth round in three sets to Davenport at both the French Open and Wimbledon.[18][80]

"It's very hard to believe and an amazing feeling to have. After being out for so much of last year it's a little bit more special."

— Clijsters on winning the 2005 US Open, her first Grand Slam singles title.[81]

After Wimbledon in late June,[82] Clijsters only lost one more match through early October.[18] During this stretch, she won five titles including her third Stanford Classic[83] and her fifth Luxembourg Open.[84] She also built up a 22-match win streak[84] and defeated Henin in the final of the Tier I Canadian Open in their only meeting of the year.[42][85] Clijsters's most important title of the season was the US Open, her first Grand Slam singles title. As the fourth seed, she was not tested until the quarterfinals, when Venus Williams was two games away from defeating her at a set and a break up. Clijsters rebounded to win the match in three sets and then defeated the top seed and world No. 2 Sharapova in the semifinals, also in three sets. Despite her previous struggles in Grand Slam singles finals, she won the championship against No. 13 Mary Pierce with ease, only conceding four games.[80] As the winner of the US Open Series, Clijsters received double the standard amount of prize money. Her $2.2 million prize was the largest in women's sports history at the time.[86] Clijsters's last tournament of the year was the WTA Tour Championships. Although she had a chance to return to No. 1 if she outperformed the top-ranked Davenport, she only won one match and did not advance out of her round robin group.[87] She finished the year ranked No. 2, having won a tour-best nine titles and all of her finals.[18][19][87] She was named both the WTA Player of the Year and the WTA Comeback Player of the Year.[88] Despite this success, Clijsters announced in August that she was planning to retire in 2007 because of her injury troubles.[89]

2006–07: Return to No. 1, hastened retirement

 
Clijsters in 2006

The 2006 season saw a variety of injury issues for Clijsters. She only played in 14 tournaments, missing the US Open as well as the Fed Cup final. While she reached the semifinals at the other three Grand Slam singles events, she was unable to advance to another final.[18] Clijsters withdrew from her first tournament of the year, the Sydney International with hip and back problems.[90] Although she recovered from those issues in time to reach the semifinals at the Australian Open, she needed to retire from that match as well after twisting her ankle while down a break in the third set against Amélie Mauresmo.[91] Nonetheless, with Davenport losing in the quarterfinals, Clijsters regained the No. 1 ranking.[92] She held the top ranking through mid-March.[19] Clijsters returned for the Diamond Games where she finished runner-up to Mauresmo,[93] but needed to withdraw from the Indian Wells Open because of the same ankle injury.[94] While she was healthy enough to play a regular schedule during the clay and grass court seasons, Henin continued her recent dominance of their rivalry over this stretch. She defeated Clijsters in the semifinals of three consecutive events, including the French Open and Wimbledon.[18][95][96]

During the US Open Series, Clijsters won her fourth Stanford Classic[97] and finished runner-up to Maria Sharapova at the Tier I San Diego Classic.[98] However, her summer season came to an end when she fell on her left wrist in her opening round match at the Canadian Open.[99] This injury kept her out until late October. She made her return at the Hasselt Cup and won her second consecutive title at the event.[100] Clijsters entered the WTA Tour Championships ranked No. 5 in the world,[19] where all three other players she was grouped with were Russian.[101] Although she lost to her group's top seed, Sharapova, she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva to advance. Her season ended in the semifinals, where she lost to world No. 1 Mauresmo.[102]

Clijsters entered 2007 intending to retire at the end of the season,[103] but only ended up playing in five tournaments due to injuries.[104] She won her only title of the year in her first tournament, the Sydney International. The Australian Open was her only Grand Slam event of the season. For the second consecutive season, she lost in the semifinals, this time to top seed Sharapova. Clijsters's last tournament in Belgium was the Diamond Games, where she finished runner-up to Mauresmo for the second year in a row.[104] A hip injury limited Clijsters's remaining schedule.[105] In her last two tournaments, she lost to Li Na in the fourth round of the Miami Open in March[106] and qualifier Julia Vakulenko in her opening match at the Warsaw Open in May.[107] Her last win was against Samantha Stosur in Miami.[18] A few days after losing in Warsaw, Clijsters announced her retirement at the age of 23, forgoing plans to finish the season.[108]

Two-year hiatus

A few months after Clijsters retired, she married basketball player Brian Lynch. She gave birth to a daughter in early 2008, less than two months after her father Leo Clijsters was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died twelve months later in January 2009. Clijsters said, "The birth of Jada was the best moment of my life, but it also taught me a lesson because we knew that my Dad was terminally ill. I realised that new life had been born, but a few months later another life would disappear. It was a very intense period in our lives."[109]

Nearly two months after her father's death, it was announced that Clijsters would play in an exhibition in May with Tim Henman against Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi to test the new retractable roof on Centre Court at Wimbledon.[110] In March, Clijsters stated that she was planning to come out of retirement, motivated by returning to the "training schedule from [her] pro days" to prepare for the Wimbledon exhibition. She added that she was taking a different approach to tennis, saying, "I am looking at this as a second career, not as a comeback as I am now in a situation where not everything revolves around tennis 24 hours a day."[111] Clijsters and Henman won the exhibition doubles, and Clijsters also defeated her idol Graf in singles. She commented, "I wanted to feel good here on court. And I've enjoyed it. This is the pleasure which was lacking at the end of my first career. But now I've got my motivation back."[112]

2009–10: Start of second career, back-to-back US Open titles

 
Clijsters at the 2010 US Open

With no ranking, Clijsters needed wild cards to begin her comeback. She requested and received wild cards for the Cincinnati Open, the Canadian Open, and the US Open.[111][113] In her return to the tour in Cincinnati, Clijsters defeated three top 20 opponents, including No. 6 Svetlana Kuznetsova,[114] before losing to world No. 1 Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals.[79][115] She recorded another top ten victory in Canada over No. 9 Victoria Azarenka.[79] Clijsters was still unranked entering the US Open, as players needed three tour events to have a ranking at the time.[116] Nonetheless, she made it to the final, notably upsetting both Williams sisters, No. 3 Venus in the fourth round and No. 2 Serena in the semifinals. She defeated Venus in a tight third set after they split the first two 6–0.[117] Her straight sets win over Serena was overshadowed by her opponent receiving a point penalty on match point for verbally abusing a line judge.[118] Clijsters then defeated No. 8 Caroline Wozniacki to win her second US Open championship. She became the first unseeded woman to win the title at the event, and the first mother to win a Grand Slam singles title since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980.[119][120][121] With the title, she entered the WTA rankings at No. 19.[116] Her only other tournament of the year was the Luxembourg Open, where she lost her second match.[122] At the end of the season, she won the WTA Comeback Player of the Year award for the second time.[88]

Clijsters planned a limited schedule for 2010 to keep her focus on her family and ended up playing just eleven tournaments.[123] In her first event of the year, she won the Brisbane International, narrowly defeating Henin in a third set tiebreak in Henin's first tournament back from her own retirement.[124] She entered the Australian Open as one of the favourites, but was upset by No. 19 Nadia Petrova in the third round, only winning one game in that loss.[125] Clijsters did not return to the tour until March. After an early loss at the Indian Wells Open, she won the Miami Open for the second time. The only set she lost was in the semifinals to Henin, who she again defeated in a third set tiebreak.[79][126] She only conceded three games in the final against Venus Williams.[127] During the clay court season, Clijsters tore a muscle in her left foot, which kept her out of the French Open.[128][129] Although she returned for Wimbledon, she was upset in the quarterfinals by Vera Zvonareva after recording another win over Henin in the previous round.[130][131]

"That defeat against Zvonareva at Wimbledon was hard to take. It had been perhaps my best and last chance to reach the final. In the semifinal of the US Open, I was absolutely bent on gaining revenge. And I succeeded, too... I'd become the player I'd always wanted to be."

— Clijsters on the 2010 US Open final.[132]

In the latter half of the year, Clijsters entered only four tournaments. During the US Open Series, she won the Cincinnati Open, the tournament where she returned from retirement a year earlier.[133] At her next event, she was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open by Zvonareva while struggling with a thigh injury.[134] Nonetheless, Clijsters recovered to defend her title at the US Open. In the last three rounds, she defeated three top ten players in No. 6 Samantha Stosur, No. 4 Venus Williams, and No. 8 Vera Zvonareva.[79] Venus came the closest to ending her title defense, but lost in three sets after serving two double faults in the second set tiebreak which could have won her the match.[135] Clijsters won the final over Zvonareva with ease in less than an hour. This was her third consecutive title at the US Open and the fourth consecutive time she made it to the championship match, having skipped the tournament four times since 2003.[132] Clijsters' final event of the season was the WTA Tour Championships, where she qualified for the seventh time. Despite a loss to Zvonareva in her last round robin match, she advanced to the knockout rounds and defeated No. 5 Stosur and world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki for her third title at the year-end championships.[136] Clijsters finished the season at No. 3 and was named WTA Player of the Year for the second time.[19][137]

2011–12: Australian Open champion, last reign at No. 1

By the start of 2011, Clijsters knew she was planning to retire in 2012 as she did not want to be on the tour while her daughter was in school.[138] She began the season at the Sydney International, where she finished runner-up to Li Na in straight sets despite winning the first five games of the match.[139] The two also met in the final of their next tournament, the Australian Open. Although Clijsters again lost the first set, she recovered to win the championship, her fourth Grand Slam singles title and first outside of the US Open.[138][140] This title would be the last of Clijsters's career.[18] She made one last final at her next WTA event, the Paris Open, where she was defeated by Petra Kvitová. Nonetheless, this result helped Clijsters regain the world No. 1 ranking before Caroline Wozniacki took it back one week later.[141][142] During the rest of the season, Clijsters was limited by a variety of injuries and only played five more tournaments.[79] She needed to retire from a fourth round match at the Indian Wells Open due to a shoulder injury.[143] Then, as a result of a right ankle injury suffered while dancing at a wedding in April, the French Open was the only clay court event she entered. At the second Grand Slam tournament of the year, she was upset in the second round by No. 114 Arantxa Rus after failing to convert two match points in the second set.[144] Aggravating that ankle injury at her next event then forced her to miss Wimbledon.[145] Clijsters returned for the Canadian Open, where she suffered an abdominal injury that kept her out the remainder of the season.[143][146]

 
Clijsters after her last WTA singles match win against Victoria Duval

Clijsters was unable to stay healthy in her last year on the WTA Tour. In the first week of the season, she returned to the tour for the Brisbane International. After winning her first three matches back, she needed to retire in the semifinals due to hip spasms, a precautionary measure to prepare for the Australian Open.[147] As the defending champion at the year's first Grand Slam event, Clijsters made it to the semifinals. Her fourth round victory came against No. 5 Li Na in a rematch of the 2011 final. She overcame rolling her ankle in the first set and saved four match points at 6–2 in the second set tiebreak to win in three sets.[148] After Clijsters defeated world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals,[149] she lost to No. 3 Victoria Azarenka in another three-set match.[150][151] Both her hip and ankle continued to trouble her for months after the tournament, forcing her to skip the clay court season.[152][153] After playing once in March and returning in mid-June,[152][154] the last WTA events of Clijsters's career were the final two Grand Slam tournaments of the season.[79] She lost at Wimbledon in the fourth round to No. 8 Angelique Kerber, only winning two games.[155] Clijsters entered the US Open having not lost a match there since the 2003 final. She recorded her last WTA singles match win against Victoria Duval in the first round before falling to Laura Robson in her next match.[156] Her career ended with a second round mixed doubles loss alongside Bob Bryan to the eventual champions Ekaterina Makarova and Bruno Soares, at which point she officially retired.[156][157]

2020–22: Second comeback

After more than seven years of retirement, Clijsters returned to professional tennis in February 2020 at the Dubai Tennis Championships as a wildcard. Clijsters lost to Australian Open runner-up Garbiñe Muguruza in the opening round. She next entered the Monterrey Open as a wildcard losing in the first round to Johanna Konta in two sets. No tournaments were played due to the COVID-19 pandemic from March to July. Clijsters received wildcards at the inaugural Top Seed Open in singles and doubles alongside Sabine Lisicki. Clijsters withdrew from both singles and doubles. Clijsters next played the US Open on a main draw wildcard losing in the first round to Ekaterina Alexandrova in three sets. Clijsters underwent knee surgery in October and did not play another tournament in 2020.[158]

Clijsters pulled out of the 2021 Miami Open, saying she did not feel ready to compete after her surgery and contracting COVID-19 in January.[158] She played her first tournament of the year at the Chicago Fall Tennis Classic, having accepted a wildcard, but lost in the first round to Hsieh Su-Wei in three sets.[158][159] She entered the doubles draw too, the partner was Kirsten Flipkens, but they lost in the first round. Clijsters then participated in postponed Indian Wells Masters, drew Kateřina Siniaková and lost in three sets in the first round. Clijsters played a number of matches for World TeamTennis in 2021, aligned with the New York Empire.[160]

With many tournaments having been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Clijsters had only been able to play five matches within the two years that she had returned to the tour. On 12 April 2022, Clijsters announced that she was ending her comeback and again retiring from tennis, citing a desire to focus more on family life.[161]

National representation

Fed Cup

Clijsters made her Fed Cup debut for Belgium in 2000 at the age of 16. The top-tier World Group that year consisted of 13 teams, 12 of which were divided into three round robin groups. The winners of the round robin groups in April would compete with the defending champion United States team in a knockout format for the title in November. Belgium was placed in a group with Australia, France, and Russia. Each tie was contested over one day as a best-of-three rubbers, two in singles and the last in doubles. Clijsters only played singles, while Els Callens and Laurence Courtois played all three doubles matches. Although Clijsters narrowly lost her debut to Jelena Dokic of Australia by a score of 9–7 in the third set, her teammates were able to secure the tie. She won her other two matches against Nathalie Tauziat of France and Anna Kournikova of Russia, both of which were crucial as Belgium won each of those ties 2–1 as well to win the group. In the semifinals, Henin returned to the team as they faced the United States, the hosts for the final rounds. After Henin lost to Monica Seles, Clijsters needed to defeat Lindsay Davenport to keep Belgium in the tournament. She won the second set, but ultimately lost the match.[162]

The following year, the format for the Fed Cup changed again. The entire competition was played out in November. The three round robin pools were reduced to two and the winners of each pool would contest a final tie for the title. Belgium's team of Clijsters, Henin, Callens, and Courtois from the 2000 final all returned for 2001. The United States withdrew before the start of the event, citing security concerns a few months after the 11 September terrorist attacks. With Henin and Clijsters exclusively playing singles, and Callens and Courtois playing doubles, Belgium won all nine of their rubbers against Spain, Germany, and Australia to advance to the final. Facing Russia, Henin defeated Nadia Petrova and Clijsters defeated Elena Dementieva to secure Belgium's first Fed Cup crown. Courtois commented, "We were never under any pressure, mainly because Kim and Justine were so strong."[163]

While Clijsters and Henin were on the team, Belgium came closest to another Fed Cup triumph in 2006. In this year, the World Group consisted of eight teams in a knockout tournament. The three rounds were spread out over April, July, and September. Each tie was played as a best-of-five rubbers, with four singles followed by one doubles. In the first round against Russia, both Clijsters and Henin made themselves available and won three out of four singles matches to advance.[164] Although Henin missed the semifinal, Clijsters and Kirsten Flipkens were able to lead Belgium to a victory over the United States, who were also short-handed without Lindsay Davenport or the Williams sisters.[165] However, Clijsters was forced to miss the Fed Cup final due to a wrist injury.[99] Henin and Flipkens returned for the final, which Belgium hosted against Italy. The tie was decided by the doubles rubber, which Belgium lost after Henin aggravated a knee injury she suffered in one of her singles rubbers and needed to retire down 2–0 in the third set.[166]

Clijsters also played on the Belgium Fed Cup team from 2002 to 2005, and 2010–11 after she returned from retirement. The team's best results in those years were two semifinal appearances in 2003 and 2011. Clijsters missed the ties in which Belgium was eliminated in both instances.[167][168] Overall, Clijsters compiled a 24–4 record in Fed Cup, split across 21–3 in singles and 3–1 in doubles.[169]

Hopman Cup

Clijsters participated in the Hopman Cup from 2001 to 2004, partnering with Olivier Rochus in the first instance and Xavier Malisse thereafter. The tournament consists of eight teams, each with one female and one male player from the same country. The teams are divided into two round robin groups, the winners of which compete for the title. Each tie consists of a women's singles match, a men's singles match, and a mixed doubles match. The Belgian team did not advance to final in any of the years Clijsters participated. Their best performances came in 2002 and 2003 when they won two out of three round robin ties.[170][171][172][173]

In 2002, they finished tied for first with the United States and Italy in a group that also featured France. Belgium's only loss came against the United States, with Clijsters and Malisse losing both singles matches to Monica Seles and Jan-Michael Gambill respectively. Although the United States lost to Italy, they advanced out of the group on the tiebreak criteria, having won six rubbers compared to the five won by each of Belgium and Italy. Both of the ties Belgium had won were by a score of 2–1, with Clijsters losing to Francesca Schiavone against Italy and the pair losing the mixed doubles against the French team of Virginie Razzano and Arnaud Clément.[171] The following year, Clijsters and Malisse again lost to the United States, who fielded a different team of Serena Williams and James Blake.[172]

Olympics

Clijsters did not compete at the Olympics until 2012 near the end of her career. She had been ranked inside the top 40 in the months leading up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics in September, high enough to qualify. However, she did not make herself available for selection for a variety of reasons including issues with her shoulder and the event's timing a week after the US Open.[174] During the 2004 Athens Olympics, she was in the middle of a long absence from competition after undergoing wrist surgery.[73] However, she had announced before the year began that she did not intend to compete at the Games because Adidas was the Belgian team's uniform sponsor and her contract with Fila forbade her from wearing clothing from another company.[175] The 2008 Beijing Olympics took place during her first retirement.[151]

Having missed these three previous events, Clijsters's desire to represent Belgium at the Olympics was one of the underlying reasons why she prolonged her second career until the 2012 London Games in late July.[151] At the time, she did not have good results at her most recent tournaments, withdrawing from the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships in the semifinals in June due to injury and suffering a lopsided loss in the fourth round at Wimbledon. In her Olympic debut, Clijsters won her first three matches in straight sets, defeating Roberta Vinci, Carla Suárez Navarro, and No. 12 Ana Ivanovic in succession.[79] She faced No. 3 Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals, losing in straight sets one match before the medal rounds.[151][176]

Rivalries

Clijsters vs. Henin

Main article: Clijsters–Henin rivalry

Clijsters's biggest rival was Justine Henin, who grew up in the French-speaking part of Belgium. They have been regarded as having little in common except their nationality and their relationship has varied over time.[177] Their rivalry began during their junior years when they were both considered promising young talents.[7] They started out as friends and won the Belgian Junior Championships as doubles partners at ages ten and eleven respectively, despite only being able to communicate with hand signals due to Clijsters not knowing French and Henin not knowing Flemish.[6][7][164] However, their friendship began to fade by their mid-teens, leading to disputes that their coaches would try to keep out of the media.[178] Clijsters attributed this deterioration in part to one of Henin's coaches telling Henin, "she had to hate all of her opponents, and only then could she win." She also acknowledged they had very different personalities.[179]

Clijsters and Henin typically downplayed any disagreements between them, saying they were overdramatized by the media.[6][177] When they were professionals, Clijsters accused Henin of routinely faking injuries in their matches to receive medical timeouts. Additionally, Clijsters's father seemed to allege that Henin was taking performance-enhancing drugs.[6][177] Although they had won the Fed Cup together in 2001, they were not interested in playing on the same team in 2004 or 2005. The following year, Clijsters's former coach Carl Maes, who was then the Belgium Fed Cup captain, helped convince Clijsters to reunite with Henin, and together they ultimately reached another final.[164]

On the court, they played each other in 25 WTA matches, making each of them the other's most frequent opponent. Although Clijsters won the series 13–12, Henin won seven out of their eleven meetings in finals including all three at Grand Slam tournaments. The latest stage win Clijsters had at a major was in the semifinals of the 2001 French Open. She also defeated Henin en route to her first WTA Tour Championship in 2002. Clijsters dominated their hard court meetings 8–4, while Henin dominated on clay 5–1. Henin also won three of their five grass court encounters. Before both of their first retirements, Henin was leading the series 12–10. However, Clijsters won all three of their meetings during their comebacks to win the series.[42]

Clijsters vs. Williams sisters

The Williams sisters are frequently recognized for having a transformative impact on tennis through the power in their style of play, their longevity, their marketability, and their success at the Grand Slam tournaments and Olympics.[180] They were both No. 1 in the world and combined for 15 Grand Slam singles titles while Clijsters was on tour,[181][182] and Serena in particular has been ranked as the greatest women's tennis player of the Open Era.[183] Clijsters had a record of just 2–7 against Serena, who she called her toughest opponent.[8][184] She fared better against Venus, compiling a winning record of 7–6.[185]

Clijsters's rivalry with Serena included two of the biggest controversies in Serena's career: the 2001 Indian Wells final which led to both Williams sisters' long boycott of the tournament, and the 2009 US Open semifinal which Serena lost on a point penalty.[31][118] Serena defeated Clijsters in their first five meetings. She also won all four of their three-set encounters, including their 1999 US Open third round match and their 2003 Australian Open semifinal where Clijsters had the opportunity to serve for both matches.[22][44][184] Although Clijsters only had two wins against Serena, both were considered big upsets and among the most important wins of her career. Her victory in the 2002 WTA Tour Championship final gave Clijsters her biggest title at the time, and her win at the 2009 US Open set up her first Grand Slam singles title as a mother one match later.[24][186] Clijsters also defeated Venus in both of those tournaments, making her the only player to record wins over both Williams sisters at the same event twice.[187]

Venus also initially dominated her rivalry with Clijsters. She won six of their first eight meetings, including two in the late stages of Grand Slam tournaments in the quarterfinals of the 2001 US Open and the semifinals of 2003 Wimbledon. Venus also eliminated Clijsters from the Diamond Games in Belgium twice in 2003 and 2005. Additionally, one of Clijsters's first two wins against Venus was a retirement due to injury at the 2002 WTA Tour Championships. Nonetheless, Clijsters rebounded to win their last five meetings and end her career leading in their head-to-head record. Three of those five victories came at the US Open en route to her three titles at the event in 2005, 2009, and 2010.[185]

Other rivals

In addition to Henin and the Williams sisters, Clijsters also developed rivalries with several other players who had been ranked No. 1 in the world. Two of her most frequent opponents were Lindsay Davenport and Amélie Mauresmo. Clijsters narrowly had winning records against both of them, going 9–8 versus Davenport and 8–7 versus Mauresmo. Davenport had won six of their first seven meetings before Clijsters won eight of their next nine encounters, including all five in 2003. Clijsters defeated Davenport in all four of their meetings in finals, including two at the Indian Wells Open. While Davenport had a 5–1 lead in Grand Slam tournaments, Clijsters won their latest-stage such meeting in the semifinals of the 2003 US Open.[188] Unlike against Davenport, Clijsters initially dominated her rivalry with Mauresmo, winning eight of their first ten matches before Mauresmo took the last five. They met in two WTA Tour Championship finals, which they split. Mauresmo also denied Clijsters chances to win more titles in her home country when she won their finals at both the 2006 and 2007 Diamond Games.[189]

Exhibition matches

 
King Baudouin Stadium, the site of the record-setting match between Clijsters and Serena Williams

During Clijsters's first retirement, the invitation to participate in the roof test exhibition series at Wimbledon in May 2009 inspired her to return to the WTA Tour.[109] In the summer, she joined the St. Louis Aces of the World Team Tennis league to help prepare for her comeback.[190] She also participated in World Team Tennis the following year as a member of the New York Sportimes.[191] Ten years after the roof test on Centre Court that inspired her comeback, Clijsters returned to Wimbledon to participate in an exhibition series to test the new roof on Court No. 1 in which she played a set of singles against Venus Williams as well as a set of mixed doubles.[192]

On 8 July 2010, an exhibition match between Clijsters and Henin was scheduled as an attempt to set a new world record for largest attendance at a tennis match. The contest took place at the King Baudouin Stadium and was a part of the Best of Belgium national festival. After Henin needed to withdraw from the match due to an elbow injury, Serena Williams was chosen as a replacement. Although Williams injured her foot several days before the match, she chose to play. Clijsters defeated Williams in straight sets. A total of 35,681 people attended the match, breaking the world record of 30,472 set in 1973 by the Battle of the Sexes between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.[193]

Beginning in 2009, the Diamond Games in Antwerp was reorganized from a WTA tournament into an exhibition series. During her comeback, Clijsters played at the event three times, winning matches against Venus Williams in 2009,[194] Henin in 2010,[195] and world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in 2011.[196] She continued to play at the event after retiring. The 2012 edition was named "Kim's Thank You Games" in honor of her retirement, and the following year the event was known as the Kim Clijsters Invitational.[197][198] In 2015, the Diamond Games were revived as a WTA event with Clijsters serving as the tournament director. She also played an exhibition set with finalist Andrea Petkovic after her opponent withdrew before the start of the championship match due to injury.[199]

Since her retirement in 2012, Clijsters has regularly played in the legends, champions, and invitation doubles events at all four Grand Slam tournaments.[200][201][202] One of her matches in the 2017 Wimbledon ladies' invitation doubles event drew public interest for Clijsters inviting a male spectator onto the court to play a few points. The spectator, Chris Quinn, had suggested Clijsters try a body serve when she had asked the crowd whether she should serve left or right. Before playing the points, she gave Quinn a women's shirt and skort so that he could abide by Wimbledon's all-white dress code. A video of the incident has over four million views on YouTube.[203][204]

Legacy

Clijsters has been ranked as the 14th-greatest women's tennis player in the Open Era by Tennis.com.[205] Her 41 singles titles are the 14th-most in the Open Era.[206] Since 2000, only the Williams sisters, Justine Henin, and Maria Sharapova have won more than her four Grand Slam singles titles.[207] The three titles she won at the WTA Tour Championships are tied for the fifth-most in history behind only Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Serena Williams, and Chris Evert.[208] Clijsters was a champion at all four Grand Slam tournaments, winning the French Open and Wimbledon in doubles and the US Open and Australian Open in singles.[25] Her prowess at singles and doubles is also highlighted by her becoming one of six players in WTA history to be No. 1 in the world in both rankings at the same time.[54]

Clijsters and Henin are recognized for "putting Belgium on the tennis map".[205] Before they established themselves in the upper echelon of women's tennis, Dominique Van Roost was the only player in Belgian history to be ranked in the top ten of the ATP or WTA rankings, a mark she did not achieve until 1998 after Clijsters and Henin turned professional.[209] The Belgium Fed Cup team had never reached the quarterfinals until 1997 when they made the semifinals. With Clijsters on the team, Belgium made it to at least the semifinals four times, reaching the final in 2006 and winning the championship in 2001.[210] She also became the first Belgian to be ranked No. 1 in each of singles and doubles.[40] Belgium was regarded as dominating women's tennis when Clijsters and Henin were the top two players in the world for several months in late 2003.[177] After Clijsters's retirement, she established the Kim Clijsters Academy in her hometown of Bree. The academy is run by Clijsters's longtime coach Carl Maes and is intended to serve young players.[211] Compatriot Elise Mertens is among those who train at the facility.[212]

Clijsters was one of the most popular and well-liked players in tennis among both fans and her fellow players.[186][205] She won the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award a record eight times. Clijsters was proud of her reputation as one of the nicest players on the WTA Tour, saying, "I always try every day to be a good person and to be nice to others, and I think that’s probably the most important thing. I’m proud that I won tournaments and everything, but I want players to think that Kim was a nice person."[213] Clijsters was also regarded as a source of inspiration to mothers on the WTA Tour, a role she embraced.[214] She is one of three mothers to win a Grand Slam singles title, and her three such titles are tied with Margaret Court for the most of all-time. Additionally, Clijsters is the only mother to be ranked No. 1 in the world since the start of the WTA rankings in 1975.[215] She appeared on the Time 100 list in 2011 as one of the most influential people in the world in large part because of her successful comeback.[216]

Playing style

 
Clijsters serving

Clijsters is an all-court player who employed a mixture of offensive and defensive styles of play.[25] On the defensive side, her movement is regarded as exceptional, enabling her to endure long rallies.[25][217] Maria Sharapova has commented that, "You just have to expect that she's going to get every ball back."[218] In addition to her movement, Clijsters often extends points with her signature shot, a stretched-out wide forehand, also known as a squash shot. This type of forehand involves hitting the ball with slice to make up for being out of position.[219] When hitting a squash shot on the run, Clijsters is known for her trademark play of sliding towards the ball and finishing in a split to extend her reach.[220] While most players can only slide on clay, Clijsters can slide on any surface. Tennis journalist Peter Bodo has noted, "Grass and hard courts do not 'permit' sliding unless your name is Kim Clijsters."[221]

 
Clijsters hitting a backhand

The strengths of Clijsters's game are built around playing aggressively to generate offense without losing control.[222] She excels at hitting both forehand and backhand winners from the baseline.[223] Clijsters is regarded as one of the best returners of serve and tries to "take control of the point immediately... to [put herself] in an offensive position from the beginning".[224] She was aggressive in the middle of points as well. While the squash shot is generally regarded as a defensive shot, Clijsters can turn it into an offensive weapon by placing it well enough to have time to recover into a good court position.[219] Additionally, she possesses the ability to quickly move in from the baseline to the net, setting herself up to hit winners and finish points. She is adept at hitting swinging volleys on both the forehand and backhand sides because of her solid groundstroke technique.[225] Clijsters credits her experience in doubles for improving her net game in singles, saying "it made [her] focus on going to the net more" and helped her "know when to come to the net".[226] Her coach Wim Fissette attributed her success at Grand Slam events after her comeback to being more aggressive than she was before her first retirement.[227]

Coaches

Clijsters worked with Belgian coaches throughout her career. Her first coach was Bart Van Kerckhoven, who she later invited to her championship match at the 2010 US Open.[193] She began her professional career with Carl Maes as her coach. Maes was a student of Benny Vanhoudt who led the Saturday training sessions while Clijsters was also working with Vanhoudt in Diest.[9] He moved to the Flemish Tennis Association Centre in Wilrijk when Clijsters was 13 years old and invited her to join him. In her first year in Wilrijk, she also worked with Marc De Hous.[10] Maes coached Clijsters from 1996 to May 2002, during which she won the Fed Cup and finished as the runner-up at the 2001 French Open.[178]

Shortly before the 2002 US Open, she hired De Hous as her new coach and continued to work with him through 2005. Under De Hous, Clijsters won two WTA Tour Championships and two Grand Slam doubles titles. They split a week after she won her first Grand Slam singles title at the 2005 US Open. It was reported that De Hous left because he was unhappy with only receiving a $7,500 bonus from her $2.2 million in US Open prize money; however, he denied this was his only financial compensation and attributed his departure to wanting to "take on new challenges" after all of their success in 2005.[80][228][229] Clijsters opted to play without a coach from then until her first retirement.[230]

When Clijsters began her comeback in 2009, she hired Wim Fissette to be her coach. Fissette, who is three years older, had trained with Clijsters under Vanhoudt when they were both juniors.[9] He had also served as her hitting partner from 2005 until her first retirement.[231] With Fissette as her coach, Clijsters won three more Grand Slam singles titles and regained the world No. 1 ranking. In June 2011, she rehired Maes as her coach, leading to Fissette's departure several months later.[232][233] Clijsters worked with Maes until her second retirement.[156]

In 2020, coinciding with her second comeback, Clijsters announced her new coach as Fred Hemmes Jr.[234]

Endorsements

During her playing career, Clijsters was represented by Belgian company Golazo Sports.[235][236] Babolat has sponsored her racquets since 1999, and she specifically has used the Pure Drive model.[237] Fila has been Clijsters's clothing sponsor since 2002. She had previously worn Nike apparel, but was not under contract.[238][239]

Clijsters is conscious about selecting which products to endorse, saying, "If it's not healthy for kids, for example, I'm not going to endorse a product. I don't want to give the wrong impression. We try to live a healthy lifestyle and if it doesn't match me as a person, I turn it down. To have my name on a product, I want to be behind it fully."[240] She has turned down Nutella in addition to endorsements that involved her daughter.[241][242] While on tour, she endorsed banana supplier Chiquita and United Soft Drinks, the producer of the AA sports drink.[242] Additionally, she was a brand ambassador for nutrition company USANA as well as the Citizen Watch Signature Collection.[243][244] She also had endorsement deals with Belgian telecommunications company Telenet, personnel services firm Adecco, and the travel services company Thomas Cook Group.[242]

Since Clijsters's retirement, Van Lanschot banking helps sponsor the Kim Clijsters Academy.[245]

Personal life

Clijsters is married to Brian Lynch, an American basketball coach and former player. Lynch played college basketball at Villanova before pursuing a professional career in Europe. The two met while Lynch was a member of Euphony Bree, the team based in Clijsters's hometown, and initially bonded over both having pet bulldogs. They became a couple in 2005 and married in 2007.[109] They have three children: a daughter Jada (born 2008), and two sons Jack (born 2013) and Blake (born 2016). The family splits their time living in Bree and New Jersey.[246]

Clijsters's sister Elke, who is younger by a year and a half, was also a promising tennis player. Like Kim, Elke won two junior Grand Slam doubles titles.[247] She was also the ITF World Junior Doubles Champion in 2002.[248] On the professional tour, she achieved a top 400 ranking in singles and a top 250 ranking in doubles.[249] Kim and Elke entered one doubles tournament together on the WTA Tour at the 2004 Diamond Games in Antwerp. They won their opening match against Selima Sfar and Caroline Vis before losing to the second-seeded team of Émilie Loit and Petra Mandula in the next round.[18] Elke retired in 2004 at age 19 due to persistent back problems.[250]

In Clijsters's early career, she was in a long-term relationship with Australian tennis player Lleyton Hewitt. They met at the 2000 Australian Open and were engaged before mutually ending their relationship in late 2004.[251] The pair entered the mixed doubles event at Wimbledon in 2000, losing in the final.[24] Their relationship earned Clijsters the nickname "Aussie Kim" and made her popular among Australian tennis fans even after they separated. When Clijsters won the 2011 Australian Open, she believed she earned her nickname, saying, "Now you can finally call me Aussie Kim".[138]

Clijsters's childhood tennis idol was Steffi Graf.[3] She cites her lone WTA Tour match against Graf at Wimbledon in 1999 as being very influential, saying, "It was unbelievable. All I wanted to do was watch her. I wanted to see how she tied her shoelaces, what her ponytail looked like, how she carried her bag. Even though I lost, the impact of that and the motivation it gave me was huge. It was definitely the biggest moment of my career".[246] She also looked up to Monica Seles and viewed both Graf and Seles as role models, drawing inspiration from their level of focus.[3][226]

Clijsters is involved with multiple organizations that help children. She has served as an ambassador for SOS Children's Villages in Belgium since 2010. SOS provides aid to children living without their parents and to impoverished families.[252][253] Clijsters has also founded Ten4Kim, a nonprofit that funds junior tennis players who cannot afford the costs associated with training at a high level.[254][255]

While Clijsters retired, she served as a part-time coach to several players, including compatriots Elise Mertens and Yanina Wickmayer. She also occasionally was a commentator at the Grand Slam tournaments, working for the BBC and Fox Sports Australia at Wimbledon and for Channel 7 at the Australian Open.[256]

Career statistics

Main article: Kim Clijsters career statistics

Performance timelines

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

Tournament 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 / 2020 2021 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A 1R 4R SF SF F A SF SF A A 3R W SF A A 1 / 10 43–9 83%
French Open A 1R F 3R F A 4R SF A A A A 2R A A A 0 / 7 23–7 77%
Wimbledon 4R 2R QF 2R SF A 4R SF A A A QF A 4R NH A 0 / 9 28–9 76%
US Open 3R 2R QF 4R F A W A A A W W A 2R 1R A 3 / 10 38–7 84%
Win–loss 5–2 2–4 17–4 11–4 22–4 6–1 13–2 14–3 5–1 0–0 7–0 13–2 8–1 9–3 0–1 0–0 4 / 36 132–32 80%
Year-end championships
WTA Finals DNQ QF SF W W DNQ RR SF Did not qualify W DNQ NH DNQ 3 / 7 19–7 73%
Career statistics
Titles 1 2 3 4 9 2 9 3 1 0 1 5 1 0 0 0 Career total: 41
Finals 2 3 6 6 15 3 9 5 2 0 1 5 3 0 0 0 Career total: 60
Year-end ranking 47 18 5 4 2 22 2 5 N/A 18 3 13 N/A 1030

Doubles

Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004–11 2012 SR W–L Win %
Australian Open 1R 3R 3R QF A A 0 / 4 7–4 64%
French Open 1R 3R A W A A 1 / 3 8–2 80%
Wimbledon 2R F A W A A 1 / 3 12–2 86%
US Open 3R A QF 2R A 1R 0 / 4 6–4 60%
Win–loss 3–4 9–3 5–2 16–2 0–0 0–1 2 / 14 33–12 73%

Grand Slam tournament finals

Singles: 8 (4 titles, 4 runner-ups)

Result Year Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 2001 French Open Clay   Jennifer Capriati 6–1, 4–6, 10–12
Loss 2003 French Open Clay   Justine Henin 0–6, 4–6
Loss 2003 US Open Hard   Justine Henin 5–7, 1–6
Loss 2004 Australian Open Hard   Justine Henin 3–6, 6–4, 3–6
Win 2005 US Open Hard   Mary Pierce 6–3, 6–1
Win 2009 US Open (2) Hard   Caroline Wozniacki 7–5, 6–3
Win 2010 US Open (3) Hard   Vera Zvonareva 6–2, 6–1
Win 2011 Australian Open Hard   Li Na 3–6, 6–3, 6–3

Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Result Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 2001 Wimbledon Grass   Ai Sugiyama   Lisa Raymond
  Rennae Stubbs 		4–6, 3–6
Win 2003 French Open Clay   Ai Sugiyama   Virginia Ruano Pascual
  Paola Suárez 		6–7(5–7), 6–2, 9–7
Win 2003 Wimbledon Grass   Ai Sugiyama   Virginia Ruano Pascual
  Paola Suárez 		6–4, 6–4

Mixed doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Result Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 2000 Wimbledon Grass   Lleyton Hewitt   Kimberly Po
  Donald Johnson 		4–6, 6–7(3–7)

Sources: ITF profile[18] and WTA profile[257]

Awards

ITF awards

WTA awards

National awards

International awards

See also

References

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Books

  • Bodo, Peter (2010). The Clay Ran Red: Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros. Diversion. ISBN 978-0984515134.
  • Dewulf, Filip; de Jong, Wilfried (2013). Kim Clijsters: First and Only Official Career Overview. Cannibal Publishing. ISBN 978-9491376580.
  • Rive, Joey; Williams, Scott C. (2018). Tennis Skills & Drills. Human Kinetics. ISBN 978-0736083089.
  • van de Winkel, Frank (2012). Kim Clijsters: De Biographie (in Dutch). Spectrum. ISBN 978-9000306404.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kim Clijsters.

May 04, 2023
clijsters, antonie, lode, clijsters, dutch, pronunciation, kɪm, ˈklɛistərs, listen, born, june, 1983, belgian, former, professional, tennis, player, clijsters, reached, world, ranking, both, singles, doubles, having, held, both, rankings, simultaneously, 2003,. Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters 2 Dutch pronunciation kɪm ˈklɛisters listen born 8 June 1983 is a Belgian former professional tennis player Clijsters reached the world No 1 ranking in both singles and doubles having held both rankings simultaneously in 2003 She won six major titles four in singles and two in doubles Kim ClijstersKim Clijsters in 2011Country sports BelgiumResidenceBree BelgiumNew Jersey U S Born 1983 06 08 8 June 1983 age 39 Bilzen BelgiumHeight1 74 m 5 ft 8 in Turned pro17 August 1997Retired2007 2009 2012 2020 12 April 2022PlaysRight handed two handed backhand CoachFred Hemmes Jr 2020 2022 Prize moneyUS 24 527 039 12th in all time rankings 1 Int Tennis HoF2017 member page Official websitekimclijsters comSinglesCareer record523 132 79 8 Career titles41Highest rankingNo 1 11 August 2003 Grand Slam singles resultsAustralian OpenW 2011 French OpenF 2001 2003 WimbledonSF 2003 2006 US OpenW 2005 2009 2010 Other tournamentsTour FinalsW 2002 2003 2010 Olympic GamesQF 2012 DoublesCareer record131 55 70 4 Career titles11Highest rankingNo 1 4 August 2003 Grand Slam doubles resultsAustralian OpenQF 2003 French OpenW 2003 WimbledonW 2003 US OpenQF 2002 Other doubles tournamentsTour FinalsF 2003 Mixed doublesGrand Slam mixed doubles resultsFrench Open3R 2000 WimbledonF 2000 US Open2R 2012 Team competitionsFed CupW 2001 Hopman CupRR 2001 2002 2003 2004 Clijsters competed professionally from 1997 in an era in which her primary rivals were compatriot Justine Henin and Serena Williams Coming from a country with limited success in men s or women s tennis Clijsters became the first Belgian player to attain the No 1 ranking Together with Henin she established Belgium as a leading force in women s tennis as the two of them led their country to their first Fed Cup crown in 2001 and were the top two players in the world in late 2003 Individually Clijsters won 41 singles titles and 11 doubles titles on the Women s Tennis Association WTA Tour She was a three time winner of the WTA Tour Championships Between singles and doubles she has been a champion at all four Grand Slam tournaments winning the US Open and the Australian Open in singles and Wimbledon and the French Open in doubles partnering Ai Sugiyama Her success at the majors was highlighted by winning three consecutive appearances at the US Open Plagued by injuries and having lost some of her desire to compete Clijsters retired from tennis in 2007 at the age of 23 in order to get married and have a daughter She returned to the sport two years later and won her second US Open title as an unranked player in just her third tournament back She defended her title the following year and then won the Australian Open in 2011 en route to becoming the first mother to be the world No 1 Along with Margaret Court she also holds the record for most Grand Slam singles titles won as a mother with three such titles and was the first to win one since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980 Clijsters retired again following the 2012 US Open Seven years later she began a second comeback in early 2020 ending in 2022 Clijsters was born to athletic parents with backgrounds in professional football and gymnastics She was renowned for her athleticism which was highlighted by her ability to perform splits on court in the middle of points She built the offensive side of her game around controlled aggression while also using her exceptional movement to become an elite defensive player Clijsters was very popular and well liked as a player having won the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award eight times She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2017 Contents 1 Early life and background 2 Junior career 3 Professional career 3 1 1997 99 Maiden WTA title Newcomer of the Year 3 2 2000 02 French Open finalist Tour champion 3 3 2003 World No 1 in singles and doubles 3 3 1 Singles Two Grand Slam finals Tour Championship defense 3 3 2 Doubles French Open and Wimbledon titles 3 4 2004 05 Extended injury absence first Grand Slam singles title 3 5 2006 07 Return to No 1 hastened retirement 3 6 Two year hiatus 3 7 2009 10 Start of second career back to back US Open titles 3 8 2011 12 Australian Open champion last reign at No 1 3 9 2020 22 Second comeback 4 National representation 4 1 Fed Cup 4 2 Hopman Cup 4 3 Olympics 5 Rivalries 5 1 Clijsters vs Henin 5 2 Clijsters vs Williams sisters 5 3 Other rivals 6 Exhibition matches 7 Legacy 8 Playing style 9 Coaches 10 Endorsements 11 Personal life 12 Career statistics 12 1 Performance timelines 12 1 1 Singles 12 1 2 Doubles 12 2 Grand Slam tournament finals 12 2 1 Singles 8 4 titles 4 runner ups 12 2 2 Doubles 3 2 titles 1 runner up 12 2 3 Mixed doubles 1 1 runner up 13 Awards 14 See also 15 References 15 1 Books 16 External linksEarly life and background EditKim Clijsters was born on 8 June 1983 in Bilzen a small town in northeastern Belgium She grew up with her younger sister Elke in the nearby town of Bree in the Flemish province of Limburg 3 Kim is the daughter of Lei Clijsters and Els Vandecaetsbeek both of whom were accomplished athletes Her mother Els was a Belgian national artistic gymnastics champion Her father Lei was a professional football defender who played for a variety of clubs in the top flight Belgian First Division including KV Mechelen with whom he won the UEFA Cup Winners Cup in 1988 He was also a member of the Belgium national football team tallying 40 caps and competing in two World Cups 4 5 Clijsters credits her parents for giving her a footballer s legs and a gymnast s flexibility 2 She also attributes her success to the freedom they gave her when she was a young player saying Without the support I ve had from my family I wouldn t be where I am They ve let me make my own decisions 6 When Clijsters was five years old her father built a clay tennis court at their home as a gift to his daughter to celebrate him winning the 1988 Gouden Schoen an award given to the player of the year in the Belgian First Division He had previously announced the idea of the gift as a celebration of the award during a television interview 4 7 8 Clijsters began playing tennis earlier that year after attending a lesson with her cousins and her uncle while her parents were away 3 From then on she became fixated on the sport She began playing with her sister at the Tennisdel club in Genk by the time she was seven Her first coach Bart Van Kerckhoven recalled that she was extremely energetic and never wanted to leave the tennis court adding that If the group before her did some sprints to finish off the session Kim would join in Then she put her heart and soul into her own training session after which she joined the next group for their warm up exercises 7 At the age of nine Clijsters began working with Benny Vanhoudt in the more distant town of Diest Along with her sister she trained for fifteen hours a week including five hours of individual instruction which Vanhoudt said was an insane amount of total hours 9 She continued to train in Diest until she was twelve During this time she also first worked with Carl Maes and Wim Fissette both of whom would coach Clijsters later in her professional career When she was thirteen Maes took over as her primary coach at the Flemish Tennis Association in Antwerp 10 Junior career EditClijsters had success at both the national and international levels at a very young age In 1993 she won the 12 and under division of the Belgian Junior Championships the Coupe de Borman in doubles with her future longtime rival Justine Henin At the time Clijsters was ten years old and Henin was eleven 7 A year later she won the 12 and under singles event at the same tournament 11 Clijsters continued to play alongside Henin winning the doubles event at the 14 and under European Junior Championships as well as the 14 and under European Junior Team Championships for Belgium both in 1996 and the latter of which also with Leslie Butkiewicz 7 12 Her first big international junior title came at Les Petits As a high level 14 and under tournament She defeated future top 25 players Iveta Benesova and Elena Bovina in the semifinals and final respectively 7 Clijsters played two full seasons on the ITF Junior Circuit the premier junior tour that is run by the International Tennis Federation ITF At the very end of 1997 she partnered with Zsofia Gubacsi to win her first ITF title in the doubles event at the Grade A Orange Bowl one of the highest level junior tournaments 13 In 1998 Clijsters had her best year on the junior tour finishing the season at career high rankings of world No 11 in singles and world No 4 in doubles 14 15 She won two junior Grand Slam doubles titles the French Open with Jelena Dokic and the US Open with Eva Dyrberg 16 17 She defeated her French Open partner Dokic in the US Open doubles final 17 In singles she made it to the Wimbledon final but finished runner up to Katarina Srebotnik 10 Professional career Edit1997 99 Maiden WTA title Newcomer of the Year Edit Clijsters right with her idol Steffi Graf in 2009 Graf won their only meeting on the WTA Tour in 1999 As a fourteen year old Clijsters could only enter professional tournaments through qualifying since the WTA Tour s policy did not allow players her age to receive main draw wild cards In August 1997 Clijsters qualified for her first main draw at her second career tournament on the lower level ITF Women s Circuit which was held in the Belgian coastal town of Koksijde She won seven matches in total including five in qualifying to reach the quarterfinals Clijsters did not enter another professional tournament until after her runner up finish at the Wimbledon girls singles event the following summer Playing in Brussels in July 1998 she won both the singles and doubles events for her first career professional titles Clijsters continued to excel at the ITF level winning four more titles within the next year two in both singles and doubles 10 18 Clijsters began 1999 with a WTA singles ranking of No 420 in the world 19 Around this time Belgian women s tennis was beginning to flourish Both Dominique Van Roost and Sabine Appelmans had been ranked in the top 20 within the previous two years complementing the rise of Clijsters and Henin on the junior tour This success helped lead to the revival of the only WTA tournament in Belgium which was relaunched as the Flanders Women s Open in Antwerp after not being held in six years Clijsters made her WTA debut at the tournament in May entering the main draw as a lucky loser after losing in the final round of qualifying She won her first career tour level match against Miho Saeki and advanced to the quarterfinals where she was defeated by top seed Sarah Pitkowski despite holding match points 20 One week after Clijsters turned sixteen she entered Wimbledon as the youngest player in the top 200 After barely having a high enough ranking to get into the qualifying draw she ultimately made it to the round of sixteen in her Grand Slam tournament debut She defeated world No 10 Amanda Coetzer in the third round and did not drop a set until losing to Steffi Graf one round later her only career match against her childhood idol 3 21 22 Clijsters also had a good showing at the US Open losing to the eventual champion Serena Williams in the third round after squandering a chance to serve for the match 22 Clijsters next played at the Luxembourg Open held in the town of Kockelscheuer just outside the capital She won the title with relative ease in just her fourth career WTA event taking affinity for the friendly atmosphere of the smaller tournament and the faster carpet courts Most notably she faced off against Van Roost in the final and only conceded four games to the top ranked Belgian 23 Clijsters also made the singles final in Bratislava at her next tournament finishing runner up to No 11 Amelie Mauresmo Nonetheless she was able to win the doubles event with compatriot Laurence Courtois as her partner 24 At the end of the season Clijsters was named WTA Newcomer of the Year having risen to No 47 in the world 25 2000 02 French Open finalist Tour champion Edit Clijsters was unable to repeat her success at the Grand Slam tournaments in 2000 not advancing past the second round at any of the singles events 18 However she continued her steady climb in the rankings up to No 18 on the strength of two more titles 19 one at the Tasmanian International in her first tournament of the year 26 and another at the Sparkassen Cup in Germany near the end of the season 27 The latter victory was Clijsters s first at a Tier II event the second highest level tournament and followed up a loss in another Tier II final to world No 1 Martina Hingis earlier that month 28 In the middle of the year Clijsters also finished runner up at the Wimbledon mixed doubles event alongside her boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt 24 The Kockelscheuer Sport Centre Heather Watson pictured where Clijsters won five Luxembourg Open titles including three consecutive from 2001 to 2003 At the Indian Wells Open in early 2001 Clijsters finally defeated Hingis in her fourth meeting against the world No 1 player to reach her first Tier I final 29 After winning the first set of the final she ended up losing in three sets to Serena Williams The match was overshadowed by the controversy of the crowd booing Williams for her sister Venus s late withdrawal from their semifinal leading to both sisters boycotting the tournament for 14 years 30 31 A few months later at the French Open Clijsters became the first Belgian to contest a Grand Slam singles final She had defeated No 16 Henin in the semifinals in their closest and highest profile match to date coming back from a set and a break down and also having saved three break points that would have put her behind 5 2 in the second set 32 The final against Australian Open champion and world No 4 Jennifer Capriati was an even tighter match Playing a day after her 18th birthday Clijsters won the first set but lost the second After a French Open final record 22 games and 2 hours 21 minutes in total she was defeated by Capriati 12 10 in the deciding set 33 34 The match was ranked as the greatest French Open women s final in Open Era history by Tennis com 34 Clijsters would go on to make it to at least the quarterfinals at each of the next three majors 18 She also played in her first Grand Slam doubles final at Wimbledon later that year with Ai Sugiyama as her partner 35 She won three singles titles in 2001 including her second titles at both the Luxembourg Open and the Sparkassen Cup to help her finish the season at No 5 in the world With four doubles finals in total she was also ranked No 15 in doubles at the end of the year 18 19 Clijsters maintained her top ten ranking throughout 2002 19 despite struggling with an ongoing shoulder injury in the first half of the year 36 Her best result at a Grand Slam event came at the Australian Open where she lost another three set match to Capriati in the semifinals in their first meeting since the French Open final 37 Nonetheless she continued to rise in the rankings to No 3 by March her best ranking for the season 19 Although Clijsters did not reach another Grand Slam quarterfinal the rest of the year she won three more titles leading up to the year end WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles 18 She received her third invite to the event which only the top 16 players in the world are guaranteed entry Clijsters made it to the final with ease after dropping only six games in the first three rounds including a victory over Henin in the quarterfinals 38 and a retirement due to injury from Venus Williams in the semifinals Her opponent in the final was Serena Williams who entered the match with a 56 4 record on the season and having won the last three majors of the year Although Serena had won their first five encounters and was considered a clear favourite Clijsters upset Serena in straight sets to win the championship 39 After the tournament she said This is the best victory of my career 36 2003 World No 1 in singles and doubles Edit The 2003 season was Clijsters s annus mirabilis 40 She competed in 21 singles events reaching the semifinals in all but one of them advancing to 15 finals and winning nine titles With a record of 90 12 she was the first player to accrue 90 wins since Martina Navratilova in 1982 and the first to play more than 100 matches since Chris Evert in 1974 41 Clijsters also played an extensive doubles schedule compiling a total of 170 matches between both disciplines 40 She partnered with Sugiyama the entire year winning seven titles in thirteen events 18 This season also marked the peak of the rivalry between Clijsters and Henin as the pair faced each other eight matches the last six of which were in finals 42 In doubles five of her ten finals were against the team of Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez 18 With her success Clijsters became the first Belgian world No 1 in singles or doubles achieving both feats in August 19 Singles Two Grand Slam finals Tour Championship defense Edit Clijsters began her singles season by winning the Sydney International over Lindsay Davenport her third consecutive title 43 She extended her tour win streak to 17 matches all without dropping a set 18 before she was defeated by Serena Williams in an Australian Open semifinal where she had a 5 1 lead in the third set as well as two match points on serve She said afterwards The only thing I regret a little bit is those two double faults to start the game at 5 4 I could feel that she was really trying to step it up and that she was hitting the balls a lot more aggressive and had almost no unforced errors at the end 44 45 Williams won the title to complete her Serena Slam 46 After losing in the final at her next two tournaments Clijsters recovered at the Indian Wells Open to win her first Tier I title Like in Sydney she defeated Davenport in the final 47 She won another Tier I title on clay in May at the Italian Open over No 4 Amelie Mauresmo who had a chance to serve for the match in the second set 48 At the French Open both Clijsters and Henin reached the final to guarantee that the winner would become the first Belgian Grand Slam singles champion 40 Henin had won their only meeting in a final in 2003 thus far at the German Open which was also their only other encounter on clay 42 While both players had match points in Germany 49 Henin won in Paris in a lopsided affair where she only lost four games 50 After losing in the semifinals at Wimbledon to Venus Williams 51 Clijsters rebounded to win two Tier II titles at the Stanford Classic 52 and the Los Angeles Open With the second of those titles she attained the world No 1 ranking in part because the top ranked Serena Williams had not played on tour since Wimbledon due to a knee injury 40 She was the first woman to become No 1 without winning a Grand Slam singles title 41 53 Clijsters regained the top ranking in doubles the following week to become only the fifth player in WTA history to be No 1 in singles and doubles simultaneously 41 54 Despite playing the US Open as the top seed Clijsters again lost to Henin in the final in straight sets Clijsters had been regarded as the favourite entering the match because of her performance in the earlier rounds and Henin s lengthy semifinal match the previous day 40 55 The title helped Henin rise to No 2 in the world 56 The last stage of the season featured Clijsters battling Henin for the top ranking Clijsters defeated Henin in the final of the Tennis Grand Prix in Filderstadt to defend her title and her world No 1 ranking This was the eighth time in WTA history where the top two players in the world faced off for the top ranking 57 Although Clijsters lost the top ranking to Henin the following week 58 she regained it a week later by winning the Luxembourg Open for the third year in a row 19 59 She finished her season by defending her title at the WTA Tour Championships in the first year where the tournament switched to a round robin format in the initial stage Clijsters swept her group of Mauresmo Elena Dementieva and Chanda Rubin 60 She won her semifinal against Capriati before defeating Mauresmo again for the title With the million dollar prize Clijsters finished the season as the tour prize money leader and became the first player to earn four million dollars in a season on the WTA Tour 61 Nonetheless Henin took the year end No 1 ranking by improving on her performance at the event from the previous season 62 Doubles French Open and Wimbledon titles Edit Ai Sugiyama Clijsters s doubles partner in 2003 In the early part of the season Clijsters and Sugiyama won three titles on hard courts 18 However they did not win any big titles through May losing in the Australian Open quarterfinals to the Williams sisters and finishing runners up at their first two Tier I finals 18 63 They entered the French Open and Wimbledon and made it to the finals at both events Clijsters and Sugiyama defeated the top seeds Ruano Pascual and Suarez in both finals for Clijsters s first two Grand Slam tournament titles The French Open final was a tighter match ending 9 7 in the third set 40 64 Despite these titles the duo remained behind Ruano Pascual and Suarez in the rankings until August when Clijsters became world No 1 She held the top ranking for four non consecutive weeks 19 65 The pair were the top seeds at the US Open but withdrew in the second round due to rain delaying Sugiyama s fourth round singles match for three days 66 They ended the season by finishing runners up to Ruano Pascual and Suarez at the WTA Tour Championships 67 Despite Clijsters s success in 2003 she seldom played doubles during the rest of her career 68 2004 05 Extended injury absence first Grand Slam singles title Edit Although Clijsters maintained her form into 2004 her season was ultimately marred by injuries It was feared that she would need surgery and miss the Australian Open after she injured her left ankle in the Hopman Cup 69 Nonetheless she competed at the event and reached the championship match without dropping a set despite aggravating her ankle injury in the quarterfinals 70 Her opponent in the final was Henin and unlike their previous two Grand Slam finals Clijsters was able to win a set With Henin up a break at 4 3 in the third set the chair umpire incorrectly overruled a line call on break point that would have leveled the match Henin ended up winning the game and the match Clijsters said afterwards I m just as disappointed as after the last two grand slam finals but I played a lot better this time 71 In February she won her next two tournaments including the Diamond Games in Antwerp for her first WTA title in her home country 72 After Clijsters withdrew from the Indian Wells Open following one match with a torn left wrist tendon she only played in two more WTA events the remainder of the season She returned to the WTA Tour six weeks later with a wrist brace but again withdrew after one match In June she found out she would need surgery to remove a cyst in her wrist 73 74 As a result she remained out until the Hasselt Cup in Belgium where she needed to retire in her third match 73 75 There were few expectations on Clijsters entering 2005 as it still was not certain whether she would be able to play 76 After missing the Australian Open she returned to the tour in February In her second and third tournaments back Clijsters won both Tier I events in March the Indian Wells Open and the Miami Open to become the second woman to complete the Sunshine Double after Steffi Graf in 1994 and 1996 77 78 She defeated world No 1 Lindsay Davenport in the final of Indian Wells as well as No 2 Amelie Mauresmo and No 3 Maria Sharapova in her last two matches in Miami 79 These titles lifted her ranking from outside the top 100 back into the top 20 19 76 Clijsters was unable to continue her success into the clay or grass court seasons winning just one title and losing in the fourth round in three sets to Davenport at both the French Open and Wimbledon 18 80 It s very hard to believe and an amazing feeling to have After being out for so much of last year it s a little bit more special Clijsters on winning the 2005 US Open her first Grand Slam singles title 81 After Wimbledon in late June 82 Clijsters only lost one more match through early October 18 During this stretch she won five titles including her third Stanford Classic 83 and her fifth Luxembourg Open 84 She also built up a 22 match win streak 84 and defeated Henin in the final of the Tier I Canadian Open in their only meeting of the year 42 85 Clijsters s most important title of the season was the US Open her first Grand Slam singles title As the fourth seed she was not tested until the quarterfinals when Venus Williams was two games away from defeating her at a set and a break up Clijsters rebounded to win the match in three sets and then defeated the top seed and world No 2 Sharapova in the semifinals also in three sets Despite her previous struggles in Grand Slam singles finals she won the championship against No 13 Mary Pierce with ease only conceding four games 80 As the winner of the US Open Series Clijsters received double the standard amount of prize money Her 2 2 million prize was the largest in women s sports history at the time 86 Clijsters s last tournament of the year was the WTA Tour Championships Although she had a chance to return to No 1 if she outperformed the top ranked Davenport she only won one match and did not advance out of her round robin group 87 She finished the year ranked No 2 having won a tour best nine titles and all of her finals 18 19 87 She was named both the WTA Player of the Year and the WTA Comeback Player of the Year 88 Despite this success Clijsters announced in August that she was planning to retire in 2007 because of her injury troubles 89 2006 07 Return to No 1 hastened retirement Edit Clijsters in 2006 The 2006 season saw a variety of injury issues for Clijsters She only played in 14 tournaments missing the US Open as well as the Fed Cup final While she reached the semifinals at the other three Grand Slam singles events she was unable to advance to another final 18 Clijsters withdrew from her first tournament of the year the Sydney International with hip and back problems 90 Although she recovered from those issues in time to reach the semifinals at the Australian Open she needed to retire from that match as well after twisting her ankle while down a break in the third set against Amelie Mauresmo 91 Nonetheless with Davenport losing in the quarterfinals Clijsters regained the No 1 ranking 92 She held the top ranking through mid March 19 Clijsters returned for the Diamond Games where she finished runner up to Mauresmo 93 but needed to withdraw from the Indian Wells Open because of the same ankle injury 94 While she was healthy enough to play a regular schedule during the clay and grass court seasons Henin continued her recent dominance of their rivalry over this stretch She defeated Clijsters in the semifinals of three consecutive events including the French Open and Wimbledon 18 95 96 During the US Open Series Clijsters won her fourth Stanford Classic 97 and finished runner up to Maria Sharapova at the Tier I San Diego Classic 98 However her summer season came to an end when she fell on her left wrist in her opening round match at the Canadian Open 99 This injury kept her out until late October She made her return at the Hasselt Cup and won her second consecutive title at the event 100 Clijsters entered the WTA Tour Championships ranked No 5 in the world 19 where all three other players she was grouped with were Russian 101 Although she lost to her group s top seed Sharapova she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva to advance Her season ended in the semifinals where she lost to world No 1 Mauresmo 102 Clijsters entered 2007 intending to retire at the end of the season 103 but only ended up playing in five tournaments due to injuries 104 She won her only title of the year in her first tournament the Sydney International The Australian Open was her only Grand Slam event of the season For the second consecutive season she lost in the semifinals this time to top seed Sharapova Clijsters s last tournament in Belgium was the Diamond Games where she finished runner up to Mauresmo for the second year in a row 104 A hip injury limited Clijsters s remaining schedule 105 In her last two tournaments she lost to Li Na in the fourth round of the Miami Open in March 106 and qualifier Julia Vakulenko in her opening match at the Warsaw Open in May 107 Her last win was against Samantha Stosur in Miami 18 A few days after losing in Warsaw Clijsters announced her retirement at the age of 23 forgoing plans to finish the season 108 Two year hiatus Edit A few months after Clijsters retired she married basketball player Brian Lynch She gave birth to a daughter in early 2008 less than two months after her father Leo Clijsters was diagnosed with lung cancer He died twelve months later in January 2009 Clijsters said The birth of Jada was the best moment of my life but it also taught me a lesson because we knew that my Dad was terminally ill I realised that new life had been born but a few months later another life would disappear It was a very intense period in our lives 109 Nearly two months after her father s death it was announced that Clijsters would play in an exhibition in May with Tim Henman against Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi to test the new retractable roof on Centre Court at Wimbledon 110 In March Clijsters stated that she was planning to come out of retirement motivated by returning to the training schedule from her pro days to prepare for the Wimbledon exhibition She added that she was taking a different approach to tennis saying I am looking at this as a second career not as a comeback as I am now in a situation where not everything revolves around tennis 24 hours a day 111 Clijsters and Henman won the exhibition doubles and Clijsters also defeated her idol Graf in singles She commented I wanted to feel good here on court And I ve enjoyed it This is the pleasure which was lacking at the end of my first career But now I ve got my motivation back 112 2009 10 Start of second career back to back US Open titles Edit Clijsters at the 2010 US Open With no ranking Clijsters needed wild cards to begin her comeback She requested and received wild cards for the Cincinnati Open the Canadian Open and the US Open 111 113 In her return to the tour in Cincinnati Clijsters defeated three top 20 opponents including No 6 Svetlana Kuznetsova 114 before losing to world No 1 Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals 79 115 She recorded another top ten victory in Canada over No 9 Victoria Azarenka 79 Clijsters was still unranked entering the US Open as players needed three tour events to have a ranking at the time 116 Nonetheless she made it to the final notably upsetting both Williams sisters No 3 Venus in the fourth round and No 2 Serena in the semifinals She defeated Venus in a tight third set after they split the first two 6 0 117 Her straight sets win over Serena was overshadowed by her opponent receiving a point penalty on match point for verbally abusing a line judge 118 Clijsters then defeated No 8 Caroline Wozniacki to win her second US Open championship She became the first unseeded woman to win the title at the event and the first mother to win a Grand Slam singles title since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980 119 120 121 With the title she entered the WTA rankings at No 19 116 Her only other tournament of the year was the Luxembourg Open where she lost her second match 122 At the end of the season she won the WTA Comeback Player of the Year award for the second time 88 Clijsters planned a limited schedule for 2010 to keep her focus on her family and ended up playing just eleven tournaments 123 In her first event of the year she won the Brisbane International narrowly defeating Henin in a third set tiebreak in Henin s first tournament back from her own retirement 124 She entered the Australian Open as one of the favourites but was upset by No 19 Nadia Petrova in the third round only winning one game in that loss 125 Clijsters did not return to the tour until March After an early loss at the Indian Wells Open she won the Miami Open for the second time The only set she lost was in the semifinals to Henin who she again defeated in a third set tiebreak 79 126 She only conceded three games in the final against Venus Williams 127 During the clay court season Clijsters tore a muscle in her left foot which kept her out of the French Open 128 129 Although she returned for Wimbledon she was upset in the quarterfinals by Vera Zvonareva after recording another win over Henin in the previous round 130 131 That defeat against Zvonareva at Wimbledon was hard to take It had been perhaps my best and last chance to reach the final In the semifinal of the US Open I was absolutely bent on gaining revenge And I succeeded too I d become the player I d always wanted to be Clijsters on the 2010 US Open final 132 In the latter half of the year Clijsters entered only four tournaments During the US Open Series she won the Cincinnati Open the tournament where she returned from retirement a year earlier 133 At her next event she was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open by Zvonareva while struggling with a thigh injury 134 Nonetheless Clijsters recovered to defend her title at the US Open In the last three rounds she defeated three top ten players in No 6 Samantha Stosur No 4 Venus Williams and No 8 Vera Zvonareva 79 Venus came the closest to ending her title defense but lost in three sets after serving two double faults in the second set tiebreak which could have won her the match 135 Clijsters won the final over Zvonareva with ease in less than an hour This was her third consecutive title at the US Open and the fourth consecutive time she made it to the championship match having skipped the tournament four times since 2003 132 Clijsters final event of the season was the WTA Tour Championships where she qualified for the seventh time Despite a loss to Zvonareva in her last round robin match she advanced to the knockout rounds and defeated No 5 Stosur and world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki for her third title at the year end championships 136 Clijsters finished the season at No 3 and was named WTA Player of the Year for the second time 19 137 2011 12 Australian Open champion last reign at No 1 Edit By the start of 2011 Clijsters knew she was planning to retire in 2012 as she did not want to be on the tour while her daughter was in school 138 She began the season at the Sydney International where she finished runner up to Li Na in straight sets despite winning the first five games of the match 139 The two also met in the final of their next tournament the Australian Open Although Clijsters again lost the first set she recovered to win the championship her fourth Grand Slam singles title and first outside of the US Open 138 140 This title would be the last of Clijsters s career 18 She made one last final at her next WTA event the Paris Open where she was defeated by Petra Kvitova Nonetheless this result helped Clijsters regain the world No 1 ranking before Caroline Wozniacki took it back one week later 141 142 During the rest of the season Clijsters was limited by a variety of injuries and only played five more tournaments 79 She needed to retire from a fourth round match at the Indian Wells Open due to a shoulder injury 143 Then as a result of a right ankle injury suffered while dancing at a wedding in April the French Open was the only clay court event she entered At the second Grand Slam tournament of the year she was upset in the second round by No 114 Arantxa Rus after failing to convert two match points in the second set 144 Aggravating that ankle injury at her next event then forced her to miss Wimbledon 145 Clijsters returned for the Canadian Open where she suffered an abdominal injury that kept her out the remainder of the season 143 146 Clijsters after her last WTA singles match win against Victoria Duval Clijsters was unable to stay healthy in her last year on the WTA Tour In the first week of the season she returned to the tour for the Brisbane International After winning her first three matches back she needed to retire in the semifinals due to hip spasms a precautionary measure to prepare for the Australian Open 147 As the defending champion at the year s first Grand Slam event Clijsters made it to the semifinals Her fourth round victory came against No 5 Li Na in a rematch of the 2011 final She overcame rolling her ankle in the first set and saved four match points at 6 2 in the second set tiebreak to win in three sets 148 After Clijsters defeated world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals 149 she lost to No 3 Victoria Azarenka in another three set match 150 151 Both her hip and ankle continued to trouble her for months after the tournament forcing her to skip the clay court season 152 153 After playing once in March and returning in mid June 152 154 the last WTA events of Clijsters s career were the final two Grand Slam tournaments of the season 79 She lost at Wimbledon in the fourth round to No 8 Angelique Kerber only winning two games 155 Clijsters entered the US Open having not lost a match there since the 2003 final She recorded her last WTA singles match win against Victoria Duval in the first round before falling to Laura Robson in her next match 156 Her career ended with a second round mixed doubles loss alongside Bob Bryan to the eventual champions Ekaterina Makarova and Bruno Soares at which point she officially retired 156 157 2020 22 Second comeback Edit After more than seven years of retirement Clijsters returned to professional tennis in February 2020 at the Dubai Tennis Championships as a wildcard Clijsters lost to Australian Open runner up Garbine Muguruza in the opening round She next entered the Monterrey Open as a wildcard losing in the first round to Johanna Konta in two sets No tournaments were played due to the COVID 19 pandemic from March to July Clijsters received wildcards at the inaugural Top Seed Open in singles and doubles alongside Sabine Lisicki Clijsters withdrew from both singles and doubles Clijsters next played the US Open on a main draw wildcard losing in the first round to Ekaterina Alexandrova in three sets Clijsters underwent knee surgery in October and did not play another tournament in 2020 158 Clijsters pulled out of the 2021 Miami Open saying she did not feel ready to compete after her surgery and contracting COVID 19 in January 158 She played her first tournament of the year at the Chicago Fall Tennis Classic having accepted a wildcard but lost in the first round to Hsieh Su Wei in three sets 158 159 She entered the doubles draw too the partner was Kirsten Flipkens but they lost in the first round Clijsters then participated in postponed Indian Wells Masters drew Katerina Siniakova and lost in three sets in the first round Clijsters played a number of matches for World TeamTennis in 2021 aligned with the New York Empire 160 With many tournaments having been postponed due to the COVID 19 pandemic Clijsters had only been able to play five matches within the two years that she had returned to the tour On 12 April 2022 Clijsters announced that she was ending her comeback and again retiring from tennis citing a desire to focus more on family life 161 National representation EditFed Cup Edit Clijsters made her Fed Cup debut for Belgium in 2000 at the age of 16 The top tier World Group that year consisted of 13 teams 12 of which were divided into three round robin groups The winners of the round robin groups in April would compete with the defending champion United States team in a knockout format for the title in November Belgium was placed in a group with Australia France and Russia Each tie was contested over one day as a best of three rubbers two in singles and the last in doubles Clijsters only played singles while Els Callens and Laurence Courtois played all three doubles matches Although Clijsters narrowly lost her debut to Jelena Dokic of Australia by a score of 9 7 in the third set her teammates were able to secure the tie She won her other two matches against Nathalie Tauziat of France and Anna Kournikova of Russia both of which were crucial as Belgium won each of those ties 2 1 as well to win the group In the semifinals Henin returned to the team as they faced the United States the hosts for the final rounds After Henin lost to Monica Seles Clijsters needed to defeat Lindsay Davenport to keep Belgium in the tournament She won the second set but ultimately lost the match 162 The following year the format for the Fed Cup changed again The entire competition was played out in November The three round robin pools were reduced to two and the winners of each pool would contest a final tie for the title Belgium s team of Clijsters Henin Callens and Courtois from the 2000 final all returned for 2001 The United States withdrew before the start of the event citing security concerns a few months after the 11 September terrorist attacks With Henin and Clijsters exclusively playing singles and Callens and Courtois playing doubles Belgium won all nine of their rubbers against Spain Germany and Australia to advance to the final Facing Russia Henin defeated Nadia Petrova and Clijsters defeated Elena Dementieva to secure Belgium s first Fed Cup crown Courtois commented We were never under any pressure mainly because Kim and Justine were so strong 163 While Clijsters and Henin were on the team Belgium came closest to another Fed Cup triumph in 2006 In this year the World Group consisted of eight teams in a knockout tournament The three rounds were spread out over April July and September Each tie was played as a best of five rubbers with four singles followed by one doubles In the first round against Russia both Clijsters and Henin made themselves available and won three out of four singles matches to advance 164 Although Henin missed the semifinal Clijsters and Kirsten Flipkens were able to lead Belgium to a victory over the United States who were also short handed without Lindsay Davenport or the Williams sisters 165 However Clijsters was forced to miss the Fed Cup final due to a wrist injury 99 Henin and Flipkens returned for the final which Belgium hosted against Italy The tie was decided by the doubles rubber which Belgium lost after Henin aggravated a knee injury she suffered in one of her singles rubbers and needed to retire down 2 0 in the third set 166 Clijsters also played on the Belgium Fed Cup team from 2002 to 2005 and 2010 11 after she returned from retirement The team s best results in those years were two semifinal appearances in 2003 and 2011 Clijsters missed the ties in which Belgium was eliminated in both instances 167 168 Overall Clijsters compiled a 24 4 record in Fed Cup split across 21 3 in singles and 3 1 in doubles 169 Hopman Cup Edit Clijsters participated in the Hopman Cup from 2001 to 2004 partnering with Olivier Rochus in the first instance and Xavier Malisse thereafter The tournament consists of eight teams each with one female and one male player from the same country The teams are divided into two round robin groups the winners of which compete for the title Each tie consists of a women s singles match a men s singles match and a mixed doubles match The Belgian team did not advance to final in any of the years Clijsters participated Their best performances came in 2002 and 2003 when they won two out of three round robin ties 170 171 172 173 In 2002 they finished tied for first with the United States and Italy in a group that also featured France Belgium s only loss came against the United States with Clijsters and Malisse losing both singles matches to Monica Seles and Jan Michael Gambill respectively Although the United States lost to Italy they advanced out of the group on the tiebreak criteria having won six rubbers compared to the five won by each of Belgium and Italy Both of the ties Belgium had won were by a score of 2 1 with Clijsters losing to Francesca Schiavone against Italy and the pair losing the mixed doubles against the French team of Virginie Razzano and Arnaud Clement 171 The following year Clijsters and Malisse again lost to the United States who fielded a different team of Serena Williams and James Blake 172 Olympics Edit Clijsters did not compete at the Olympics until 2012 near the end of her career She had been ranked inside the top 40 in the months leading up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics in September high enough to qualify However she did not make herself available for selection for a variety of reasons including issues with her shoulder and the event s timing a week after the US Open 174 During the 2004 Athens Olympics she was in the middle of a long absence from competition after undergoing wrist surgery 73 However she had announced before the year began that she did not intend to compete at the Games because Adidas was the Belgian team s uniform sponsor and her contract with Fila forbade her from wearing clothing from another company 175 The 2008 Beijing Olympics took place during her first retirement 151 Having missed these three previous events Clijsters s desire to represent Belgium at the Olympics was one of the underlying reasons why she prolonged her second career until the 2012 London Games in late July 151 At the time she did not have good results at her most recent tournaments withdrawing from the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships in the semifinals in June due to injury and suffering a lopsided loss in the fourth round at Wimbledon In her Olympic debut Clijsters won her first three matches in straight sets defeating Roberta Vinci Carla Suarez Navarro and No 12 Ana Ivanovic in succession 79 She faced No 3 Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals losing in straight sets one match before the medal rounds 151 176 Rivalries EditClijsters vs Henin Edit Main article Clijsters Henin rivalry Clijsters s biggest rival was Justine Henin who grew up in the French speaking part of Belgium They have been regarded as having little in common except their nationality and their relationship has varied over time 177 Their rivalry began during their junior years when they were both considered promising young talents 7 They started out as friends and won the Belgian Junior Championships as doubles partners at ages ten and eleven respectively despite only being able to communicate with hand signals due to Clijsters not knowing French and Henin not knowing Flemish 6 7 164 However their friendship began to fade by their mid teens leading to disputes that their coaches would try to keep out of the media 178 Clijsters attributed this deterioration in part to one of Henin s coaches telling Henin she had to hate all of her opponents and only then could she win She also acknowledged they had very different personalities 179 Clijsters and Henin typically downplayed any disagreements between them saying they were overdramatized by the media 6 177 When they were professionals Clijsters accused Henin of routinely faking injuries in their matches to receive medical timeouts Additionally Clijsters s father seemed to allege that Henin was taking performance enhancing drugs 6 177 Although they had won the Fed Cup together in 2001 they were not interested in playing on the same team in 2004 or 2005 The following year Clijsters s former coach Carl Maes who was then the Belgium Fed Cup captain helped convince Clijsters to reunite with Henin and together they ultimately reached another final 164 On the court they played each other in 25 WTA matches making each of them the other s most frequent opponent Although Clijsters won the series 13 12 Henin won seven out of their eleven meetings in finals including all three at Grand Slam tournaments The latest stage win Clijsters had at a major was in the semifinals of the 2001 French Open She also defeated Henin en route to her first WTA Tour Championship in 2002 Clijsters dominated their hard court meetings 8 4 while Henin dominated on clay 5 1 Henin also won three of their five grass court encounters Before both of their first retirements Henin was leading the series 12 10 However Clijsters won all three of their meetings during their comebacks to win the series 42 Clijsters vs Williams sisters Edit The Williams sisters are frequently recognized for having a transformative impact on tennis through the power in their style of play their longevity their marketability and their success at the Grand Slam tournaments and Olympics 180 They were both No 1 in the world and combined for 15 Grand Slam singles titles while Clijsters was on tour 181 182 and Serena in particular has been ranked as the greatest women s tennis player of the Open Era 183 Clijsters had a record of just 2 7 against Serena who she called her toughest opponent 8 184 She fared better against Venus compiling a winning record of 7 6 185 Clijsters s rivalry with Serena included two of the biggest controversies in Serena s career the 2001 Indian Wells final which led to both Williams sisters long boycott of the tournament and the 2009 US Open semifinal which Serena lost on a point penalty 31 118 Serena defeated Clijsters in their first five meetings She also won all four of their three set encounters including their 1999 US Open third round match and their 2003 Australian Open semifinal where Clijsters had the opportunity to serve for both matches 22 44 184 Although Clijsters only had two wins against Serena both were considered big upsets and among the most important wins of her career Her victory in the 2002 WTA Tour Championship final gave Clijsters her biggest title at the time and her win at the 2009 US Open set up her first Grand Slam singles title as a mother one match later 24 186 Clijsters also defeated Venus in both of those tournaments making her the only player to record wins over both Williams sisters at the same event twice 187 Venus also initially dominated her rivalry with Clijsters She won six of their first eight meetings including two in the late stages of Grand Slam tournaments in the quarterfinals of the 2001 US Open and the semifinals of 2003 Wimbledon Venus also eliminated Clijsters from the Diamond Games in Belgium twice in 2003 and 2005 Additionally one of Clijsters s first two wins against Venus was a retirement due to injury at the 2002 WTA Tour Championships Nonetheless Clijsters rebounded to win their last five meetings and end her career leading in their head to head record Three of those five victories came at the US Open en route to her three titles at the event in 2005 2009 and 2010 185 Other rivals Edit In addition to Henin and the Williams sisters Clijsters also developed rivalries with several other players who had been ranked No 1 in the world Two of her most frequent opponents were Lindsay Davenport and Amelie Mauresmo Clijsters narrowly had winning records against both of them going 9 8 versus Davenport and 8 7 versus Mauresmo Davenport had won six of their first seven meetings before Clijsters won eight of their next nine encounters including all five in 2003 Clijsters defeated Davenport in all four of their meetings in finals including two at the Indian Wells Open While Davenport had a 5 1 lead in Grand Slam tournaments Clijsters won their latest stage such meeting in the semifinals of the 2003 US Open 188 Unlike against Davenport Clijsters initially dominated her rivalry with Mauresmo winning eight of their first ten matches before Mauresmo took the last five They met in two WTA Tour Championship finals which they split Mauresmo also denied Clijsters chances to win more titles in her home country when she won their finals at both the 2006 and 2007 Diamond Games 189 Exhibition matches Edit King Baudouin Stadium the site of the record setting match between Clijsters and Serena Williams During Clijsters s first retirement the invitation to participate in the roof test exhibition series at Wimbledon in May 2009 inspired her to return to the WTA Tour 109 In the summer she joined the St Louis Aces of the World Team Tennis league to help prepare for her comeback 190 She also participated in World Team Tennis the following year as a member of the New York Sportimes 191 Ten years after the roof test on Centre Court that inspired her comeback Clijsters returned to Wimbledon to participate in an exhibition series to test the new roof on Court No 1 in which she played a set of singles against Venus Williams as well as a set of mixed doubles 192 On 8 July 2010 an exhibition match between Clijsters and Henin was scheduled as an attempt to set a new world record for largest attendance at a tennis match The contest took place at the King Baudouin Stadium and was a part of the Best of Belgium national festival After Henin needed to withdraw from the match due to an elbow injury Serena Williams was chosen as a replacement Although Williams injured her foot several days before the match she chose to play Clijsters defeated Williams in straight sets A total of 35 681 people attended the match breaking the world record of 30 472 set in 1973 by the Battle of the Sexes between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs 193 Beginning in 2009 the Diamond Games in Antwerp was reorganized from a WTA tournament into an exhibition series During her comeback Clijsters played at the event three times winning matches against Venus Williams in 2009 194 Henin in 2010 195 and world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki in 2011 196 She continued to play at the event after retiring The 2012 edition was named Kim s Thank You Games in honor of her retirement and the following year the event was known as the Kim Clijsters Invitational 197 198 In 2015 the Diamond Games were revived as a WTA event with Clijsters serving as the tournament director She also played an exhibition set with finalist Andrea Petkovic after her opponent withdrew before the start of the championship match due to injury 199 Since her retirement in 2012 Clijsters has regularly played in the legends champions and invitation doubles events at all four Grand Slam tournaments 200 201 202 One of her matches in the 2017 Wimbledon ladies invitation doubles event drew public interest for Clijsters inviting a male spectator onto the court to play a few points The spectator Chris Quinn had suggested Clijsters try a body serve when she had asked the crowd whether she should serve left or right Before playing the points she gave Quinn a women s shirt and skort so that he could abide by Wimbledon s all white dress code A video of the incident has over four million views on YouTube 203 204 Legacy EditClijsters has been ranked as the 14th greatest women s tennis player in the Open Era by Tennis com 205 Her 41 singles titles are the 14th most in the Open Era 206 Since 2000 only the Williams sisters Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova have won more than her four Grand Slam singles titles 207 The three titles she won at the WTA Tour Championships are tied for the fifth most in history behind only Martina Navratilova Steffi Graf Serena Williams and Chris Evert 208 Clijsters was a champion at all four Grand Slam tournaments winning the French Open and Wimbledon in doubles and the US Open and Australian Open in singles 25 Her prowess at singles and doubles is also highlighted by her becoming one of six players in WTA history to be No 1 in the world in both rankings at the same time 54 Clijsters and Henin are recognized for putting Belgium on the tennis map 205 Before they established themselves in the upper echelon of women s tennis Dominique Van Roost was the only player in Belgian history to be ranked in the top ten of the ATP or WTA rankings a mark she did not achieve until 1998 after Clijsters and Henin turned professional 209 The Belgium Fed Cup team had never reached the quarterfinals until 1997 when they made the semifinals With Clijsters on the team Belgium made it to at least the semifinals four times reaching the final in 2006 and winning the championship in 2001 210 She also became the first Belgian to be ranked No 1 in each of singles and doubles 40 Belgium was regarded as dominating women s tennis when Clijsters and Henin were the top two players in the world for several months in late 2003 177 After Clijsters s retirement she established the Kim Clijsters Academy in her hometown of Bree The academy is run by Clijsters s longtime coach Carl Maes and is intended to serve young players 211 Compatriot Elise Mertens is among those who train at the facility 212 Clijsters was one of the most popular and well liked players in tennis among both fans and her fellow players 186 205 She won the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award a record eight times Clijsters was proud of her reputation as one of the nicest players on the WTA Tour saying I always try every day to be a good person and to be nice to others and I think that s probably the most important thing I m proud that I won tournaments and everything but I want players to think that Kim was a nice person 213 Clijsters was also regarded as a source of inspiration to mothers on the WTA Tour a role she embraced 214 She is one of three mothers to win a Grand Slam singles title and her three such titles are tied with Margaret Court for the most of all time Additionally Clijsters is the only mother to be ranked No 1 in the world since the start of the WTA rankings in 1975 215 She appeared on the Time 100 list in 2011 as one of the most influential people in the world in large part because of her successful comeback 216 Playing style Edit Clijsters serving Clijsters is an all court player who employed a mixture of offensive and defensive styles of play 25 On the defensive side her movement is regarded as exceptional enabling her to endure long rallies 25 217 Maria Sharapova has commented that You just have to expect that she s going to get every ball back 218 In addition to her movement Clijsters often extends points with her signature shot a stretched out wide forehand also known as a squash shot This type of forehand involves hitting the ball with slice to make up for being out of position 219 When hitting a squash shot on the run Clijsters is known for her trademark play of sliding towards the ball and finishing in a split to extend her reach 220 While most players can only slide on clay Clijsters can slide on any surface Tennis journalist Peter Bodo has noted Grass and hard courts do not permit sliding unless your name is Kim Clijsters 221 Clijsters hitting a backhand The strengths of Clijsters s game are built around playing aggressively to generate offense without losing control 222 She excels at hitting both forehand and backhand winners from the baseline 223 Clijsters is regarded as one of the best returners of serve and tries to take control of the point immediately to put herself in an offensive position from the beginning 224 She was aggressive in the middle of points as well While the squash shot is generally regarded as a defensive shot Clijsters can turn it into an offensive weapon by placing it well enough to have time to recover into a good court position 219 Additionally she possesses the ability to quickly move in from the baseline to the net setting herself up to hit winners and finish points She is adept at hitting swinging volleys on both the forehand and backhand sides because of her solid groundstroke technique 225 Clijsters credits her experience in doubles for improving her net game in singles saying it made her focus on going to the net more and helped her know when to come to the net 226 Her coach Wim Fissette attributed her success at Grand Slam events after her comeback to being more aggressive than she was before her first retirement 227 Coaches EditClijsters worked with Belgian coaches throughout her career Her first coach was Bart Van Kerckhoven who she later invited to her championship match at the 2010 US Open 193 She began her professional career with Carl Maes as her coach Maes was a student of Benny Vanhoudt who led the Saturday training sessions while Clijsters was also working with Vanhoudt in Diest 9 He moved to the Flemish Tennis Association Centre in Wilrijk when Clijsters was 13 years old and invited her to join him In her first year in Wilrijk she also worked with Marc De Hous 10 Maes coached Clijsters from 1996 to May 2002 during which she won the Fed Cup and finished as the runner up at the 2001 French Open 178 Shortly before the 2002 US Open she hired De Hous as her new coach and continued to work with him through 2005 Under De Hous Clijsters won two WTA Tour Championships and two Grand Slam doubles titles They split a week after she won her first Grand Slam singles title at the 2005 US Open It was reported that De Hous left because he was unhappy with only receiving a 7 500 bonus from her 2 2 million in US Open prize money however he denied this was his only financial compensation and attributed his departure to wanting to take on new challenges after all of their success in 2005 80 228 229 Clijsters opted to play without a coach from then until her first retirement 230 When Clijsters began her comeback in 2009 she hired Wim Fissette to be her coach Fissette who is three years older had trained with Clijsters under Vanhoudt when they were both juniors 9 He had also served as her hitting partner from 2005 until her first retirement 231 With Fissette as her coach Clijsters won three more Grand Slam singles titles and regained the world No 1 ranking In June 2011 she rehired Maes as her coach leading to Fissette s departure several months later 232 233 Clijsters worked with Maes until her second retirement 156 In 2020 coinciding with her second comeback Clijsters announced her new coach as Fred Hemmes Jr 234 Endorsements EditDuring her playing career Clijsters was represented by Belgian company Golazo Sports 235 236 Babolat has sponsored her racquets since 1999 and she specifically has used the Pure Drive model 237 Fila has been Clijsters s clothing sponsor since 2002 She had previously worn Nike apparel but was not under contract 238 239 Clijsters is conscious about selecting which products to endorse saying If it s not healthy for kids for example I m not going to endorse a product I don t want to give the wrong impression We try to live a healthy lifestyle and if it doesn t match me as a person I turn it down To have my name on a product I want to be behind it fully 240 She has turned down Nutella in addition to endorsements that involved her daughter 241 242 While on tour she endorsed banana supplier Chiquita and United Soft Drinks the producer of the AA sports drink 242 Additionally she was a brand ambassador for nutrition company USANA as well as the Citizen Watch Signature Collection 243 244 She also had endorsement deals with Belgian telecommunications company Telenet personnel services firm Adecco and the travel services company Thomas Cook Group 242 Since Clijsters s retirement Van Lanschot banking helps sponsor the Kim Clijsters Academy 245 Personal life EditClijsters is married to Brian Lynch an American basketball coach and former player Lynch played college basketball at Villanova before pursuing a professional career in Europe The two met while Lynch was a member of Euphony Bree the team based in Clijsters s hometown and initially bonded over both having pet bulldogs They became a couple in 2005 and married in 2007 109 They have three children a daughter Jada born 2008 and two sons Jack born 2013 and Blake born 2016 The family splits their time living in Bree and New Jersey 246 Clijsters s sister Elke who is younger by a year and a half was also a promising tennis player Like Kim Elke won two junior Grand Slam doubles titles 247 She was also the ITF World Junior Doubles Champion in 2002 248 On the professional tour she achieved a top 400 ranking in singles and a top 250 ranking in doubles 249 Kim and Elke entered one doubles tournament together on the WTA Tour at the 2004 Diamond Games in Antwerp They won their opening match against Selima Sfar and Caroline Vis before losing to the second seeded team of Emilie Loit and Petra Mandula in the next round 18 Elke retired in 2004 at age 19 due to persistent back problems 250 In Clijsters s early career she was in a long term relationship with Australian tennis player Lleyton Hewitt They met at the 2000 Australian Open and were engaged before mutually ending their relationship in late 2004 251 The pair entered the mixed doubles event at Wimbledon in 2000 losing in the final 24 Their relationship earned Clijsters the nickname Aussie Kim and made her popular among Australian tennis fans even after they separated When Clijsters won the 2011 Australian Open she believed she earned her nickname saying Now you can finally call me Aussie Kim 138 Clijsters s childhood tennis idol was Steffi Graf 3 She cites her lone WTA Tour match against Graf at Wimbledon in 1999 as being very influential saying It was unbelievable All I wanted to do was watch her I wanted to see how she tied her shoelaces what her ponytail looked like how she carried her bag Even though I lost the impact of that and the motivation it gave me was huge It was definitely the biggest moment of my career 246 She also looked up to Monica Seles and viewed both Graf and Seles as role models drawing inspiration from their level of focus 3 226 Clijsters is involved with multiple organizations that help children She has served as an ambassador for SOS Children s Villages in Belgium since 2010 SOS provides aid to children living without their parents and to impoverished families 252 253 Clijsters has also founded Ten4Kim a nonprofit that funds junior tennis players who cannot afford the costs associated with training at a high level 254 255 While Clijsters retired she served as a part time coach to several players including compatriots Elise Mertens and Yanina Wickmayer She also occasionally was a commentator at the Grand Slam tournaments working for the BBC and Fox Sports Australia at Wimbledon and for Channel 7 at the Australian Open 256 Career statistics EditMain article Kim Clijsters career statistics Performance timelines Edit Key W F SF QF R RR Q DNQ A NH W winner F finalist SF semifinalist QF quarterfinalist R rounds 4 3 2 1 RR round robin stage Q qualification round DNQ did not qualify A absent NH not held SR strike rate events won competed W L win loss record Singles Edit Tournament 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2020 2021 SR W L Win Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian Open A 1R 4R SF SF F A SF SF A A 3R W SF A A 1 10 43 9 83 French Open A 1R F 3R F A 4R SF A A A A 2R A A A 0 7 23 7 77 Wimbledon 4R 2R QF 2R SF A 4R SF A A A QF A 4R NH A 0 9 28 9 76 US Open 3R 2R QF 4R F A W A A A W W A 2R 1R A 3 10 38 7 84 Win loss 5 2 2 4 17 4 11 4 22 4 6 1 13 2 14 3 5 1 0 0 7 0 13 2 8 1 9 3 0 1 0 0 4 36 132 32 80 Year end championshipsWTA Finals DNQ QF SF W W DNQ RR SF Did not qualify W DNQ NH DNQ 3 7 19 7 73 Career statisticsTitles 1 2 3 4 9 2 9 3 1 0 1 5 1 0 0 0 Career total 41Finals 2 3 6 6 15 3 9 5 2 0 1 5 3 0 0 0 Career total 60Year end ranking 47 18 5 4 2 22 2 5 N A 18 3 13 N A 1030Doubles Edit Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 11 2012 SR W L Win Australian Open 1R 3R 3R QF A A 0 4 7 4 64 French Open 1R 3R A W A A 1 3 8 2 80 Wimbledon 2R F A W A A 1 3 12 2 86 US Open 3R A QF 2R A 1R 0 4 6 4 60 Win loss 3 4 9 3 5 2 16 2 0 0 0 1 2 14 33 12 73 Grand Slam tournament finals Edit Singles 8 4 titles 4 runner ups Edit Result Year Tournament Surface Opponent ScoreLoss 2001 French Open Clay Jennifer Capriati 6 1 4 6 10 12Loss 2003 French Open Clay Justine Henin 0 6 4 6Loss 2003 US Open Hard Justine Henin 5 7 1 6Loss 2004 Australian Open Hard Justine Henin 3 6 6 4 3 6Win 2005 US Open Hard Mary Pierce 6 3 6 1Win 2009 US Open 2 Hard Caroline Wozniacki 7 5 6 3Win 2010 US Open 3 Hard Vera Zvonareva 6 2 6 1Win 2011 Australian Open Hard Li Na 3 6 6 3 6 3Doubles 3 2 titles 1 runner up Edit Result Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents ScoreLoss 2001 Wimbledon Grass Ai Sugiyama Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs 4 6 3 6Win 2003 French Open Clay Ai Sugiyama Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suarez 6 7 5 7 6 2 9 7Win 2003 Wimbledon Grass Ai Sugiyama Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suarez 6 4 6 4Mixed doubles 1 1 runner up Edit Result Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents ScoreLoss 2000 Wimbledon Grass Lleyton Hewitt Kimberly Po Donald Johnson 4 6 6 7 3 7 Sources ITF profile 18 and WTA profile 257 Awards EditITF awards World Champion 2005 88 WTA awards Newcomer of the Year 1999 88 Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award 2000 2001 2002 2003 2005 2006 2009 2012 88 Peachy Kellmeyer Player Service Award 2003 2006 2010 258 Comeback Player of the Year 2005 2009 88 Player of the Year 2005 2010 88 Humanitarian of the Year 2006 258 National awards Belgian Promising Youngster of the Year Beloftevolle Jongere van het Jaar 1998 258 Belgian Sportswoman of the Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2005 2009 2010 2011 88 Flemish Giant Vlaamse Reus 2000 2001 2010 88 Flemish Sportsjewel Vlaams Sportjuweel 2001 88 Belgian National Sports Merit Award 2001 with Henin 88 Belgian Sports Personality of the Year 2003 88 Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown by Royal Decree of King Albert II Grootkruis in de Kroonorde 2003 with Henin 88 Belgian Sporting Team of the Year 2006 with Fed Cup team members Butkiewicz Flipkens Henin and Caroline Maes 258 International awards Laureus World Sports Award for Comeback of the Year 2010 88 International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee 2017 25 See also EditPortals Tennis Biography Belgium Sports Olympics List of Grand Slam women s singles champions List of Grand Slam women s doubles championsReferences Edit Career Prize Money Leaders PDF WTA Tennis Archived PDF from the original on 6 November 2019 Retrieved 4 August 2019 a b Kim Clijsters ESPN Archived from the original on 13 January 2019 Retrieved 13 January 2019 a b c d e Clijsters Kim 2 September 2017 Clijsters Tennis made all my dreams come true US Open Archived from the original on 16 September 2017 Retrieved 23 September 2018 a b Hughes Rob 6 January 2009 Farewell to the tranquil captain The New York Times Archived from the original on 15 January 2018 Retrieved 15 January 2018 Associated Press 4 January 2009 Father of Kim Clijsters dies at 52 Sports Illustrated Archived from the original on 24 January 2009 Retrieved 23 September 2018 a b c d Bedell Geraldine 5 October 2003 Face to Face The Guardian Archived from the original on 15 January 2018 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W No 1 Serena Williams Tennis com Archived from the original on 3 July 2018 Retrieved 5 June 2020 a b Kim Clijsters v Serena Williams ITF Tennis Archived from the original on 4 February 2019 Retrieved 3 February 2019 a b Kim Clijsters v Venus Williams ITF Tennis Archived from the original on 5 August 2018 Retrieved 3 February 2019 a b Graham Bryan Armen 30 August 2012 Mental fortitude helped Clijsters stand tall against toughest of era Sports Illustrated Archived from the original on 3 February 2019 Retrieved 3 February 2019 Macpherson Alex 20 January 2019 Taking on Serena and Venus A history of the Williams double as Halep prepares for showdown WTA Tennis Archived from the original on 3 February 2019 Retrieved 3 February 2019 Kim Clijsters v Lindsay Davenport ITF Tennis Archived from the original on 5 August 2018 Retrieved 3 February 2019 Kim Clijsters v Amelie Mauresmo ITF Tennis Archived from the original on 4 February 2019 Retrieved 3 February 2019 Kim Clijsters concludes WTT 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tot Kim s Thank You Games Diamond Games 2012 transformed into Kim s Thank You Games Het Nieuwsblad in Dutch 27 August 2012 Archived from the original on 10 April 2016 Retrieved 28 January 2019 Clijsters wins in Antwerp Exhibition WTA Tennis 12 December 2013 Archived from the original on 5 January 2016 Retrieved 28 January 2019 Petkovic Caps Dream Week in Antwerp WTA Tennis 15 February 2015 Archived from the original on 11 July 2018 Retrieved 28 January 2019 Petkovski Suzi 24 January 2019 Clijsters embracing the Legends life Australian Open Archived from the original on 27 January 2019 Retrieved 27 January 2019 Rogers Leigh 25 July 2017 Kim Clijsters My role now is to give back Tennis Mash Archived from the original on 27 January 2019 Retrieved 27 January 2019 Kim Clijsters remporte le double du Tournoi des Legendes a l US Open in French RTBF 11 September 2017 Archived from the original on 27 January 2019 Retrieved 27 January 2019 Wimbledon surprise for Irish man served by Kim Clijsters BBC 17 July 2017 Archived from the original on 27 September 2018 Retrieved 28 January 2019 Kim Clijsters gives man tennis skirt for hit at Wimbledon 2017 Wimbledon via YouTube Archived from the original on 8 January 2019 Retrieved 28 January 2019 a b c Tignor Steve 13 February 2018 The Greatest Players of the Open Era W No 14 Kim Clijsters Tennis com Archived from the original on 24 June 2018 Retrieved 29 January 2019 Kim Clijsters concludes her singles career with U S Open loss to Laura Robson WTA Tennis via Women s Sports and Entertainment Network 1 September 2012 Archived from the original on 3 March 2019 Retrieved 3 March 2019 Women s Grand Slam Title Winners ESPN Archived from the original on 9 April 2018 Retrieved 4 March 2019 WTA Finals History WTA Finals 13 February 2014 Archived from the original on 2 February 2019 Retrieved 2 February 2019 Berkok John 20 February 2017 David Goffin Breaks Top 10 and Makes History The Tennis Channel Archived from the original on 2 February 2019 Retrieved 2 February 2019 Belgium Team Win Loss Fed Cup Archived from the original on 24 October 2017 Retrieved 4 March 2019 Kim Clijsters Academy Kim Clijsters Sports and Health Club Archived from the original on 4 September 2018 Retrieved 2 February 2019 Elise Mertens 23 01 18 interview Australian Open 22 January 2018 Archived from the original on 2 February 2019 Retrieved 2 February 2019 DeFrancesco Tracey Kim Clijsters A Legacy in Two Parts Tennis View Magazine Archived from the original on 31 December 2013 Retrieved 29 January 2019 Clijsters happy to be working mum role model CNN 14 September 2009 Archived from the original on 29 January 2011 Retrieved 2 February 2019 Berkok John 22 July 2017 5 Fast Facts About Official Hall of Famer Kim Clijsters Tennis Channel Archived from the original on 25 January 2019 Retrieved 25 January 2019 Navratilova Martina 21 April 2011 Kim Clijsters Time Archived from the original on 20 March 2015 Retrieved 29 January 2019 Pells Eddie 14 September 2009 Clijsters wins US Open in return from retirement San Diego Tribune Archived from the original on 6 February 2019 Retrieved 6 February 2019 Comeback queen Clijsters triumphs BBC 2 April 2005 Archived from the original on 24 November 2018 Retrieved 6 February 2019 a b Rive amp Williams 2018 chpt 1 McDonald Margie 7 January 2012 Everyone feels the pain but Kim when she does the splits The Australian Retrieved 6 February 2019 Bodo 2010 chpt 5 Wozniacki not at Clijsters level yet Fox Sports 1 November 2010 Archived from the original on 7 February 2019 Retrieved 7 February 2019 Harwitt Sandra 3 April 2005 Clijsters Becomes First Unseeded Player to Win Nasdaq 100 Title The New York Times Archived from the original on 17 February 2018 Retrieved 7 February 2019 Rive amp Williams 2018 chpt 5 Rive amp Williams 2018 chpt 7 a b Nguyen Courtney 22 July 2017 Kim Clijsters reflects on Hall of Fame career WTA Tennis Archived from the original on 6 October 2017 Retrieved 29 January 2019 Ubha Ravi 29 January 2011 Clijsters solidifies Slam stranglehold ESPN Archived from the original on 7 February 2019 Retrieved 7 February 2019 Bodo Peter 30 September 2005 Kin goes old school Tennis com Archived from the original on 2 February 2019 Retrieved 2 February 2019 Kim Clijsters et son entraineur se separent La Libre in French Agence France Presse 15 September 2005 Archived from the original on 2 February 2019 Retrieved 2 February 2019 Clijsters says Hewitt can win Open without coach Reuters 21 January 2007 Archived from the original on 2 February 2019 Retrieved 2 February 2019 Wim Fissette Tennis Academy Genk Archived from the original on 25 November 2018 Retrieved 2 February 2019 Clijsters re hires Belgian coach Carl Maes Tennis com 8 June 2011 Archived from the original on 2 February 2019 Retrieved 2 February 2019 Clijsters confirms split with coach Wim Fissette Tennis com 28 September 2011 Archived from the original on 2 February 2019 Retrieved 2 February 2019 Dutchman Fred Hemmes Jr named as Kim Clijsters new coach The Brussels Times 15 January 2020 Archived from the original on 5 October 2021 Retrieved 5 October 2021 Kim Clijsters Management Kim Clijsters Archived from the original on 24 September 2015 Retrieved 3 February 2019 Golazo scoort met Kim Clijsters als uithangbord Golazo scores with Kim Clijsters as a sign in Dutch Club van Eigenaars Ondernemers Archived from the original on 10 September 2018 Retrieved 3 February 2019 Kim Clijsters Welcome Back to the Babolat Team Tennis Industry Magazine 15 May 2009 Archived from the original on 24 January 2018 Retrieved 3 February 2019 Kaplan Daniel Fila adds Clijsters to its roster Sports Business Daily Archived from the original on 24 January 2018 Retrieved 3 February 2019 Fila Extends Agreements with Grand Slam Champions Kim Clijsters and Svetlana Kuznetsova Fila 18 January 2012 Archived from the original on 8 September 2014 Retrieved 3 February 2019 Lodge Michelle 29 August 2017 U S Open Champ Kim Clijsters Don t Swing at Every Opportunity in Life The Street Archived from the original on 3 February 2019 Retrieved 3 February 2019 Harman Neil 13 September 2010 Kim Clijsters proves again that nice girls can win The Times Archived from the original on 10 September 2014 Retrieved 3 February 2019 a b c Rossingh Danielle 5 November 2010 Tennis s Kim Clijsters May Sign With Olympic Games Sponsor Her Agent Says Bloomberg com Archived from the original on 8 November 2010 Retrieved 3 February 2019 Clijsters and USANA celebrate in Paris WTA Tennis 8 April 2013 Archived from the original on 14 September 2014 Retrieved 3 February 2019 Fernandez Anthony 23 July 2012 Citizen Watch Serves Up Tennis Legend Kim Clijsters An Endorsement Athlete Promotions Archived from the original on 12 July 2018 Retrieved 3 February 2019 Fier sponsor de 3 legendes du tennis Proud sponsor of 3 legends of tennis in Dutch Van Lanschot Archived from the original on 3 February 2019 Retrieved 3 February 2019 a b Shmerler Cindy 21 July 2017 Kim Clijsters Reflects on Career Ahead of Hall of Fame Induction The New York Times Archived from the original on 15 January 2019 Retrieved 27 January 2019 Elke Clijsters ITF Tennis Archived from the original on 27 January 2019 Retrieved 27 January 2019 World Champions Juniors ITF Tennis Archived from the original on 25 June 2018 Retrieved 27 January 2019 Elke Clijsters ITF Tennis Archived from the original on 27 January 2019 Retrieved 27 January 2019 Elke Clijsters met fin a sa carriere La Libre in French 15 June 2004 Archived from the original on 24 April 2014 Retrieved 27 January 2019 Hewitt and Clijsters reveal split BBC 22 October 2004 Archived from the original on 28 June 2011 Retrieved 27 January 2019 McGrogan Ed 20 December 2018 50 Years 50 Heroes 2006 Kim Clijsters Tennis com Archived from the original on 20 March 2019 Retrieved 20 March 2019 Kim Clijsters and Vincent Kompany team up for children SOS Children s Villages Archived from the original on 29 April 2016 Retrieved 20 March 2019 Kim Clijsters wants to fund training for rising tennis stars The Brussels Times 19 September 2015 Archived from the original on 20 March 2019 Retrieved 20 March 2019 Ten4Kim Kim Clijsters Archived from the original on 20 March 2019 Retrieved 20 March 2019 Clijsters Een comeback Ik ben blij dat ik af en toe gewoon thuis kan zijn Clijsters A comeback I am happy that I can sometimes be home Sporza in Dutch 12 July 2017 Archived from the original on 6 May 2018 Retrieved 20 March 2019 Kim Clijsters WTA Tennis Archived from the original on 2 April 2019 Retrieved 14 April 2019 a b c d van de Winkel 2012 appendix Books Edit Bodo Peter 2010 The Clay Ran Red Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros Diversion ISBN 978 0984515134 Dewulf Filip de Jong Wilfried 2013 Kim Clijsters First and Only Official Career Overview Cannibal Publishing ISBN 978 9491376580 Rive Joey Williams Scott C 2018 Tennis Skills amp Drills Human Kinetics ISBN 978 0736083089 van de Winkel Frank 2012 Kim Clijsters De Biographie in Dutch Spectrum ISBN 978 9000306404 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kim Clijsters Official website Kim Clijsters at the Women s Tennis Association Kim Clijsters at the International Tennis Federation Kim Clijsters at the Billie Jean King Cup Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Kim Clijsters amp oldid 1153092869, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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