BREE, Belgium: Former world No.1 Kim Clijsters of Belgium yesterday announced her return to competitive tennis almost two years after retiring from the sport at just 23 years old.
“I intend to play in the US Open and almost certainly in the tournaments at Cincinnati (early August) — my first official tournament back — and Tornoto,” she told a press conference in her hometown.
“I have been practicing on a regular basis with my training partner Wim Fissette and by physical coach Sam Verslegers, sometimes as much as six hours a day.
“The desire is back!.” The right-hander, famous for her trademark splits defensive play, won 34 WTA tournaments and 11 doubles’ crowns, including the 2005 US Open title when she defeated French player Mary Pierce 6-3, 6-1 at Flushing Meadows.
She also won the 2002 and 2003 women’s season-ending tour championship title.
Clijsters lost four Grand Slam finals notably the 2003 French Open and US Open championship matches, as well as the 2004 Australian Open to compatriot and rival Justine Henin, who has also since retired.
She reached the top of the world rankings in August 2003 and had a record of 427 wins against 104 defeats as well as having the rare dinstinction of holding the number one spot in both singles and doubles in 2003.
But hampered by a succession of injuries and eager to start a family with new husband Brian Lynch, an American basketball player, she abrubtly announced her retirement in May 2007 at just 23 years old.
Clijsters married Lynch in 2007 and the couple celebrated the birth of their daughter Jade Elie in February 2008.
She was also engaged to Australian former number one Leyton Hewitt before suddenly pulling out of the relationship in 2004, shortly before the couple were due to be married.
The popular Belgian has been competing in a number of exhibition events in recent months and is also set to play at an exhibition tournament this summer at Wimbledon along with Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf and Tim Henman.
Since the shock retirement of Henin a year ago, the top spot in women’s tennis has been up for grabs with Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic and currently Serena Williams successively filling the spot.
At just 25, Clijsters is almost two years younger than Williams and has time on her side in possibly regaining the world No.1 position and adding to her Grand Slam collection.
What happens after Flushing Meadows in early September, however, depends on several factors, she insisted.
“I will have to take stock of how I manage to combine my family situation with life on the circuit — I am a mother and a wife after all,” she said. “Also we will have to see how I come out of it all physically.” Clijsters will not be the first top player to take time off to have a baby and then attempt a return to the circuit.
Another former World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport, a close friend of Clijsters, did likewise in 2007 although she never officially announced she was retiring.
The American made a stunning return to the WTA Tour circuit last year winning four tournaments before moving to the sidelines again in January after announcing that she was pregnant once again.
