Australians want Kim Clijsters to exit as the champion, given her decision to retire at the end of this year. The country took the Belgian to their hearts and affectionately dubbed her ”Aussie Kim” when she became engaged to Lleyton Hewitt and, despite the relationship faltering three years ago, she remains highly popular down under.
Clijsters, who, more than anybody in the women’s game in the past decade has displayed an admirable ability to remain equable in times of great personal difficulty, decided this year would be her last after winning the United States Open in 2005, her one and only Major title.
That triumph against Mary Pierce at Flushing Meadows aside, Clijsters has never fully developed the potential that took her, as a 17-year-old, to the French Open final and four times to falter within two points of defeating Jennifer Capriati before losing 1-6 6-4 12-10 to the American. Three more Grand Slam finals have all been lost painfully against her fellow Belgian, Justine Henin-Hardenne.
But Clijsters, who will be 24 in June, has always insisted she was not in tennis for the long haul. In July she will marry Brian Lynch, an American basketball player based in Belgium, and will hope to start a family and immerse herself in domesticity; a far from desperate housewife.
Success has come at a cost to her body, including a potentially career-threatening wrist injury in 2004.
”Over the past eight or nine years I’ve played a lot of matches and that’s just very demanding. Over the last couple I really started to realise that my body is physically not able to do that any more and that’s been frustrating,” she said this week.
Last year in Melbourne she injured her ankle in the semifinal against France’s Amélie Mauresmo, the eventual champion, while another wrist injury cost her the chance of defending the US Open title. Touch wood, the normal aches and pains apart, she is fighting fit and there are many who would love to see her rushed on a tide of emotion to her second Grand Slam title. It is not impossible. ”But I’m not going to back myself,” she said with a smile.
There is little doubt that the decision to quit at the end of the year has concentrated her mind and increased her motivation. ”I worked harder than ever last month, knowing it was the last time.”
Some are still inclined to believe that more Grand Slam success might change her mind. Her intensely blue eyes are resolute: ”I just can’t wait to start the life after tennis.”
And for all the hard pre-season graft, it was an obvious wrench for her to leave home for this tournament. ”There was nothing harder than packing my bags. Over the last few years I’ve become more of a housewife and that’s something I enjoy a lot. I’ve been travelling since I was 12.”
She will not miss that side of her professional life, though she is young enough to consider a comeback if it suited her: ”I would never say never, because you never know what might happen.”
It would, nevertheless, be a big surprise, for having a family has always been her greater goal in life.
To go out on a winning note in the place she calls her ”second home” would make for a hugely emotional and compelling occasion, yet it was not a thought uppermost in Clijsters’ mind. ”To me it has never just been tennis. It’s about the people I have met here and the friends I have made.”
As the Aussies would say: ”She’s a beaut.” – Â