User:Sportsfan77777/sandbox/Kim Clijsters

Kim Clijsters

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another link for mother's flexibility

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with Steffi Graf

also 2006 Wimbledon

2017 Wimbledon

2012 Olympics

2012 Olympics

2012 Olympics

Luxembourg Open site

Luxembourg Open site

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1. Playing style
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3. Lead

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This article is about Kim Clijsters, a former world No. 1 tennis player. Active from 1997–2012, Clijsters became the first Belgian to hold the world No. 1 ranking. She has been ranked as the 14th greatest women's tennis player in the Open Era. Clijsters is perhaps most famous for retiring at the age of 23, only to come back and become one of the few players to win a Grand Slam singles title as a mother.

I have re-written the entire article over the past six months, and it has passed its GA review. I have written eight other GAs for the Tennis WikiProject, but this is the one I have spent the most time on. There are two other tennis FAs (Milos Raonic and the 1877 Wimbledon Championships). If promoted, the article would be just the eighth Women's sport biography FA, the first since 2014, and by far the most notable of the group. I am also hoping to have this article ready to be a TFA by June 8th, and I recognize the window for that opportunity is closing.

Lead

Old version of lead

Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters (Dutch pronunciation: [kɪm ˈklɛistərs] ^ⓘ; born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. Clijsters is a former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles.

Clijsters won 41 singles and eleven doubles titles. She won four Grand Slam singles titles: three at the US Open, in 2005, 2009, and 2010 and one at the Australian Open in 2011. She was also runner-up in four Grand Slam singles tournaments and won the WTA Tour Championships singles title in 2002, 2003, and 2010. In doubles, she won the French Open and Wimbledon titles in 2003. She was also runner-up in two Grand Slam doubles tournaments, one WTA Championships doubles tournament, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles tournament. In 2001, Clijsters was part of the Belgium Fed Cup winning team. Clijsters announced her retirement with immediate effect on 6 May 2007, but almost two years later, on 26 March 2009, she publicly declared her intent to return to the WTA tour for the 2009 summer hard court season. In only her third tournament back, she won her second US Open title, becoming the first unseeded player and wildcard to win the tournament, the first unranked player to win a Grand Slam and the first mother to win a major since Evonne Goolagong in 1980.

In June 2011, TIME magazine named her one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future". According to Forbes in August 2011, she became the fifth highest-paid female athlete over the previous year.

On 20 May 2012, Clijsters, who had previously announced that 2012 would be her last season, revealed that she would retire after the US Open. On 29 August 2012, she played her last singles match of her career at the US Open where she lost in the second round to Laura Robson. Clijsters was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on 22 July 2017.

New version of lead

Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters (Dutch pronunciation: [kɪm ˈklɛistərs] ^ⓘ; born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. Clijsters is a former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, having once held both rankings simultaneously. She won a total of six Grand Slam titles, four in singles and two in doubles. Clijsters was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2017.

Clijsters played in an era where her primary rivals were compatriot Justine Henin and 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena Williams. Coming from a country with limited success in men's or women's tennis, she 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 combined for eleven Grand Slam singles titles and led their country to their first Fed Cup crown in 2001. 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 won a title at all four Grand Slam tournaments, taking the US Open and the Australian Open in singles and taking Wimbledon and the French Open in doubles with longtime partner Ai Sugiyama. Her major success was highlighted by winning three consecutive appearances at the US Open.

Plagued by injuries and having lost some desire to play, Clijsters initially retired from tennis in 2007 at the age of 23 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 also won the Australian Open in 2011 en route to becoming the first mother to be ranked No. 1 by the WTA. Along with Margaret Court, she also holds the record for most Grand Slam singles titles won as a mother with three and was the first to win one since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980. She officially retired from professional tennis in 2012.

Having athletic parents with backgrounds in professional football and gymnastics, Clijsters was renowned for her own athleticism. She built the offensive side of her game around controlled aggression while also using her exceptional movement to become an elite defensive player. Her athleticism was highlighted by her ability to perform splits on court in the middle of points. Clijsters was regarded as a popular and well-liked player, having won the peer-voted Karen Krantzcke WTA Sportsmanship Award eight times.

Early life

Previous version of early life

Clijsters was born in the Flemish Region of Belgium. She is the daughter of Lei Clijsters, a former international footballer, and Els Vandecaetsbeek, a former national gymnastics champion. Clijsters says that she inherited footballer's legs from her father and a gymnast's flexibility from her mother. Kim's younger sister Elke finished 2002 as the ITF World Junior Doubles champion but retired in 2004 after back injuries. Clijsters started playing tennis at age five with her cousins, and her parents took her to watch matches around Europe.

New version of early life

Clijsters was born on 8 June 1983 in Bilzen, a small town in northeastern Belgium and a part of Limburg, a province in the Flemish Region of the country. She grew up with her younger sister Elke in the nearby town of Bree. Kim is the daughter of Lei Clijsters and Els Vandecaetsbeek, both of whom were accomplished athletes. Her mother Els was a Belgian national gymnastics champion. Her father Lei was a professional football defender who played for a variety of clubs in the top-flight Belgian First Division, most notably 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. Clijsters credits her father with giving her a footballer's legs and her mother for giving her a gymnast's flexibility. 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."

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. In doing so, he fulfilled a promise he made in a television interview before the award ceremony. Clijsters had started playing tennis by chance earlier that year after attending a tennis lesson with her cousins and her uncle while her parents were away. From then on, she became hooked 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."

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]." 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.

Junior career

Previous version of junior career

Clijsters had won the Belgian Junior Championship by the age of 11 and joined an academy in Antwerp two years later. It was there she met Carl Maes, her coach for the first and last stages of her professional career. Clijsters was an accomplished junior player. In singles, she finished as runner-up in the 1998 Wimbledon junior event, finishing 11th in the year-end singles ranking. In the same year in doubles, Clijsters won the French Open title with Jelena Dokić, defeating Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova in the final, as well as the US Open with Eva Dyrberg, defeating former partner Dokic in the final. Clijsters ended the season as no. 4 in the International Tennis Federation junior doubles world ranking.

New version of 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. A year later, she then won the 12-and-under singles event at the same tournament. 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. 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.

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. 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. She won two junior Grand Slam doubles titles, the French Open with Jelena Dokic and the US Open with Eva Dyrberg. She defeated her French Open partner Dokic in the US Open final. In singles, she made it to the Wimbledon final, but finished runner-up to Katarina Srebotnik.

Professional career

1997–99: Pro debut, WTA Newcomer of the Year

Old version of 1997–99

In 1999, Clijsters made her breakthrough professionally. At her first WTA tournament in Antwerp, she qualified and lost to the eventual finalist Sarah Pitkowski-Malcor in the quarterfinal, after failing to convert a match point. She also reached the doubles quarterfinals of the same event with India's Nirupama Vaidyanathan, defeating Vanessa Menga and Miho Saeki 7–5, 6–4.

Playing through the qualifying rounds at Roehampton, she made it to the main draw of Wimbledon. Clijsters won six matches in a row, while only losing 25 games. She defeated no. 10 Amanda Coetzer en route to the fourth round, during which Clijsters lost to her childhood idol, Steffi Graf, in straight sets, in difficult rainy circumstances. Later that summer, Clijsters reached the third round of the US Open, losing to eventual champion Serena Williams after serving for the match. In the autumn, Clijsters won her first Women's Tennis Association (WTA) singles title in Luxembourg. She followed up with her first WTA doubles title in Bratislava, partnering Laurence Courtois. At the end of the year, she was granted the WTA Most Impressive Newcomer award, the only Belgian player to have received this trophy.

New version of 1997–99

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, 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 pro tournament until after her runner-up finish at the Wimbledon girls' singles event the following summer. Playing in Brussels in July 2018, 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 each of singles and doubles.

Clijsters began 1999 ranked No. 420 in singles. Around this time, Belgian women's tennis was beginning to flourish, with Dominique Van Roost and Sabine Appelmans both 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.

A few weeks after Clijsters turned sixteen, she entered Wimbledon as the youngest player in the top 200. After barely getting a spot in 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. 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.

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. 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. At the end of the season, Clijsters was named WTA Newcomer of the Year, having risen to No. 47 in the world.

2000–2002: French Open finalist, Tour champion

Old version of 2000–2002

Clijsters climbed up the rankings over the next couple of years. In 2001, she reached her first Tier I final at the tournament in Indian Wells, California, losing to Serena Williams in a match overshadowed by controversy. Clijsters also reached her first Grand Slam final at the French Open, where she lost to Jennifer Capriati, 10–12, in the third set. This two-hour, 21-minute match featured the longest third set in a French Open women's final. Clijsters was four times within two points of winning, before Capriati prevailed. Her next important breakthrough came at the end of 2002, when she won the year-end Home Depot Championships in Los Angeles, defeating top ranked Serena Williams in the final. This was only the fifth defeat of the year for Williams and snapped her 18-match winning streak. On her way to the final, Clijsters defeated fourth-ranked Justine Henin and second-ranked Venus Williams, becoming just the fourth player to beat both of the Williams sisters in the same event. She also equaled the event's record for the fewest games dropped.

New version of 2000–2002

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. However, she continued her steady climb in the rankings up to No. 18 on the strength of two more titles, one at the Tasmanian International in her first tournament of the season and another at the Sparkassen Cup in Germany near the end of the season. 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. In the middle of the year, Clijsters also finished runner-up at the Wimbledon mixed doubles event with her boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt as her partner.

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. 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. A few months later at the French Open, Clijsters became the first Belgian to contest a Grand Slam singles final. In the semifinals, she defeated No. 16 Henin 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 could have put her behind 5–2 in the second set. 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 2 hours 21 minutes in total and a French Open final record 22 games, she was defeated by Capriati 12–10 in the deciding set. The match was ranked as the greatest French Open women's final in Open Era history by Tennis.com.

Clijsters would go on to make it to at least the quarterfinals at each of the next three majors. She also played in her first Grand Slam doubles final at Wimbledon later that year, with Ai Sugiyama as her partner. 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.

Clijsters maintained her top ten ranking throughout 2002 despite struggling with an ongoing shoulder injury, winning three more titles leading up to the year-end WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles. 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 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. After the tournament, she said, "This is the best victory of my career."

2003: World No. 1 in singles and doubles

Old version of 2003

Clijsters started her season at the Adidas International, where she won her first tournament of the year, defeating Lindsay Davenport in straight sets in the final. Clijsters reached the final after defeating Patty Schnyder, Chanda Rubin and Justine Henin. At the Australian Open, Clijsters lost in the semifinal to Serena Williams 4–6, 6–3, 7–5, after leading 5–1 in the final set and holding two match points. On the way to the semis Clijsters lost just fifteen games beating Samantha Reeves and completing a double bagel (wherein the opposing player fails to win a single game) against Petra Mandula. She then continued by winning in straight sets against Tatiana Poutchek, Amanda Coetzer, and Anastasia Myskina. At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, she defeated Lindsay Davenport in the final.

Clijsters in 2003

Clijsters reached the final of the WTA German Open, after defeating Jennifer Capriati 6–4 in the final set. In the final, she played Justine Henin and squandered three match points to lose the final set, 5–7. To compound the day, Clijsters also lost the doubles final 4–6 in the final set.

Clijsters’ third title of the year came at the Telecom Italia Masters in Rome, where she defeated Amélie Mauresmo in the final. Clijsters had defeated Myskina and doubles partner Ai Sugiyama to make the final.

At the French Open, Clijsters reached the final for the second time in three years, after defeating Nadia Petrova. In the final, Clijsters lost to Henin 0–6, 4–6, and again at the US open, 5–7, 1–6. She also lost in the semifinal at Wimbledon to Venus Williams, after leading by a set and a break.

On 11 August 2003, Clijsters attained the world no. 1 ranking, holding the spot for 12 non-consecutive weeks during the remainder of the year, and was the first player to be top ranked by the WTA without first winning a Grand Slam singles title.

On 18 August 2003, Clijsters also attained the world no. 1 ranking in doubles, joining a very select group of only four players—Martina Navratilova, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Martina Hingis, and Lindsay Davenport—having reached the world no. 1 ranking in singles and doubles simultaneously. Through 2016, only Serena Williams has managed to join this group.

The world no. 1 ranking was again at stake in October during the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Filderstadt, Germany. Clijsters rallied from a set down to beat Henin. The match marked only the eighth time that the top two players battled for the top ranking. Even though Clijsters won that match, she finished the year ranked world no. 2, just behind Henin.

New version of 2003

Clijsters had a historic season in 2003. 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 100 matches since Chris Evert in 1974. Clijsters also played an extensive doubles schedule, compiling a total of 170 matches between both disciplines. She partnered with Sugiyama the entire year, winning seven titles in thirteen events. This season also marked the peak of the rivalry between Clijsters and Henin, as the pair faced off eight times, the last six of which were in finals. In doubles, five of her ten finals were against the team of Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suárez. With her success, Clijsters became the first Belgian world No. 1 in each of singles and doubles.

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. She extended her tour win streak to 17 matches—all of which without dropping a set—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." Williams won the title to complete her "Serena Slam". 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. 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.

At the French Open, both Clijsters and Henin reached the final to guarantee that the winner would become the first Belgian Grand Slam champion. 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. While both players had match points in Germany, Henin won in Paris in a lopsided affair where she only lost four games. After losing in the semifinals at Wimbledon to Venus Williams, Clijsters rebounded to win two Tier II titles at the Stanford Classic and the Los Angeles Open. With the second of those titles, she attained the world No. 1 ranking, in part because top-ranked Serena Williams had not played on tour since Wimbledon due to a knee injury. She was the first player to become No. 1 without winning a Grand Slam singles title. Clijsters regained the top ranking in doubles the following week to become only the fifth player in WTA history to hold the top rankings in singles and doubles simultaneously. 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 the previous day. The title helped Henin rise to No. 2 in the world.

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. Clijsters lost the top ranking to Henin the following week, but regained it a week later by winning the Luxembourg Open for the third year in a row. She then finished her season by successfully 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. 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. Nonetheless, Henin took the year-end No. 1 ranking by improving on her performance at the event from the previous season.

Doubles: French Open and Wimbledon titles

In the early part of the season, Clijsters and Sugiyama won three titles on hard courts. 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. They entered the French Open and Wimbledon and made it to the finals at both events. Clijsters and Sugiyama defeated top seeds Ruano Pascual and Suarez in both finals for Clijsters's first two Grand Slam titles. The French Open final was a tighter match, ending 9–7 in the third set. 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. 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 several days. They ended the season by finishing runners-up to Ruano Pascual and Suarez at the WTA Tour Championships. Despite Clijsters's success in 2003, she seldom played doubles during the rest of her career.

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

Old version of 2004–05

Clijsters started 2004 by playing in the Hopman Cup. During the tie against Australia, Clijsters injured her ankle against Alicia Molik. Clijsters was on crutches for a few days and feared she might need surgery. Clijsters pulled out of the Adidas International due to the injury. Clijsters did recover in time to reach her fourth career Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, where she lost once more to Henin. After defeating Marlene Weingärtner, Maria Elena Camerin (with a double bagel), Dinara Safina, Silvia Farina Elia, Anastasia Myskina (during the match Clijsters aggravated her ankle injury), and Patty Schnyder to reach the final. Clijsters then won two consecutive titles in Paris and Antwerp. In Paris, Clijsters defeated local favourite Mary Pierce in the final. To reach the final, Clijsters defeated María Sánchez Lorenzo, Farina Elia, and Safina. While defending her Tier I title at the Pacific Life Open, Clijsters injured her wrist during her win against Angelika Rösch in her first match. Clijsters withdrew before her second match with the injury described as a bruised bone. Clijsters withdrew from the event in Miami the next week Clijsters then appeared six weeks later in her home town of Bree to play in a Fed Cup tie against Croatia, winning both of her rubbers. Clijsters returned to the tour in Berlin and needed three sets to see Marta Marrero off. Clijsters then pulled out of her second match and then was told to rest for five weeks, causing her to miss the French Open. Clijsters then had surgery to remove a cyst, causing her to miss three months of the tour, including Wimbledon and the US Open. Clijsters also missed the Olympics, but she had already decided not to play the tournament after a dispute about clothing sponsors. Clijsters returned to the Tour at the Gaz de France Stars. She made the semifinals, defeating Iveta Benešová and Magdalena Maleeva, before pulling out in the second set against Elena Bovina. Clijsters had aggravated the injury and although she did not need surgery, she was out for the rest of the season. She played down fears that the injury might force her retirement from tennis.

Clijsters missed the Australian Open due to injury. In February, after four months out, Clijsters returned to the tour by participating in the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp. Her first match back was against Jelena Kostanić, which she won in straight sets, before losing to Venus Williams in the quarterfinals.

Clijsters completed her comeback in March and April, when she won, as an unseeded player, 17 matches in a row to claim two Tier I titles and regain a top-20 ranking. At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Clijsters was ranked world no. 133. The Belgian began by beating Nicole Pratt, Shinobu Asagoe, Anna Chakvetadze, and Evgenia Linetskaya, all without dropping a set. In the semifinals, Clijsters defeated world no. 5 Elena Dementieva in straight sets and world no. 1 Lindsay Davenport in the final in three sets. The week after that win, Clijsters defeated four top-6 players in straight sets to win the NASDAQ-100 Open. To win the title, Clijsters defeated Sandra Klösel, Amy Frazier, Nathalie Dechy, Anastasia Myskina, Elena Dementieva, Amélie Mauresmo, and Maria Sharapova, going the whole tournament without dropping a set.

Turning her attention to clay, Clijsters’ winning streak continued at the J&S Cup. Clijsters defeated Tatiana Perebiynis, Maria Kirilenko, and Elena Bovina. Against Bovina, Clijsters’ picked up a minor shoulder injury. Clijsters’ 17 match winning streak was finally ended by Svetlana Kuznetsova. Playing next at the WTA German Open Clijsters defeated Yuliana Fedak and Dinara Safina in straight sets before, hurting her right knee and retiring against Patty Schnyder. Clijsters recovered in time to play in the French Open. Playing in the French Open for the first time in two years, Clijsters defeated Meilen Tu, Cervanová, and Daniela Hantuchová to advance to the fourth round, where she lost to Davenport 1–6, 7–5, 6–3 after leading 3–1 in the second set.

Clijsters got off to the best possible start for her grass-court season at the Hastings Direct International Championships by winning the tournament. Clijsters defeated Jelena Janković, Conchita Martínez, Mashona Washington, Kuznetsova and Vera Dushevina to claim her third title of the year. At Wimbledon, Clijsters defeated Katie O'Brien, Marissa Irvin, and Roberta Vinci, before facing Davenport in the round of 16 for the second Grand Slam in a row. The result was the same as the French Open, with the American winning.

After Wimbledon, Clijsters went on an amazing run of form, where she lost just once between July and October. Clijsters’ run began at the Bank of the West Classic against Ai Sugiyama, and she defeated Daniela Hantuchová, Anna-Lena Grönefeld, and Venus Williams to win her fourth title of the year. Clijsters’ streak continued in San Diego, as she defeated Marta Domachowska and Janković, before being beaten for the only time in this run by Peng Shuai.

After the defeat by Peng, Clijsters continued the run; she won 22 matches in a row, collecting four straight titles along the way, including her maiden Grand Slam title. The 22-match streak started against Karolina Šprem, with victories over Safina, Nadia Petrova, and Francesca Schiavone. Clijsters collected her fifth title of the year. The streak continued in Toronto as Clijsters beat Virginie Razzano, Ana Ivanovic (via a walkover), Flavia Pennetta, Anastasia Myskina and Justine Henin-Hardenne to win the Rogers Cup. After winning three of her four US Summer Hard court tournaments, Clijsters won the US Open Series, which links all the US summer hard courts together and doubles the winners prize money at the US Open. Giving Clijsters a chance to double the $1.1 million US Open winners prize to $2.2 million.

Clijsters won her first Grand Slam singles title at the US Open, after having reached four Grand Slam finals previously. Clijsters started by defeating Martina Müller, Fabiola Zuluaga, Ai Sugiyama and María Vento-Kabchi in straight sets to reach the quarter finals. There, Clijsters defeated tenth-seeded Venus Williams in the quarter-finals 4–6, 7–5, 6–1, winning 11 of the last 13 games after being down 6–4, 4–2. Clijsters squandered five match points in the second set of her semi against Sharapova but eventually won 6–2, 6–7(4), 6–3. In her fifth attempt, Clijsters won her first Grand Slam final, defeating Mary Pierce in straight sets. By winning the US Open Series Clijsters doubled her US$1.1 million in prize money she received for winning the US Open, to US$2.2 million. The pay check was the largest payday in women's sports history.

On 15 September, a week after her US Open victory, it was announced that Clijsters and her coach, Marc Dehous, had parted company, which was due in part to her paying him only $9,000 of her $2,200,000 US Open winnings.

Clijsters’ hot streak continued as she extended her streak to 21 wins, even without a coach at the Fortis Championships. Clijsters beat Klára Koukalová, Schiavone, Dechy and Lena Grönefeld all without dropping a set to win her eighth title of the year. The title was Clijsters’ fourth consecutive title. At the Porsche Grand Prix Clijsters defeated Šprem for her twenty-second consecutive match win before Dementieva ended the streak.

Clijsters then won her ninth and final tournament of the year at the Gaz de France Stars, defeating Schiavone in the final, to go the whole tournament without dropping a set. Clijsters defeated Ekaterina Bychkova, Šprem, Julia Schruff and Safina to make the final.

At the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships, Clijsters was eliminated in the group stage. Clijsters lost her first match, a rematch of the US Open final, to Pierce 6–1, 4–6, 7–6 and her second match to Mauresmo 6–3, 7–6. This left the Belgian needing to win and hope that the results in the other matches went her way. Although results did not go her way and Clijsters was eliminated with one match still to play, she finished her season by defeating Dementieva in straight sets. Clijsters ended the year ranked World No. 2.

New version of 2004–05

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. Nonetheless, she competed at the event and reached the championship match without dropping a set, despite aggravating her ankle injury in the quarterfinals. 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 that 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". In February, she won her next two tournaments, including the Diamond Games in Antwerp for her first WTA title in her home country. 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. As a result, she remained out until the Hasselt Cup in Belgium where she needed to retire in her third match.

There were few expectations on Clijsters entering 2005, as it still was not certain whether she would be able to play. 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.. 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. These titles lifted her ranking from outside the top 100 back into the top 20. 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.

"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 her first Grand Slam singles title.

After Wimbledon in late June, Clijsters only lost one more match through early October. During this stretch, she won five titles including her third Stanford Classic and her fifth Luxembourg Open. She also built up a 22 match win streak and defeated Henin in the final of the Tier I Canadian Open in their only meeting of the year. 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 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. As the winner of the US Open Series, Clijsters received double the standard prize money. Her $2.2 million prize was the largest in women's sports history at the time. 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 top-ranked Davenport, she only won one match and did not advance out of her round robin group. She finished the year ranked No. 2, having won a tour-best nine titles and all of her finals. Although she had a successful comeback season, Clijsters announced in August that she was planning to retire in 2007 because of her injury troubles.

2006–07: Return to No. 1, retirement

Old version of 2006–07

Clijsters in 2006

Clijsters started the year by withdrawing from her semifinal match at the WTA tournament in Sydney, citing a left hip muscle strain.

At the Australian Open, Clijsters defeated former champion Martina Hingis in the quarterfinals, 6–3, 2–6, 6–4, before retiring from her semifinal match with Amélie Mauresmo. Despite the loss, the ranking points she accumulated were enough to regain the world no. 1 ranking, a position she last held on 9 November 2003. She was the first tennis player, male or female, to rise from outside the top 100 (world no. 134) to world no. 1 in less than a year. Clijsters' loss to Mauresmo in the Australian Open semifinal was due to an ankle injury. Although she had been expected to miss at least eight weeks to recover, Clijsters returned two weeks later at the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp. She lost the final of that tournament to Mauresmo in three sets.

Clijsters won her first title of the year at a clay court event in Warsaw, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. At the French Open in May, Clijsters reached the semifinals without losing a set, defeating Martina Hingis in the quarterfinals, 7–6, 6–1. However, she lost to Justine Henin in the semifinal, 3–6, 2–6, on her 23rd birthday. She was seeded second going into Wimbledon, but was again eliminated in the semifinal by Henin, also in straight sets, 4–6, 6–7(4).

Clijsters at 2006 Wimbledon

Clijsters collected her second title of the year as the top seed in Stanford, defeating Patty Schnyder in the final. Clijsters then reached the final in San Diego, falling to second-seeded Maria Sharapova in straight sets. This was her first loss to Sharapova in five career meetings.

On 16 August, after receiving a first-round bye at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Montreal, Clijsters faced Canadian Stéphanie Dubois in the second round. Having won the first set 6–1 and trailing 2–3 in the second set, Clijsters slipped and fell on her left wrist and was forced to retire from the match. On 18 August 2006, Clijsters announced on her official website that the condition of her wrist was worse than she had expected and that she would be unable to defend her title at the US Open. She also missed the Fed Cup final against Italy, which Italy won 3–2.

Playing in Paris at the Gaz de France Stars tournament, her first event in more than two months, Clijsters successfully defended her title by beating qualifier Kaia Kanepi in the final. At the year-end WTA Tour Championships, Clijsters lost a semifinal to Mauresmo, 2–6, 6–3, 3–6, after defeating Dementieva and Kuznetsova and losing to Sharapova in the round-robin phase of the tournament.

2007 was to be Clijsters’ final year on tour, as she had planned in 2005 to retire at the end of the 2007 season. Clijsters started the year by winning an exhibition tournament, the Watson Water Challenge, in Hong Kong. On her way to the title, she defeated Zheng Jie, Patty Schnyder, and top-ranked Maria Sharapova. Clijsters then won the Medibank International in Sydney, defeating Nicole Pratt, Shahar Pe'er, Li Na, and Jelena Janković to claim the title, after being match point down in the final.

Clijsters at the 2007 J&S Cup

At the Australian Open, Clijsters was the fourth seed. The Belgian started by giving a double bagel to Vasilisa Bardina, before going on to defeat Akiko Morigami, Alona Bondarenko, and Daniela Hantuchová in straight sets. Clijsters then defeated sixth seed Martina Hingis in three sets, before losing to Sharapova in the semifinals.

Clijsters next played in Belgium at the Proximus Diamond Games, after pulling out of the Open Gaz de France with a hip injury. While Clijsters said that she was fit, she hinted that she might miss the French Open. Clijsters defeated Olga Puchkova, Ana Ivanovic, and Tatiana Golovin to reach the final without dropping a set, though she lost there to Amélie Mauresmo.

After this event, Clijsters confirmed that she would miss the French Open and US Open, making Wimbledon her last Grand Slam event. The Belgian also added that her last two tournaments would be in Luxembourg and at the WTA Tour Championships in Stuttgart.

At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Clijsters lost in the fourth round to Li Na in three sets, after beating Akiko Morigami and Samantha Stosur. A month later in her first clay tournament of the year in Warsaw, Clijsters failed to defend her title, when she lost to Julia Vakulenko 6–7(3), 3–6.

On 6 May 2007, citing injuries, Clijsters announced on her official website that she was cutting short her season and bringing forward her plans to retire from professional tennis. Clijsters decided to retire immediately from the sport.

New version of 2006–07

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. Clijsters withdrew from her first tournament of the year, the Sydney International with hip and back problems. 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 down a break in the third set against Amélie Mauresmo. Nonetheless, with Davenport losing in the quarterfinals, Clijsters regained the No. 1 ranking. She held the top ranking through the mid-March. Clijsters returned for the Diamond Games where she finished runner-up to Mauresmo, but needed to withdraw from the Indian Wells Open because of the same ankle injury. 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.

During the US Open Series, Clijsters won her fourth Stanford Classic and finished runner-up to Maria Sharapova at the Tier I San Diego Classic. However, her summer season came to an end when she fell on her left wrist in her opening round match at the Canadian Open. 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. Clijsters entered the WTA Tour Championships ranked No. 5 in the world, where all three other players she was grouped with were Russian. 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.

Clijsters entered 2007 intending to retire at the end of the season, but only played in five tournaments due to injuries. 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. A hip injury limited Clijsters's remaining schedule. In her last two tournaments, she lost to Li Na in the fourth round at the Miami Open in March and qualifier Julia Vakulenko in her opening match at the Warsaw Open in May. Her last win was against Samantha Stosur in Miami. A few days after losing in Warsaw, Clijsters announced her retirement at the age of 23.

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

Old version of 2009–10

Almost two years after her retirement and one year after the birth of her daughter in February 2008, it was announced that Clijsters, along with Tim Henman, Steffi Graf, and Andre Agassi, would play an exhibition event on Wimbledon's Centre Court in May, in order to test the new roof.

While preparing for the exhibition at Wimbledon, Clijsters called a press conference on 26 March, and then announced that she was returning to professional tennis. She said that she had been inspired when preparing for the Wimbledon roof event during January 2009. Clijsters stated that she had asked for wildcards for the Cincinnati and Toronto tournaments. Additionally, Clijsters had also asked for a wildcard at the US Open, after which she planned to evaluate the comeback in terms of success and the feasibility of combining it with her family life. Clijsters also stated that she preferred to think of it as a "second career" instead of a comeback, because so many factors (marriage, a baby, the recent death of her father) were different from her first career.

At the Wimbledon exhibition, Clijsters and Henman won 7–6 in a tiebreak against Graf and Agassi. Clijsters also played a singles rubber against Graf, winning 6–4. Clijsters said at the event that she had been practicing for a month and had started to feel good again at the start of February. In July, she won both of her doubles matches with the St. Louis Aces of World Team Tennis.

Clijsters started her second career at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati, following the acceptance of her wildcard. She defeated world No. 13 Marion Bartoli in the first round, 6–4, 6–3. In her next two matches, she defeated world no. 20 Patty Schnyder, 6–2, 7–5, and world No. 6 and reigning French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2. In the quarterfinals, she lost to world No. 1 Dinara Safina, 2–6, 5–7.

Following Cincinnati, Clijsters played at the Rogers Cup in Toronto on another wildcard. She defeated British qualifier Elena Baltacha in the first round. In the second round, she defeated world No. 9 Victoria Azarenka, 7–5, 4–6, 6–1, but lost to world No. 4 Jelena Janković in the third round, 6–1, 3–6, 5–7, after serving for the match at 5–3.

Clijsters at the 2009 US Open

She then received a wildcard to play in the main draw of the US Open. She won her first-round match over Viktoriya Kutuzova, 6–1, 6–1. She won her second round match, defeating world No. 14 Marion Bartoli for the second time in three weeks, 5–7, 6–1, 6–2. She then defeated compatriot Kirsten Flipkens, 6–0, 6–2, in the third round. She went on to upset world No. 3 Venus Williams in the fourth round, 6–0, 0–6, 6–4. This was only Clijsters' 11th competitive match since coming out of retirement. Clijsters beat 18th seed Li Na in straight sets, 6–2, 6–4, to reach the semifinals, where she faced defending champion and world No. 2 Serena Williams, winning 6–4, 7–5 after Williams was given a point penalty on match point after a dispute with an official over a foot-fault call. Clijsters became the first unseeded finalist at the US Open since Venus Williams in 1997, and the first wildcard to ever reach the US Open final. With her victory over Serena, Clijsters became the only player to have beaten both Williams sisters in the same tournament twice. In the final, she defeated 9th seed Caroline Wozniacki, 7–5, 6–3, to win her second US Open title. Her US Open victory placed her in the top 20 in the world rankings. She also became the first wildcard champion in US Open history and the first mother to win a Grand Slam title in the Open era since Evonne Goolagong Cawley won Wimbledon in 1980.

Clijsters then received a wildcard to play at the BGL Luxembourg Open as the second seed. She eased through her opening match, 6–2, 6–2, against Meghann Shaughnessy, but fell to Patty Schnyder in a close second-round encounter, 4–6, 6–3, 6–7.

Playing an exhibition match in Antwerp, Belgium on 10 December, Clijsters defeated Venus Williams 6–1, 7–5. She finished the year ranked No. 18.

In March 2010, Clijsters won the Laureus World Sports Award for Comeback of the Year. She also won the WTA Comeback Player of the Year and the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award for the seventh time.

Clijsters started her 2010 campaign at the Brisbane International in Australia as the top seed. She defeated Tathiana Garbin and Alicia Molik in the first two rounds, without dropping a set. She then defeated Lucie Šafářová in three sets to advance to the semifinals, where she defeated Andrea Petkovic to set up a final with her compatriot Justine Henin. Clijsters led 6–3, 4–1, before Henin won eight consecutive games to take the second set and lead 3–0 in the final set. Clijsters trailed 5–3, saved two match points before breaking back and forcing a final set tie break. During the tiebreak, Clijsters struck a backhand that appeared to land on the line, sealing the championship. She raised her hands in the air in celebration, before the call was overruled by the umpire, who claimed the ball was out. Despite being rattled by the call, Clijsters was unfazed and remained focused, going on to win the match, 6–3, 4–6, 7–6(6) after Henin double faulted to give her another match point.

Clijsters and Wozniacki at an official function

Clijsters' next tournament was the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the season where she was seeded 15th. Clijsters advanced to the third round with straight-sets wins over Valérie Tétreault and Tamarine Tanasugarn. In the third round, Clijsters lost to world No. 20 Nadia Petrova, winning just one game in the worst defeat of her career.

Clijsters did not play competitively again until March at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. She was seeded 14th, but fell to 23rd seed Alisa Kleybanova in the third round, losing a final-set tiebreak. Clijsters found form at the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, as she went on to win the title. As the 14th seed, she only dropped three games while defeating Petra Kvitová and Shahar Pe'er. Clijsters then defeated the defending champion Victoria Azarenka, losing just four games. Next she defeated world no. 10 Samantha Stosur in the quarterfinals and Justine Henin in a final set tiebreak to reach the final. Clijsters went on to beat Venus Williams in straight sets in the final, ending the American's 15-match unbeaten streak. As a result of winning the title for the second time, Clijsters' ranking rose to world no. 10.

Playing her first clay tennis match in three years at the Andalucia Tennis Experience as the third seed, Clijsters advanced to the second round after beating Alexandra Dulgheru in three sets. However, in the second round, Clijsters lost to the world no. 258 Beatriz García Vidagany. Clijsters played in Belgium's Fed Cup tie against Estonia, easily defeating Maret Ani, 6–4, 6–2, in her opening singles match. However, it was discovered that she had torn a muscle in her left foot, causing her to pull out of her next match against Kaia Kanepi. Doctors ruled her out for six weeks, but Clijsters hoped to make an early recovery. She later announced in a press conference that she would have to withdraw from the rest of the clay-court season, including the French Open.

Clijsters returned to action at the start of the grass-court season in Eastbourne as part of her Wimbledon warm-up, where she was victorious in 2005. Clijsters, as the fifth seed, defeated compatriot Yanina Wickmayer and Šafářova to reach the quarterfinals, losing just three games, before losing in straight sets to Victoria Azarenka. Despite this loss, Clijsters’ ranking rose to world no. 8, and she was seeded 8th at her first Wimbledon Championships since 2006. She started well, with a straight-sets wins over Maria Elena Camerin, Karolina Šprem, and Maria Kirilenko to set up a fourth round clash with 17th seed Justine Henin. Clijsters came back from a set down to beat Henin, 2–6, 6–2, 6–3. Clijsters lost in the quarterfinals to 21st seed and eventual finalist Vera Zvonareva in three sets.

In between Wimbledon and the US hard-court season, Clijsters participated in the record-breaking Best of Belgium, an exhibition extravaganza. Clijsters defeated Serena Williams in straight sets, improving her head-to-head record since her comeback against the Williams sisters to 5–1 (3–1 against Venus who won against Clijsters at the Billie Jean Cup 2010, 2–0 against Serena).

Clijsters played her next event at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati, where she had made her comeback the previous year. This was her first event of the US Open Series. After a first-round bye, Clijsters, as the 4th seed, defeated former world no.1 Dinara Safina, Christina McHale, and Flavia Pennetta in straight sets to reach the semifinals. In the semifinals, Clijsters was leading 2–1 when her opponent, Ana Ivanovic, had to retire due to a foot injury. In the final, Clijsters faced 10th seed Maria Sharapova and after losing the first set, Clijsters found herself down 3–5 in the second set. She managed to save three match points on her own serve, before rain interrupted play. Clijsters came back to take the second set into a tie-break, and despite being down 0–3, she came back to win the tie-break and then claim a 2–6, 7–6(4), 6–2 victory. This win propelled her ranking to world no. 4 with her 38th singles title of her career.

Clijsters played her final event of the US Open Series in Montreal at the Rogers Cup, where she was seeded 5th. After coming back from 4–6, 1–4 down in the opening round to defeat Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Clijsters reached the quarterfinals, before losing to Vera Zvonareva in three sets.

Clijsters at the 2010 US Open

Clijsters then competed in the US Open, where she was second seed. Clijsters advanced to the quarterfinals without dropping a set, defeating Gréta Arn, Sally Peers, Petra Kvitová, and Ana Ivanovic. There Clijsters came from a break down in the third set to defeat 5th seed Samantha Stosur, 6–3 in the final set to advance to the semifinals. In the semifinals, Clijsters faced Venus Williams, winning the match in the final set to extend her US Open match winning streak to 20, second only to Chris Evert's 31-match winning streak from 1975–1979 and tying with Venus and Monica Seles. In the final, Clijsters faced seventh seed Vera Zvonareva in a rematch of their Wimbledon quarterfinal meeting. Clijsters won, only dropping three games, to defend her US Open title, winning it for the third time and her second as a mother. The win also extended her US Open winning streak to 21 matches and was her 27th victory of her last 28 matches at the tournament, the only loss came from compatriot and rival Justine Henin in the '03 final. By winning US$2.2 million, she equalled her own 2005 record of the largest payday in women's sports history. Injury then kept Clijsters out until the WTA Championships.

At the year-end championship, Clijsters advanced to the final, after defeating Janković and Azerenka to qualify for the semifinals. Clijsters lost her final group game to Zvonareva. In the semifinals, Clijsters beat Stosur in straight sets, after surviving a car crash. In the championship match, Clijsters faced world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in a rematch of the 2009 US Open final. Clijsters finished the year at world No. 3, after defeating the Dane in three sets to clinch her third WTA Championship and fifth title of the year.

Clijsters' final match of 2010 was a repeat of what the Best of Belgium should have been, a match against Henin. The match took place at the Diamond Games in front of a Belgian crowd. Clijsters came out the winner, winning the match tie-breaker 10–5.

For her performance during the season, Clijsters received the WTA Player of the Year award for the second time (first one in 2005), the first player ever to win this award in the year following the win of the Comeback Player of the Year.

New version of 2009–10

A few months after Clijsters retired, she married Brian Lynch. She gave birth to a daughter in early 2008, less than two months after her father was diagnosed with 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 later another life would disappear. It was a very intense period in our lives." 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 roof on centre court at Wimbledon. 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." 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."

With no ranking, Clijsters needed wild cards to enter any tournaments. She requested and received wild cards for the Cincinnati Open, the Canadian Open, and the US Open. In her return to the tour in Cincinnati, Clijsters defeated three top 20 opponents, including No. 6 Svetlana Kuznetsova, before losing to world No. 1 Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals. She recorded another top ten victory in Canada over No. 9 Victoria Azarenka. Clijsters was still unranked entering the US Open, as players needed three tour events to have a ranking at the time. 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 splitting the first two 6–0. Her straight sets win over Serena was overshadowed by her opponent receiving a point penalty on match point for verbally abusing a line judge. 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 only the third mother to win a Grand Slam singles title after Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980 and Margaret Court in 1973. With the title, she entered the WTA rankings at No. 19. Her only other tournament of the year was the Luxembourg Open, where she lost her second match. At the end of the season, she won the WTA Comeback Player of the Year award for the second time.

Clijsters planned a limited schedule for 2010 to keep her focus on her family and ended up playing just eleven tournaments. 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. 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. 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. She only conceded three games in the final against Venus Williams. During the clay court season, Clijsters tore a muscle in her foot, which kept her out of the French Open. Although she returned for Wimbledon, she was upset in the quarterfinals by Vera Zvonareva after recording another win over Henin in the previous round.

"That defeat against Zvonareva at Wimbledon was hard to take. I 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.

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. At her next event, she was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open by Zvonareva while struggling with a thigh injury. 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 Zvonareva. 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. 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. 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. Clijsters finished the season at No. 3 and was named WTA Player of the Year for the second time.

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

Old version of 2011–12

Clijsters at the 2011 Australian Open Final

On New Year's Day, Clijsters defeated world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki, in an exhibition match at the World Tennis Invitation in Thailand. Clijsters was victorious in three sets, winning 12–10 in a champions tie-breaker.

Clijsters' first competitive outing of the year was the Medibank International Sydney in Australia. In the first round, Clijsters defeated Alexandra Dulgheru in two sets, 6–1, 6–2. She then defeated Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, Victoria Azarenka, and Alisa Kleybanova to advance to the final, where she was defeated by world no. 11 Li Na, 6–7(3), 3–6, despite leading 5–0 in the first set.

Clijsters started a strong campaign at the Australian Open as the tournament favourite with an emphatic 6–0, 6–0 victory over former world No. 1 Dinara Safina in the first round. This was the first time in tennis' open era that a former world No. 1 player received a double bagel loss in a Grand Slam tournament. Clijsters then defeated Carla Suárez Navarro, 6–1, 6–3, and Alizé Cornet, 7–6(3), 6–3, before winning a fourth-round match against Russia's Ekaterina Makarova, 7–6(3), 6–2. In the quarterfinals, Clijsters continued her progress without dropping a set by beating the twelfth seed Agnieszka Radwańska, 6–3, 7–6(4).

Clijsters in Paris, 2011

She defeated world No. 2 Vera Zvonareva, 6–3, 6–3, guaranteeing her accession to world No. 2, her highest ranking since her return to the tour. Clijsters won the 2011 Australian Open singles by beating Li Na, 3–6, 6–3, 6–3. It was her first major win outside the US and her fourth overall. Clearly emotional, Clijsters declared that she finally had earned the title "Aussie Kim."

Clijsters next traveled to play at the indoor tournament in Paris. After defeating Jelena Dokić in the quarterfinals, Clijsters returned to the top of the WTA rankings for the first time in almost five years, overtaking Caroline Wozniacki. Clijsters eventually progressed to the final of the competition, but was beaten by third seed Petra Kvitová in straight sets, 4–6, 3–6.

Up next for Clijsters was the Indian Wells Masters in California, where she was seeded second. After receiving a bye in the first round, she faced Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and defeated her, 6–2, 6–0. In the third round, she beat the Italian Sara Errani in three sets, 6–3, 2–6, 6–4. Clijsters had to retire in her next match against Marion Bartoli at 6–3, 1–3 with a shoulder injury.

Clijsters was the defending champion in Miami and the second seed. After defeating Anastasiya Yakimova, 6–1, 6–2, and María José Martínez Sánchez, 6–4, 4–6, 6–3, in the second and third round, respectively, she came back from 1–5 0–40 in the final set against Ana Ivanovic in the fourth round, winning the match, 7–6(4), 3–6, 7–6(5). She eventually lost in the quarterfinals to Victoria Azarenka in straight sets, 3–6, 3–6.

On 21 April 2011, Clijsters was elected number 16 on the Time Top 100 list of most influential people, the first sports person on the 2011 listing.

Clijsters suffered an ankle injury while dancing at a wedding and missed most of the clay-court season before the French Open. Clijsters was the second seed in the Roland Garros draw. She was defeated by Arantxa Rus in the second round, 6–3, 5–7, 1–6, after leading 6–3, 5–2 and having two match points. Clijsters suffered a further ankle injury in the UNICEF Open, which forced her to withdraw from Wimbledon.

Clijsters returned to the tour at the Rogers Cup. She received a bye into the second round, where she played qualifier Zheng Jie. She won the first set 6–3, but retired three games into the second due to an abdominal injury. The injury caused her to pull out of the Western & Southern Open, and then the US Open, where she was the two-time defending champion.

She announced on her blog that she was dropping the rest of the season to fully recover in order to get ready for 2012, the year of the Olympic Games, and that she may come back in December 2011 in Antwerp for the Diamond Games. After a four-month lay-off, Clijsters returned successfully to the court, beating top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki 6–2, 7–6 (7–5) at the Diamond Games exhibition.

Clijsters at the 2012 US Open

Clijsters began her 2012 season at the Brisbane International. She defeated Simona Halep in the first round, followed by a 6–1, 1–6, 6–3 defeat of Ana Ivanovic in the second round. She comfortably won her quarterfinal match against Iveta Benešová, 6–3, 6–2. Clijsters met Daniela Hantuchová in her semifinal match. Leading 7–6, 1–2, Clijsters received a medical timeout for a hip spasm. She played only one game afterward, retiring to hand the match to Hantuchová, 6–7, 3–1.

Clijsters entered the Australian Open, the last appearance in the event before her expected retirement. As 11th seed. Clijsters defeated Maria João Koehler and Stéphanie Foretz Gacon in the first round and second round, respectively. In the third round, she defeated Daniela Hantuchová, 6–3, 6–2, in a rematch of their semifinal encounter at the Brisbane International only a fortnight earlier. Clijsters played Li Na in the fourth round, whom she defeated to win the title in 2011. At 3–3 in the first set, Clijsters rolled her ankle and required a medical timeout. Despite being severely hindered in her movement, Clijsters played on, but quickly lost the first set 4–6. She recovered from a break down in the second set to force a tiebreak. Down four match points at 2–6 in the second set tiebreak, she reeled off six consecutive points to take the second set tiebreak, 8–6. She took a 5–1 lead in the final set, but Li recovered, bringing the match to 5–4. However, Clijsters rallied, serving out the match, 4–6, 7–6, 6–4. Clijsters then defeated top seed Caroline Wozniacki, 6–3, 7–6, seemingly unhampered by the ankle sprain she sustained in the previous round. She lost in the semifinals to third seed and eventual winner Victoria Azarenka, 4–6, 6–1, 3–6. Clijsters' ranking dropped to No. 30 after failing to defend her points from winning the title in 2011.

Clijsters withdrew from the Paribas Open after exacerbating the ankle injury she sustained at the Australian Open. Clijsters' next tournament was at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. She lost to fellow Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in the third round, 4–6, 6–7. Following the match, Clijsters announced that she was suffering from a hip injury and would not compete for at least four weeks. At the time, she hoped that she would be back for the Madrid Open, starting in May; however on 17 April 2012, Clijsters announced that she would skip the clay-court season, including the French Open, because her injury had not sufficiently healed. In 's-Hertogenbosch, Clijsters defeated Romina Oprandi, Kateryna Bondarenko and Francesca Schiavone. She then withdrew from the tournament prior to her semifinal match against Urszula Radwańska due to an abdominal injury. Entering Wimbledon as the world No. 53 and unseeded in the tournament for the first time since 2000, Clijsters defeated Jelena Janković and Andrea Hlaváčková in the first and second rounds respectively, and defeated Vera Zvonareva in the third round, advancing to the second week of the tournament. Clijsters was defeated by Angelique Kerber in the fourth round, ending her final Wimbledon campaign.

At the Summer Olympics, Clijsters defeated Roberta Vinci and Carla Suárez Navarro in the first and second rounds respectively. She then played Ana Ivanovic in the third round, winning 6–3, 6–4 and advanced to the quarterfinals where she lost 2–6, 5–7 against Maria Sharapova.

Clijsters' final tournament was the US Open, where she previously won three titles. In singles, she defeated Victoria Duval, 6–3, 6–1, in the first round, but lost in the second round against Laura Robson, 6–7, 6–7, her first singles defeat in the event for nine years. She played doubles with compatriot Kirsten Flipkens, but lost in the first round to Chuang Chia-jung and Zhang Shuai. She played mixed doubles with Bob Bryan, but lost in the second round to Ekaterina Makarova and Bruno Soares. Clijsters officially retired on 2 September 2012.

New version of 2011–12

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. She began the 2011 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. 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. With the victory, she tied Margaret Court's record for most Grand Slam singles titles as a mother with three. This turned out to be the last title of Clijsters's career. 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. During the rest of the season, Clijsters was limited by a variety of injuries and only played five more tournaments. She needed retire from a fourth round match at the Indian Wells Open due to a shoulder injury. Then, as a result of an 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. Aggravating that ankle injury at her next event then forced her to miss Wimbledon. Clijsters returned for the Canadian Open, where she suffered an abdominal injury that kept her out the remainder of the season.

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. 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. After Clijsters defeated world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals, she lost to No. 3 Victoria Azarenka in another three set match. Her hip and ankle both continued to trouble her for months after the tournament, forcing her to skip the clay court season. She played the Miami Open in March and the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships in June, but was limited by her ankle in Miami and withdrew in the semifinals at the latter event with a stomach muscle strain. The last two WTA events of Clijsters's career were the final two Grand Slam tournaments of the year. She lost at Wimbledon in the fourth round to No. 8 Angelique Kerber, only winning two games. 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. Clijsters also entered the doubles event with compatriot Kirsten Flipkens and the mixed doubles event with Bob Bryan, one of the top-ranked doubles players in the world. Her career ended with a second round mixed doubles loss to the eventual champions Ekaterina Makarova and Bruno Soares, at which point she officially retired.

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 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.

The following year, the format for the Fed Cup changed again. The entire competition was played out in November, with the three round robin pools were reduced to two and the winners of each pool contesting 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 September 11 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."

With Clijsters and Henin 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 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. 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. However, Clijsters was forced to miss the Fed Cup final due to a wrist injury. Henin and Flipkens returned for the final, which Belgium hosted against Italy. Henin won both her singles matches to give Belgium a 2–1 lead. After Flipkens lost to Mara Santangelo, the two faced Francesca Schiavone and Roberta Vinci in a decisive doubles rubber. Despite winning the first set, the Belgians needed to retire down 2–0 in the third set after Henin aggravated a knee injury she suffered in her singles rubber against Schiavone.

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

1. 2000: SF
2. 2001: W
3. 2002: 1R (did not play in QF)
4. 2003: QF (did not play in SF)
5. 2004: 1R (did not play in QF)
6. 2005: WG-PO
7. 2006: SF (did not play in F)
8. 2010: WG-PO
9. 2011: 1R (did not play in QF)

Hopman Cup

Clijsters participated in the Hopman Cup from 2001–04, 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 is comprised 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.

In 2002, they finished tied for first with the United States and Italy in 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. The following year, Clijsters and Malisse again lost to the United States, who fielded a different team of Serena Williams and James Blake.

1. 2001 (w/ Rochus): RR
2. 2002 (w/ Malisse): RR
3. 2003 (w/ Malisse): RR
4. 2004 (w/ Malisse): RR, withdrew midway through

Olympics

Clijsters did not get an opportunity to compete at the Olympics until 2012. 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, the tour's restrictions on the number of tournaments she could enter at age 17, and the event's timing a week after the US Open. During the 2004 Athens Olympics, she was in the middle of a long absence from competition after undergoing wrist surgery. However, she had announced the before the year began that she did not intend to compete at the Games because Adidas was sponsoring the Belgian team's uniforms and her contract with Fila forbade her from wearing clothing from another company. The 2008 Beijing Olympics took place during her first retirement.

Having missed these three previous events, Clijsters's desire to represent Belgium at the Olympics was one of the underlying reasons why she wanted to prolong her second career until at least the 2012 London Games in late July. At the time, she did not have good results at her most recent tournaments, withdrawing from the Rosmalen Grass Court Championship in the semifinals in June 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. She faced No. 3 Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals, losing in straight sets one match before the medal rounds.

Exhibition matches

Old version of exhibition matches

Clijsters competed at the Diamond Games in December 2012, dubbed the 'Kim's Thank You Games', as a ceremonial farewell in her native Belgium. She defeated Venus Williams in a singles exhibition match, 6–3, 6–3. Later on she and Amélie Mauresmo lost to Venus Williams and Kirsten Flipkens in doubles. A full house of over 13,000 of Clijsters' fans turned up to the Antwerp Sports Palace for the contest.

In December 2013 at the Kim Clijsters Invitational (Diamond Games) at the Antwerp Sports Palace in Belgium, former and current tennis stars took part in some singles and mixed doubles exhibition matches. Kim and Xavier Malisse were victorious over Kirsten Flipkens and Henri Leconte, 7–5, 6–2, in mixed doubles.

Clijsters competed in the Women's Legends Doubles event at the 2014 French Open in June 2014 alongside Martina Navratilova as her partner. In the group stage they defeated Iva Majoli and Anastasia Myskina, and then Conchita Martínez and Nathalie Tauziat. Clijsters and Navratilova advanced to the final as winners of Group B. They won the doubles event defeating Nathalie Dechy and Sandrine Testud, 5–7, 7–5, [10–7], in the final.

Clijsters participated at the 2014 Optima Open, a tournament on the ATP Champions Tour in a special mixed doubles exhibition match.

Clijsters served in 2015 as Tournament Director for the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, which had been previously played as a tournament and then as an exhibition. Clijsters and Andrea Petkovic played an exhibition match that Kim won 5–3 in place of a finals because Carla Suárez Navarro retired before the match.

In July 2017 Clijsters participated in the Ladies' Invitation Doubles match at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships with Rennae Stubbs, playing against Andrea Jaeger and Conchita Martinez. During the match, Clijsters humorously asked spectators how she should serve. The match was notable for Clijsters inviting a spectator, Irishman Chris Quinn, onto the court after he suggested she do a 'body serve'. The spectator proceeded to don white women's sports clothing as per Wimbledon regulations, and was served the ball twice, returning the first one. Clijsters and Stubbs later won the match 6–2 7–5.

On 22 July 2017, Clijsters was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I.

New version of exhibition matches

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. In the summer, she joined the St. Louis Aces of the World Team Tennis league to help prepare for her comeback. She also played World Team Tennis the following year as a member of the New York Sportimes.

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, Serena Williams was chosen as a replacement. Clijsters defeated Williams in straight sets, with Williams choosing to play despite injuring her foot several days before the match. 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.

Beginning in 2009, the Diamond Games WTA tournament in Antwerp was reorganized into an exhibition series. During her comeback, Clijsters played at the event three times, winning matches against Venus Williams in 2009, Henin in 2010, and world No. 1 Wozniacki in 2011. 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. In 2015, the Diamond Games were revived as a WTA tournament 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.

Since her retirement in 2012, Clijsters has regularly played in the legends, champions, and invitation doubles events at all four Grand Slam tournaments. 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.

Playing style

Old version of playing style

Clijsters serving during the 2011 French Open

Groundstrokes and net-play

Clijsters had a powerful physique that combines naturally with a strong baseline game. The Belgian was equipped with an array of powerful and deep forehand and backhand shots . Her forehand, although at times erratic, was her main weapon. She was easily able to dictate play with her forehand and she was capable of hitting winners from any position on the court. Clijsters also had a strong and consistent two-handed backhand, which was arguably one of the best in the women's game, particularly her cross-court backhand, which she hit with great accuracy and pace. An accomplished doubles player, Clijsters had an adept net game. She often mixed up her aggressive-style play with drop shots and backhand slices to draw her opponents into the net, where many players are uncomfortable. She also had a very solid over-head and was noted for her quick transition from the baseline to the net to finish points.

Serve

Clijsters' first serve was not overwhelmingly powerful, but was placed well and earned her free points. When timed correctly, her serve could be considered a major weapon. Clijsters also possessed a strong second serve that is not easily attackable; however, she sometimes lacked confidence on serve and loses timing, resulting in a high number of double faults in some matches.

Defence and movement

Clijsters was also widely recognised for her all-court defence, characterized by her speed and athleticism, and had the capacity to wear her opponents down. Clijsters was one of few players on the WTA tour who could slide on all surfaces. Clijsters possessed the perfect balance of athleticism: her powerful build and strength from her father Leo, a successful football player in Belgium, and flexibility from her mother Els, a national gymnast. Maria Sharapova, interviewed after losing to Clijsters in the 2005 Nasdaq-100 Open, said, "You just have to expect that she's going to get every ball back".

New version of playing style

Clijsters was an all-court player who employed a mixture of offensive and defensive styles of play. On the defensive side, her movement was regarded as exceptional, enabling her to endure long rallies. Maria Sharapova has commented that, "You just have to expect that she's going to get every ball back." In addition to her movement, Clijsters often kept points alive 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. When hitting a squash shot on the run, Clijsters was known for her trademark play of sliding towards the ball and finishing in a split to extend her reach. While most players can only slide on clay, Clijsters could slide on any surface. Tennis journalist Peter Bodo has noted, "Grass and hard courts do not 'permit' sliding unless your name is Kim Clijsters."

The strengths of Clijsters's game centered around having an aggressive style of play in order to generate offense. She was regarded as one of the best returners of serve and would try to "take control of the point immediately... to [put herself] in an offensive position from the beginning". She was aggressive in the middle of points as well. While the squash shot is generally regarded as a defensive shot, Clijsters could turn it into an offensive weapon by placing it well enough to have time to recover into a good court position. Additionally, she possessed the ability to quickly move in from the baseline to the net, setting herself up to hit winners and finish points. She was adept at hitting swinging volleys on both the forehand and backhand sides because of her solid groundstroke technique. Clijsters credited 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". Her coach Wim Fissette attributed her Grand Slam success after her comeback to being more aggressive than she was before her first retirement. She strived to play with controlled aggression and possessed the ability to hit forehand and backhand winners from the baseline.

1. Talk about her array of shots.
2. Talk about her serve.

1. Talk about her play on different surfaces.

Information

• a little bit from Tignor
• Sharapova quote
• ideal player
• NY Daily News end of career
• espnW mix of things
• tactics against Li Na
• brief preview versus Li Na
• tough style of play
• aggressive style of play
• good book source: mentions squash shot (defensive stretched-out wide forehand) as signature shot in chapter 1; top returner and aggressive returner in chapter 5; strong swinging volley on both backhand and forehand and transitioned to the net quickly to finish points in chapter 7 Tennis Skills and Drills by Joey Rive and Scott Williams
• style of play to win 2009 US Open --- used variety of shots including drop shots and lobs; was able to endure long rallies when she needed to
• referred to as an aggressive baseliner at 2002 Tour Championship
• high forehand analysis
• consistently hit winners

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. 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. 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. Maes coached Clijsters from 1996 to May 2002, during which she won the Fed Cup and finished runner-up at the 2001 French Open.

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. Clijsters opted to play without a coach until her first retirement.

When Clijsters began her comeback in 2009, she hired Wim Fissette to be her coach. Fissette, who is three years older, had trained under Vanhoudt in Diest while Clijsters was there. He had also served as her hitting partner from 2005 until her retirement. With Fissette as her coach, Clijsters won three more Grand Slam singles titles and regained the No. 1 ranking. In June 2011, she rehired Maes as her coach, leading to Fissette's departure several months later. Clijsters worked with Maes through the end of her career.

Maes knows her best

Endorsements

Old version of endorsements

Clijsters used Babolat Pure Drive racquets after 1999. In May 2002, Clijsters signed a deal with Fila. She had previously worn Nike apparel and footwear, but was not under contract. Her contract with Fila was extended in January 2012.

Clijsters was reluctant to endorse certain products, including Nutella and refused to promote unhealthy food. She also turned down endorsements that involved her daughter. In 2009, she signed a two-year endorsement deal with Adecco and a one-year deal with Thomas Cook Group. In January 2010, Clijsters signed an endorsement deal with sports beverage AA drink. She was also endorsed by Belgian telecommunications company Telenet and banana producer Chiquita. She became the brand ambassador for the Citizen Watch Signature Collection in 2010. In 2011, Clijsters was named a Brand Ambassador of global nutritional company USANA. She is represented by Belgium sports, media and entertainment company Golazo Sports.

Clijsters is currently an Ambassador of SOS Children's Villages Belgium.

New version of endorsements

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

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." She has turned down Nutella in addition to endorsements that involved her daughter. While on tour, she endorsed banana supplier Chiquita and United Soft Drinks, the producer of the AA sports drink. Additionally, she was a brand ambassador for nutrition company USANA as well as the Citizen Watch Signature Collection. She also had endorsement deals with Belgian telecommunications company Telenet, personnel services firm Adecco, and the travel services company Thomas Cook Group.

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

Rivalry with Henin

Previous version of Henin rivalry

Clijsters and Justine Henin met 25 times over a period of 12 years. Their series ended 13–12 in Clijsters' favour, though Henin won all three of their Grand Slam final meetings.

New version of Henin rivalry

Clijsters's biggest rival was Justine Henin, who was from the French-speaking part of Belgium. Clijsters and Henin have long had a tumultuous relationship and have been regarded as having little in common except their nationality. Their rivalry began during their junior years when they were both considered promising young talents. They started out as friends and won the Belgian Junior Championships as doubles partners at ages ten and eleven respectively, despite only being to communicate with hand signals due to Clijsters not knowing French and Henin not knowing Flemish. However, their friendship began to fade by their mid-teens, leading to disputes that their coaches would try to keep out of the media. 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.

As professionals, Clijsters accused Henin of routinely faking injuries in their matches to receive medical timeouts. Clijsters's father seemed to allege that Henin was taking performance-enhancing drugs. Although they had won the Fed Cup together in 2001, they had not been interested in playing on the same team in 2004 and 2005. In 2006, Clijsters's former coach Carl Maes, who was then the Belgium Fed Cup captain, helped convince Clijsters to play with Henin, and together they ultimately reached another final that year. Clijsters and Henin typically downplayed any disagreements between them.

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.

Information

• https://web.archive.org/web/20180923055542/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/02/sports/IHT-two-belgian-champions-now-on-different-paths.html

• https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2003/oct/05/tennis.features

• https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/wtatour/2409401/Clijsters-on-top-of-world-on-the-back-of-long-spat.html

• 2006 Fed Cup with quote

• Henin comments

• 2010 Wimbledon

• also 2010 Wimbledon

Rivalry with Williams sisters

Old version of rivalry with Williams sisters

Clijsters and Venus Williams met 13 times since 2001. Clijsters led the series 7–6. Clijsters last lost to Williams in the 2005 Proximus Diamond Games, when the matches were 6–2 in Williams' favour. She went on to defeat Williams five consecutive times, including three times at the US Open. They last played professionally in the semifinals of the 2010 US Open, with Clijsters winning in three sets.

Clijsters and Serena Williams met a total of nine times since 1999. Williams led their series 7–2, with Clijsters winning their last encounter at the 2009 US Open, their only match after the Belgian's comeback in 2009.

New version of rivalry with Williams sisters

The Williams sisters are widely recognized as dominating tennis since around the turn of the century. They were both No. 1 in the world and combined for 15 Grand Slam singles titles while Clijsters was on tour. Clijsters had a record of just 2–7 against Serena, who she called her toughest opponent. She fared better against Venus, compiling a winning record of 7–6.

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. 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 an opportunity to serve for the match. 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 title as a mother one match later. 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.

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.

Other rivals

Old version of other rivals

Clijsters and Vera Zvonareva first played each other in 2002. Clijsters won the head-to-head match-up 8–3. Prior to her first retirement in 2007, Clijsters won all five of her matches with Zvonareva. The women met again during the 2010 season, when Zvonareva won three of their four matches—the exception being the US Open final. Zvonareva's first victory against Clijsters came at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships. Their only match of 2011 was won by Clijsters at the Australian Open. Clijsters also won their only match of 2012 at the Wimbledon Championships after Zvonareva retired due to breathing problems.

Clijsters and Amélie Mauresmo met 15 times over eight years. Their series ended 8–7 in Clijsters' favour. Prior to the 2005 WTA Tour Championships, Clijsters led the series 8–2. Mauresmo won their final five matches from 2005 to 2007, including the finals of the Proximus Diamond Games in 2006 and 2007.

Clijsters and Maria Sharapova met a total of nine times since 2003, with Clijsters winning five times. Clijsters won their first four meetings. Sharapova then won four of their last five meetings.

New version of 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. 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.

Legacy

Old version of legacy

2001

• Clijsters became the first person from Belgium to reach a Grand Slam singles final in the Open Era.

2003

• Clijsters became not only the first Belgian—man or woman—to be ranked world No. 1, but also did so without winning a Grand Slam tournament. Clijsters is one of only six women to have been ranked world No. 1 in singles and doubles simultaneously (the others being Martina Navratilova, Martina Hingis, Serena Williams, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, and Lindsay Davenport).
• Clijsters compiled a 90–12 singles record. Her singles win total was the highest single-season total by any woman since Navratilova in 1982. Clijsters was the first woman to play more than 100 singles matches in a year since Chris Evert in 1974.

2005

• Following Clijsters's victory in the US Open Series and the subsequent US Open, she collected US$2.2 million in prize money, the largest single purse ever won by a female athlete until it was overtaken by Serena Williams when she was awarded a winner's sum of $3.6 million for winning both 2013 US Open Series and the Championship. To that date, Clijsters held a North American hardcourt win-loss record of 36–1.
• Clijsters had a 22-match winning streak from August to October. During the streak, she won tournaments in Los Angeles, Toronto and Luxembourg, and the US Open.
• First player ever to win the WTA Player of the Year Award in the same year of winning the WTA Come Back Player of the Year trophy

2006

• In returning to the world No. 1 ranking after the Australian Open in January, Clijsters broke a rankings record. She was ranked as low as world No. 134 in March 2005, so her return to the top spot in a ten-month span was the fastest and biggest leap in women's tennis history.

2009

• Third unseeded and first unranked female champion of a Grand Slam title by winning the US Open. Clijsters also became the first mother to win a major since Evonne Goolagong Cawley won the Wimbledon title in 1980, and the first mother to win the US Open since Margaret Court in 1973. She defeated Danish Caroline Wozniacki 7–5, 6–3 in the US Open final.
• Returned to WTA rankings at No. 19, equaling the highest debut ever that was set by Andrea Jaeger in 1980.
• Won the WTA Come Back Player of the Year trophy despite only playing three months effectively.

2010

• First woman to retain the US Open title since Venus Williams in 2001.
• Second woman in the Open Era to win three successive US Opens in which she played (she did not play in the 2006, 2007 and 2008 tournaments). Chris Evert won four US Open Championships in a row (1975–1978) and two additional titles in 1980 and 1982 for a total of six US Opens. Serena Williams later also won the US Open three times in a row, from 2012 to 2014.
• 21 consecutive US Open match victories, third all-time to Chris Evert's 31 from 1975–1979, and Serena Williams's 26 from 2012–2015.
• Third woman to win two Grand Slams as a mother, one shy of the record by Margaret Court.
• Repeated her own 2005 feat of earning a women's sport record paycheck of approximately US$2.2 million by winning the US Open, after ending the US Open Series as second after Caroline Wozniacki.
• Won the Masters (WTA Tour Championships) for the third time joining a very select group of players, consisting of Martina Navratilova, Monica Seles, Chris Evert and Steffi Graf.
• Broke the US$20 million mark in career prize money at the same Masters.
• Became WTA year prize money leader with more than US$5 million in earnings
• First player ever to win the WTA Player of the Year Award in the year following the win of the WTA Come Back Player of the Year trophy (see also 2005) Both Serena Williams (2004–2008) and Amélie Mauresmo (2003–2006) became Player of the Year after having been the Comeback Player of the Year but they did not achieve this feat in consecutive years.
• Received the Karen Krantzcke WTA Award for fair play for the 7th time.

2011

• Inflicted the first time ever double bagel loss at a Grand Slam since the start of the open era on a former world No. 1 player – Dinara Safina – during the first round of the Australian Open.
• By becoming Australian Open champion, completed a consecutive winning string of the four most important hardcourt tournaments within a year: Miami Masters 2010, US Open 2010, WTA Tour Championships 2010 and the Australian Open 2011. Steffi Graf (November 1987 – 1988 ) and Monica Seles in 1991 had accomplished this series before.
• Equalling the record of Margaret Court of winning three Grand Slams as a mother
• Received for the third time a women's sport record paycheck of approximately US$2.2 million by winning the Australian Open
• Became No. 1 in the WTA rankings for the fourth time in her career on 14 February 2011 after the 2011 Open GDF Suez in Paris, nearly five years after being at the No. 1 spot in early 2006. It is also the first time Clijsters is number one in the same calendar year of winning a Grand Slam.
• Became the first mother to hold the No. 1 ranking since the inception of the computer rankings in 1975.
• Ranked 16 on the Time Top 100 list of most influential people, the first sports person on the 2011 listing.
• (2012) Became most time winner of the Karen Krantzcke WTA Award for fair play (8).

New version of legacy

Clijsters has been ranked as the 14th greatest women's tennis player in the Open Era by Tennis.com. Her 41 singles titles are the 14th-most in the Open Era. Since 2000, only the Williams sisters, Justine Henin, and Maria Sharapova have won more than her four Grand Slam singles titles. 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. 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. 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. Clijsters was ranked No. 1 in singles for 20 weeks, the 17th-most out of the 26 women to hold the top ranking.

Clijsters and Henin are recognized for "putting Belgium on the tennis map". 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. 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, including the final in 2006 and the championship in 2001. She also became the first Belgian to be ranked No. 1 in each of singles and doubles. 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. 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. Compatriot Elise Mertens is among those who train at the facility.

Clijsters was one of the most popular and well-liked players in tennis among both fans and her fellow players. 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 everyday 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." Clijsters was also regarded as a source of inspiration to mothers on the WTA Tour, a role she embraced. She is one of three mothers to win a Grand Slam singles, and her three such titles are tied with Margaret Court for the most 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. 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 accomplishments during her comeback.

Personal life

Previous version of personal life

In December 2003, Clijsters announced her engagement to Australian Lleyton Hewitt, but their relationship ended in October 2004. She is still affectionately nicknamed "Aussie Kim" by Australians. In October 2006, Clijsters announced her engagement to American basketball player Brian Lynch, who was then playing for Euphony Bree in Clijsters' hometown of Bree. In an interview with Sportweekend (a sports programme on Belgian Flemish television), Clijsters said that she was retiring to start a family. Clijsters and Lynch married privately on 13 July 2007, at 6 am at the Bree city hall. She was married by the mayor, with sister Elke, Lynch's brother Pat Lynch, and both sets of parents present.

Clijsters gave birth to daughter, Jada Elle, on 27 February 2008, at 1:35 pm at the Vesalius hospital in Tongeren. On 18 September 2013, Clijsters gave birth to a son, Jack Leon Lynch. In October 2016, she gave birth to her third child, a son, Blake Richard Lynch.

The family splits their time, spending autumn in Belgium and summer at their home in Wall Township, New Jersey.

Kim has a younger sister named Elke who was also a promising junior player, finishing the 2002 season as the ITF Junior World Champion in doubles. Elke had a brief professional career before retiring in 2004 at the age of 19 due to back injuries.

Her favourite tennis player growing up was Steffi Graf.

Lei Clijsters died of lung cancer on 4 January 2009.

New version of 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 of them 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 got married in 2007. 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.

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. She was also the ITF World Junior Doubles Champion in 2002. On the professional tour, she achieved a top 400 ranking in singles and a top 250 ranking in doubles. Kim and Elke entered one doubles tournament together on the WTA Tour at the 2004 Diamond Games in Antwerp. The Clijsters sisters 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. Elke retired in 2004 at age 19 due to a back injury.

Clijsters's childhood tennis idol was Steffi Graf. 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”. She also looked up to Monica Seles as a child and viewed both Graf and Seles as role models.

In Clijsters's early career, she was in a longterm relationship with Australian tennis player Lleyton Hewitt. They met at the 2000 Australian Open and were engaged to be married before ending their relationship in late 2004. The pair entered the mixed doubles event at Wimbledon in 2000, losing in the final. Their relationship earned Clijsters the nickname "Aussie Kim" and made her popular among Australian tennis fans even after their split. When Clijsters won the 2011 Australian Open, she exclaimed she finally earned her nickname, saying, "Now you can finally call me Aussie Kim".

Information

info about coaching and broadcasting

Awards

Old version of awards

1999

• Belgian Sportswoman of the Year
• WTA Most Impressive Newcomer

2000

• Belgian Sportswoman of the Year
• Flemish Giant Award

2001

• Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (for 2000)
• Belgian Sportswoman of the Year
• Belgian National Sports Merit Award
• Flemish Giant Award

2002

• Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (for 2001)
• Belgian Sportswoman of the Year

2003

• Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (for 2002)
• Belgian Sports Personality of the Year (for 2002)
• Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown, by Royal Decree of H.M. King Albert II.

2004

• WTA Player Service Award (for 2003)
• Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (for 2003)

2005

• ITF World Champion
• WTA Tour Championships Race winner
• US Open Series Winner
• Belgian Sportswoman of the Year
• International Tennis Writers Association (ITWA) Player of the Year
• International Tennis Writers Ambassador for Tennis
• WTA Player of the Year

2006

• WTA Player of the Year (for 2005)
• WTA Comeback Player of the Year (for 2005)
• Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (for 2005)
• Member of the Belgian Sporting Team of the Year (Fed Cup – Team)
• WTA Humanitarian of the Year

2007

• Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (for 2006)

2009

• VTV Tennis Performance of the Year
• Belgian Sportswoman of the Year

2010

• Laureus World Comeback of the Year (for 2009)
• WTA Comeback Player of the Year (for 2009)
• Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (for 2009)
• Best Comeback Athlete ESPY Award (for 2009)
• VTV Tennis Performance of the Year
• Flemish Giant Award
• Belgian Sportswoman of the Year

2011

• WTA Player of the Year (for 2010)
• WTA Player Service Award (for 2010)
• Belgian Sportswoman of the Year

2012

• Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award

2013

• Doctor Honoris Causa title by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel

New version of awards

ITF awards

• World Champion: 2005

WTA awards

• Newcomer of the Year: 1999
• Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009
• Peachy Kellmeyer Player Service Award: 2003, 2006, 2010
• Comeback Player of the Year: 2005, 2009
• Player of the Year: 2005, 2010
• Humanitarian of the Year: 2006

National awards

• Belgian Sportswoman of the Year: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011
• Flemish Giant (Vlaamse Reus): 2000, 2001, 2010
• Flemish Sporting Jewel (Vlaams Sportjuweel): 2001
• Belgian National Sports Merit Award: 2001 (with Henin)
• Belgian Sports Personality of the Year: 2003
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown, by Royal Decree of H.M. King Albert II (Grootkruis in de Kroonorde): 2003 (with Henin)

International awards

• Laureus World Sports Award for Comeback of the Year: 2009

Sources

• Bodo, Peter (20 May 2010). The Clay Ran Red: Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros. Diversion. ISBN 9780984515134.
• Dewulf, Filip; de Jong, Wilfried (16 March 2013). Kim Clijsters: First and Only Official Career Overview. Cannibal Publishing. ISBN 9789491376580.
• Leonardi, Paolo (May 2002). L'épopée du tennis belge de Washer et Brichant à nos jours (in French). Le Soir.
• Rive, Joey; Williams, Scott C. (15 November 2018). Tennis Skills & Drills. Human Kinetics. ISBN 9780736083089.
• van de Winkel, Frank (May 2012). Kim Clijsters: De Biographie (in Dutch). Spectrum. ISBN 9789000306404.