Kim Clijsters

At 40 years old, Kim Clijsters has this physical status:

Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters (born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian professional tennis player.

Clijsters was the world No. 1. Since being ranked first in singles and doubles, I have been ranked in both singles and doubles for both singles and doubles since being ranked in both singles and doubles simultaneously in 2003.

She has won a total of six Grand Slam tournament titles, four in singles and two in doubles. Serena Williams, the female champion, competed in a competitive period from 1997 to 2012, including compatriot Justine Henin and 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena Williams.

Clijsters became the first Belgian male or women's tennis champions to win the No. 1 trophy in a world plagued by poor results in men's or women's tennis. The best in the world rankings are the top ones.

Belgium became the world's best-ranked players in women's tennis as the two of them led their country to their first Fed Cup crown in 2001 and were the top two players in the world in late 2003.

Clijsters also won 41 singles titles and 11 doubles titles on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour, individually.

She was a three-time champion of the WTA Tour Championships.

She competed in singles and doubles at all four Grand Slam tournaments, winning the US Open and the Australian Open in singles and doubles, as well as the French Open in doubles with Ai Sugiyama.

Her success in majors was highlighted by her three-straight appearances at the US Open. Clijsters returned from tennis in 2007 at the age of 23 to marry and have a child, plagued by injuries and having lost some of her desire to compete.

She returned to the sport two years ago and captured her second US Open championship as an unranked player in just her third tournament appearance.

She defended her name the following year and then lifted the Australian Open in 2011 en route to become the first woman to be ranked No. 1 in Australia. The WTA has ranked 1 on the list.

She also holds the longest singles titles won as a mother, with three separate titles, and was the first woman to win one since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980.

Clijsters, who had been away from competitive tennis for seven years after the 2012 US Open, has revealed she is planning another comeback in 2020. Clijsters were born to athletic parents with backgrounds in competitive football and gymnastics.

She was known for her athleticism, which was demonstrated by her ability to do splits on court in the middle of points.

She developed the offensive component of her game around controlled violence while still relying on her natural movements to become a top defensive player.

Clijsters was a hero and well-liked as a player, having won the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award eight times.

In 2017, she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Early life and background

Kim Clijsters was born in Bilzen, a small town in northeastern Belgium, on June 8th. Elke, her younger sister, was born in Bree, a Flemish province of Limburg. Kim is the niece of Lei Clijsters and Els Vandecaetsbeek, both of whom were outstanding athletes. Elsa Els was a Belgian national artistic gymnastics champion. Lei's father, Lei, was a professional football defender who competed for a number of clubs in Belgium's top-flight First Division, including KV Mechelen, with whom he captured the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1988. He was also a member of Belgium's national football team, winning 40 caps and participating in two World Cups. She is lauded by her parents for giving her a footballer's legs and a gymnast's flexibility. "I'd be where she is today if I hadn't had the help I've received from my families," she said. "They've allowed me to make my own decisions."

When Clijsters was five years old, their father built a clay tennis court at their house to honor him for his 1988 Gouden Schoen, an award given to the player of the year in the Belgian First Division. During a television interview, he had previously discussed the possibility of the award as a commemoration of the award. Clijsters began playing tennis earlier this year after attending a lesson with her cousins and uncle when her parents were away. She became fixated on the sport from then on. By the time she was seven, she and her sister were playing at the tennisdel club in Genk. Bart Van Kerckhoven, her first coach, recalled that she was adamant and never intended to leave the tennis court, and that "if the team didn't do any sprints to finish off the session, Kim would join her." After which she joined the next group for their warm-up exercises, she put her heart and soul into her own fitness session.

Clijsters first began working with Benny Vanhoudt in the more distant town of Diest at the age of nine. She and her sister trained for fifteen hours a week, with five hours of individual instruction, which Vanhoudt described as "an unbelievable number [of total hours]." She continued to work in Diest until she was twelve years old. She began working with Carl Maes and Wim Fissette, both of whom would later work with Clijsters later in their careers. Maes took over as her primary coach at the Flemish Tennis Association in Antwerp when she was thirteen.

Personal life

Brian Lynch, an American basketball coach and former athlete, has married Clijsters. Lynch played basketball at Villanova before embarking on Europe for a career. Lynch was a member of Euphony Bree, the Clijsters' team, and they quickly became friends over the fact that both had pet bulldogs. They became a couple in 2005 and married in 2007. They have three children, Jada (born 2008), and Jack (born 2013) and Blake (born 2016). The family lives in Bree and New Jersey, splitting their time there.

Elke, the Clijsters' sister who is younger by a year and a half, has also been a good tennis player. Elke won two junior Grand Slam doubles titles, like Kim. In 2002, she became the ITF World Junior Doubles Champion. She earned a top 400 ranking in singles and a top-250 ranking in doubles on the pro tour. On the WTA Tour of Antwerp, Kim and Elke competed in a doubles tournament together. They won their first match against Selima Sfar and Caroline Viss before losing to the second-seeded team of Émilie Loit and Petra Mandula in the next round. Elke retired in 2004 at the age of 19 due to persistent back pains.

She had a long-term friendship with Australian tennis player Lleyton Hewitt during Clijsters' early career. They met at the 2000 Australian Open and became involved before mutually ending their relationship in late 2004. In 2000, the pair competed in the final of a mixed doubles tournament at Wimbledon, losing in the final. Even after they broke up, Clijsters' nickname "Aussie Kim" became her nickname, making her very popular among Australian tennis fans. "Now you can officially call me Aussie Kim" after Clijsters captured the 2011 Australian Open.

Steffi Graf, Clijsters' childhood tennis idol, was a fan. "It was incredible" that she cites her lone WTA Tour match against Graf at Wimbledon in 1999 as being highly coveted, according to her. All I wanted to do was watch her. I wanted to see how she tied her shoelaces, how her ponytail, and carrying her bag. Even though I lost, the effect of that and the encouragement it gave me was overwhelming. It was definitely the best moment of my career" at this point. Both Graf and Seles were also viewed as role models, with each of them being inspired by their level of focus.

Clijsters is affiliated with several organisations that support children. Since 2010, she has been ambassador for SOS Children's Villages in Belgium. SOS helps children who are homeless and homeless families. Clijsters also founded Ten4Kim, a non-profit that helps junior tennis players who are unable to afford the fees associated with training at a high level.

Although Clijsters had resigned, she worked as a part-time coach to many players, including compatriot Elise Mertens and Yanina Wickmayer. She appeared on various occasions as a commentator at the Grand Slam tournaments, as well as for Channel 7 in Perth and Brisbane.

Source

Junior career

At a young age, Clijsters enjoyed success both nationally and internationally. She won the Belgian Junior Championships (the Coupe de Borman) in doubles with her future longtime rival Justine Henin in 1993. Clijsters were ten years old at the time, and Henin was eleven. She won the 12-and-under singles event at the same tournament a year ago. Clijsters continued to compete with Henin in the European Junior Championships as well as the 14-and-under European Junior Championships for Belgium, both in 1996 and the latter of which also with Leslie Butkiewicz. Les Petits As, a high-level 14-and-under tournament, was her first big international junior title. In the semifinals and final respectively, she defeated future top-25 players Iveta Benesová and Elena Bovina.

Clijsters competed on the ITF Junior Circuit, the ITF's premier junior tour run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF). She won her first ITF title in the Grade A Orange Bowl, one of the top-level junior tournaments, partnering with Zsófia Gubacsi at the end of 1997. Clijsters had her best year on the junior tour in 1998, with the season ranked at No. 98 in the world's highest rankings. World No. 11 in singles and world No. 1 in top. In doubles, there are 4 in doubles. Eva Dyrberg, a junior Grand Slam doubles champion, and Jelena Dokic and the US Open were both crowned, and Jelena Dokic placed second in the French Open. In the US Open doubles final, she defeated her French Open compatriot Dokic. She made it to the Wimbledon final in singles, but she came in runner-up to Katarina Srebotnik in the runner-up.

Professional career

Since the WTA Tour's rules did not prohibit players her age from receiving main draw wild cards, Clijsters could only qualify for international tournaments through qualifying. Clijsters qualified for her first main draw at her second main draw on the lower-level ITF Women's Circuit in August 1997, which was held in the Belgian coastal town of Koksijde. She won seven games in total, five in qualifying, including five in qualifying, to advance to the quarterfinals. The runner-up finish at the Wimbledon girls' singles tournament the following summer did not qualify for another professional tournament until she came back to her runner-up finish at the Wimbledon girls' singles tournament. She won both singles and doubles events for her first career titles in Brussels in July 1998. Clijsters continued to excel at the ITF level, winning four more titles within the next year, two in singles and doubles.

Clijsters debuted in 1999 with a WTA singles ranking of No. 1. The world's 420 best-420. Around this time, Belgian women's tennis was starting to flourish. Both Dominique Van Roost and Sabine Appelmans were ranked in the top 20 in the last two years, complementing Clijsters and Henin's ascension to the top 20 in the junior tour. The success of the first WTA tournament in Belgium, which was relaunched as the Flanders Women's Open in Antwerp after not being held for six years, contributed to the revival of the Belgium's only WTA tournament. After losing in the final round of qualifying, Clijsters made her WTA debut in May, and she's heading into the main draw as a lucky loser. She won her first match against Miho Saeki and advanced to the quarterfinals, where she was defeated by top seed Sarah Pitkowski despite having match points.

She entered Wimbledon as the youngest player in the top 200 one week after Clijsters turned sixteen. She made it to the round of sixteen in her Grand Slam tournament debut after barely having a high enough ranking to qualify for the qualifying draw. She defeated the world No. 1st. Amanda Coetzer was in the third round of the third round and did not lose a set until losing to Steffi Graf one round later, her first career match against her childhood idol. In the third round, the Clijsters also had a good showing at the US Open, losing to eventual champion Serena Williams after squandering a chance to play for the game. Clijsters were last seen at the Luxembourg Open in the town of Kockelscheuer, just outside the capital. She captured the title with relative ease in her fourth WTA event, owing to the smaller tournament's friendly atmosphere and the quicker court courts. She faced Van Roost in the final and only lost four games to the top-ranked Belgian, most notably. At her next tournament, the jockeys also reached the singles final in Bratislava, finishing runners-up to No. 2 in No. 98. Amélie Mauresmo is an 11-year-old girl from the Philippines. Despite this, she was able to win the doubles competition with compatriot Laurence Courtois as her partner. Clijsters was named WTA Newcomer of the Year at the end of the season, having risen to No. 1 at No. 2. The world's 47th richest nation.

Clijsters was unable to repeat her success at the Grand Slam tournaments in 2000, and she was unlikely to advance to the second round of any of the singles events. Despite this, she remained steady in the rankings, racking her to No. 1 for the first time. Two more titles have been won, one at the Tasmanian International in her first tournament of the year and the other at the Sparkassen Cup in Germany near the end of the season. Clijsters' first appearance at a Tier II tournament (the second highest level tournament) and followed up a defeat in another Tier II final to world No. 2. 1 Martina Hingis was born earlier this month. Clijsters also finished runner-up in the Wimbledon mixed doubles event with her boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt in the middle of the year.

Clijsters finally defeated Hingis in their fourth match against the world No. 1 in early 2001 at the Indian Wells Open. Tier I finalist Alison is the first player to qualify for the first time. Serena Williams came in third sets after winning the first set of the final. The match was dominated by the controversies surrounding her sister Venus's late withdrawal from the tournament for 14 years, resulting in both sisters boycotting the tournament for 14 years. Clijsters became the first Belgian to qualify for a Grand Slam singles final just a few months back at the French Open. She had defeated No. 1 at No. 3 to win. 16 Henin is in the semifinals of the closest and most high profile match to date, coming back from a set and a break down and also having saved three break points that would have put her behind 5–2 in the second set. The final will be contested between the Australian Open champion and the World No. 1. Jennifer Capriati was a much closer match. Clijsters won the first set but lost the second a day after her 18th birthday. She was defeated 12-10 in the deciding set after a French Open final record of 22 games and 2 hours 21 minutes. According to Tennis.com, the match was ranked as the best French Open women's final in Open Era history. Clijsters are expected to reach at least the quarterfinals at each of the next three major championships. She appeared in her first Grand Slam doubles final at Wimbledon later this year, with Ai Sugiyama as her partner. She won three singles titles in 2001, including her second appearances at both the Luxembourg Open and the Sparkassen Cup, as well as her second title at No. 3 in the national championships. The United States is ranked No. 5 in the world. She was also ranked No. 1 in total, with four doubles finals in total. At the end of the year, there were 15 in doubles.

Despite battling with an ongoing shoulder injury in the first half of the year, the Clijsters retained their top ten ranking in 2002. In her first match since being in the French Open finals, her best showing at a Grand Slam appearance came at the Australian Open, where she lost in a three-set match to Cantoni in the semifinals. Despite this, she climbed to No. 1 in the rankings, and she stayed there until she topped the charts to No. 1. She was at number 3 by March, her highest ranking for the season. Despite the fact that Clijsters did not make it to another Grand Slam quarterfinal this year, she did win three more titles leading up to the year-end WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles. She received her third invitation to the tournament, where only the top 16 players in the world are allowed entry. After losing only six games in the first three rounds, including a win over Henin in the quarterfinals and a retiree due to injury from Venus Williams in the semifinals, the Clijsters made it to the final with a tense feeling. Serena Williams, who had a 544-4 record on the season and had won the last three majors of the year, was her opponent in the final. Although Serena had won their first five matches and was considered a long shot, the Clijsters overcame Serena in straight sets to win the championship. "This is the best victory of my career," she said after the tournament.

"annus mirabilis" in Clijsters' 2003 season. She competed in 21 singles events, progressing to the semifinals in all but one of them, as well as winning nine titles. She became the first woman to win 90 games since Martina Navratilova in 1982 and the first female player to play more than 100 matches since Chris Evert in 1974. In addition, the Clijsters maintained a good doubles program, compiling a total of 170 matches from both sports. She competed for seven titles in thirteen tournaments throughout the year, winning seven titles. The two teams met each other eight matches this season, with the last six of which were in finals. Five of her ten finals were against Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suárez's team. Clijsters became the first Belgian world No. 1 after her triumph, becoming the first Belgian world No. 1. In August, the top singles or doubles will be crowned, with both achieving both feats in August.

Clijsters began her singles season by defeating Lindsay Davenport over her third consecutive title. She extended her tour win streak to 17 matches on record before being defeated by Serena Williams in an Australian Open semifinal where she had a 5–1 advantage in the third set as well as two match points on serve. "The only thing I regret a little bit is those two double fudges [to start the game at 5:4], she said later. At the end, I could tell she was really trying to get back to the basics, and that she was hitting the balls more often, with almost no unforced errors at all." Williams won the title to complete her "Serena Slam" series. Clijsters returned from defeat in the final of her two tournaments to win her first Tier I title at the Indian Wells Open. She defeated Davenport in the final like in Sydney. In May, she defeated No. 4 in a Tier I title on clay at the Italian Open in May. Amélie Mauresmo, a student at the University of On the second set, she had a chance to compete for the match.

Both Clijsters and Henin reached the final at the French Open, guaranteeing that the winner will be the first Belgian Grand Slam singles champion. Henin had won their first match at the German Open in 2003, which was also their first time on clay. Although both players had match points in Germany, Henin won in Paris in a lopsided contest in which she only lost four games. Clijsters won two Tier II titles at the Stanford Classic and the Los Angeles Open after losing in the semifinals to Venus Williams. She won the world No. 2 for the second time in two separate titles. In part, the top-ranked Serena Williams had not been on tour since Wimbledon due to a knee injury. She was the first female to win No. 1 in the United States. There is no one who has ever won a Grand Slam singles title. The Clijsters regained top spot in doubles the following week, becoming only the fifth player in WTA history to finish No. 1. Singles and doubles can be played simultaneously. Clijsters also lost in straight sets to Henin in the final after being the top seed in the US Open. Clijsters had been rated as the favorite going into the competition following her appearance in the preliminary rounds and Henin's long semifinal match the day before. Henin's popularity helped him to No. 1 in the world. In the world, the two best in the world are the world's best-ranked players.

Clijsters were battling Henin for the top spot in the season's last stage. In the final of the Tennis Grand Prix in Filderstadt, Clijsters defeated Henin to keep her title and her world No. 1. According to the number one ranking, it is ranked number one. This was the eighth time in WTA history that the top two players in the world met for the top ranking. Despite the fact that Clijsters dropped to Henin the following week, the woman regained the title a week later by winning the Luxembourg Open for the third year in a row. She finished her season by defending her WTA Tour Championships in the first year, when the tournament moved to a round robin format in the first year. Mauresmo, Elena Dementieva, and Chanda Rubin were swept by the Clijsters. She won her semifinal against Capriati before defeating Mauresmo for the title. Clijsters won the million dollar grand prize last season and became the first player to earn four million dollars in a season on the WTA Tour. Nonetheless, Henin was the year's No. 1 in the United States. By advancing on her results from the previous season, she has risen to the top of the charts.

Clijsters and Sugiyama received three titles on hard courts in the first three seasons. Despite this, they did not win any major titles in May, losing in the Australian Open quarterfinals to the Williams sisters and runners-up in their first two Tier I finals. They qualified in the French Open and Wimbledon and made it to the finals of both events. In both finals for Clijsters' first two Grand Slam tournament titles, Clijsters and Sugiyama defeated top seeds Ruano Pascual and Suarez. The French Open final was a closer match, with 9–7 ending in the third set. Despite these titles, the pair remained ranked behind Ruano Pascual and Suarez in the rankings until August, when Clijsters became the world No. 1 in the world. 1. She remained at the top of the charts for four weeks in a row. The two competitors were among the top seeds in the US Open but they were disqualified in the second round due to rain, which caused the cancellation of Sugiyama's fourth round singles match for three days. They ended the season by finishing runners-up to Ruano Pascual and Suarez at the WTA Tour Championships. Despite Clijsters' success in 2003, she rarely played doubles during the remainder of her career.

Despite the fact that the Clijsters maintained their form into 2004, her season was then marred by injuries. Since breaking her left ankle in the Hopman Cup, she was concerned she would need surgery and missing the Australian Open. Despite aggravating her ankle injury in the quarterfinals, she still played at the tournament and reached the championship match without missing a single set. Henin was the finalist in the final, and Clijsters was able to win a set despite their previous two Grand Slam finals. With Henin down a break at 4:3 in the third set, the chair umpire mistakenly overruled a line call on a break point that would have leveled the game. Henin ended up winning the game and the match. "I'm just as angry as after the last two grand slam [finals]," Clijsters said afterwards, "but I did a lot better this time." She claimed her first two tournaments in February, including the Diamond Games in Antwerp, where she earned her first WTA title in her home country. She played in two more WTA events the remainder of the season after Clijsters were banned from the Indian Wells Open after one match with a torn left wrist tendon. With a wrist brace, she returned to the WTA Tour six weeks later, but she had to cancel after one match. She found out in June that she would need surgery to remove a cyst in her wrist. As a result, she was left out of the Hasselt Cup in Belgium, where she had to retire in her third match.

Since it was not certain that she would be able to play, there were few hopes about Clijsters going into 2005. After missing the Australian Open in February, she returned to the tour in February. Clijsters won both Tier I and the Miami Open in March, becoming the second woman to complete the Sunshine Double after Steffi Graf in 1994 and 1996. She defied the world No. 1. 1 Lindsay Davenport of Indian Wells qualified, as well as No. 4 and No. 10. 2 Amélie Mauresmo and No. No. Maria Sharapova was third in her last two matches in Miami. These titles have boosted her rankings from outside the top 100 to the top 20. Clijsters was unable to carry on her success into the clay or grass court seasons, winning only one title and losing in third round in three sets to Davenport at both the French Open and Wimbledon.

Clijsters lost one more match until early October after Wimbledon in late June. She won five titles, including her third Stanford Classic and her fifth Luxembourg Open, during this stretch. In the final of the Tier I Canadian Open, she continued her 22-match winning streak and beat Henin in the final of the season. The US Open, the first Grand Slam singles title of the season, was the Clijsters' most coveted event of the season. She was not tested until the quarterfinals, when Venus Williams was two games away from defeating her at a set and a break up. The Clijsters won the match in three sets and then defeated the top seed and world No. 1 in three sets. 2 Sharapova defeated Sharapova in the semifinals, as well as in three sets. Despite her previous appearances in Grand Slam singles finals, she defeated No. 3 herself in the championship. Mary Pierce played with a smile, only conceding four games. Clijsters received double the normal amount of prize money as the champion of the US Open Series. At the time, her $2.2 million award was the most significant in women's sports history. The WTA Tour Championships was the year's final tournament of the year. Despite the fact that she had a chance to return to No. 1 by No. 2, she had a chance to reclaim to No. 1. 1 If she descended on the top-ranked Davenport, she only won one match and did not progress to the top of the standings. She was ranked No. 1 in the year 2000 and finished fifth. 2, who has gained a tour-best nine titles as well as all of her finals. She has been named both the WTA Player of the Year and the WTA Comeback Player of the Year. Despite this success, Clijsters revealed in August that she was planning to resign in 2007 due to her injury problems.

Clijsters had a number of injuries during the 2006 season. She appeared in 14 tournaments, but she skipped the US Open as well as the Fed Cup final. Despite qualifying in the semifinals at three other Grand Slam singles tournaments, she was unable to progress to another final. The Sydney International with hip and back problems ended the Clijsters' first tournament of the year. Although she recovered from those injuries in time to advance to the semifinals at the Australian Open, she had to recover from the game as well as break the third set against Amélie Mauresmo. Despite losing in the quarterfinals, the Clijsters regained the No. 2 position. According to the 1st place in the world's top tenets. She remained at the top of the charts until mid-March. Clijsters returned to Mauresmo as runner-up to the Diamond Games, but she had to pull out from the Indian Wells Open due to the same ankle injury. Henin's latest rivalry in this season lasted until she was healthy enough to play a regular schedule during the clay and grass court seasons. In the semifinals of three straight events, including the French Open and Wimbledon, she defeated Clijsters.

Clijsters won her fourth Stanford Classic and finished runner-up to Maria Sharapova at the Tier I San Diego Classic during the US Open Series. However, her summer season came to an end when she collapsed on her left wrist in her first round match at the Canadian Open. She was out before late October due to her injury. She won her second straight title at the Hasselt Cup on her return to the city. Clijsters were ranked No. 2 in the WTA Tour Championships, and they were ranked No. 1. She was ranked fifth in the world, where all three other players she was grouped with were Russian. Despite losing to her team's top seed, Sharapova, she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva to advance. Her season came to an end in the semifinals, where she lost to world No. 1. 1 Mauresmo.

Clijsters had hoped to retire at the end of the season but they were unable to participate in five tournaments due to injuries. In her first tournament, the Sydney International, she claimed her first title of the year. The Australian Open was the season's first Grand Slam event. She failed in the semifinals for the second time in a row, this time to top seed Sharapova. The Diamond Games in Belgium was her last tournament in Belgium, where she came in second place. Clijsters' remaining schedule was interrupted due to a hip injury. Julia Vakulenko, a qualifier for the Miami Open in March, lost to Li Na in the fourth round of the Miami Open in March and had lost to Li Na in her first two tournaments, as well as qualifier Julia Vatin in her first match at the Warsaw Open in May. Samantha Stosur beat her in Miami for her last match. Clijsters announced her resignation at the age of 23, just a few days after losing in Warsaw. She does not intend to finish the season.

Brian Lynch, a basketball player, married basketball player Brian Lynch a few months after Clijsters' retirement. She gave birth to a daughter in early 2008, less than two months after her father, Leo Clijsters, was diagnosed with lung cancer. In January 2009, he died 12 months later. "The birth of Jada was the best moment of my life," Clijsters said, but it also taught me a lesson because we knew that my Dad was terminally ill." I knew that a new life had been born, but that a few months later, another life would have ended. "It was a trying time in our lives."

It was revealed that Clijsters would exhibit against Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi in May, nearly two months after her father's death. Clijsters said in March that she wanted to come out of retirement and was inspired by her "training program from [her] pro days" to prepare for the Wimbledon exhibition. "I am looking at this as a second career, not as a comeback," she said, "I am considering this as a second career, not as a comeback because not everything revolves around tennis 24 hours a day." Both Clijsters and Henman won the exhibition doubles, and Clijsters also defeated Graf in singles. "I wanted to look good here on court," she said. And I've loved it. This is the pleasure that was lacking at the end of my first career. "Now I have my energy back."

Clijsters needed wild cards to start her recovery after being ranked in no way. She has applied for the Cincinnati Open, the Canadian Open, and the US Open. Clijsters defeated three top 20 opponents, including No. 107, in her return to Cincinnati. 6 Svetlana Kuznetsova, a woman who has fought to No. 1, before losing to the world No. 1. In the quarterfinals, Dinara Safina will meet in the United Kingdom. She defeated No. 2 in Canada in her second top-ten victory over No. 1 in the world. 9 Victoria Azarenka. Clijsters were still unranked in the US Open, because players needed three tour events to have a ranking at the time. Nonetheless, she made it to the final, outperforming both Williams sisters, No. 6. 3 Venus and No. No. 63 in the fourth round, and No. 96 in the No. 4. Serena 2 in the semifinals. Venus defeated Venus in a close third set after they split the first two 6–0. Serena's victory in straight sets was overshadowed by her opponent's decision to use a line judge word for verbally insulting a line judge. The Clijsters were then beaten by No. 98. Caroline Wozniacki wins her second US Open Championship. She was the first woman to win the event and the first mother to win a Grand Slam singles title since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980. With the name, she climbed to the top of the WTA charts at No. 1. 19. The Luxembourg Open, where she lost her second match in the year's only other tournament of the year, was where she lost her second match. For the second time in her career, she received the WTA Comeback Player of the Year award at the end of the season.

Clijsters planned a limited schedule for 2010 to remain on her family's work, but they ended up playing just eleven tournaments. She won the Brisbane International in her first tournament of the year, barely beating Henin in a third set tiebreak in Henin's first tournament back from her own retirement. She was one of the top performers in the Australian Open, but No. 67 disqualified her. 19 Nadia Petrova in the third round, with only winning one game out of all of them. The Clijsters did not return to the tour until March. For the second time, she lifted the Miami Open for the second time after suffering early in the Indian Wells Open. She lost in the semifinals to Henin, who was defeated in a third set tiebreak. In the final against Venus Williams, she only lost three games. Clijsters tore a muscle in her left foot, preventing her from competing in the French Open during the clay court season. Despite returning to Wimbledon, Vera Zvonareva had been dissatisfied with her result over Henin in the quarterfinals.

Clijsters competed in just four tournaments in the last half of the year. She claimed the Cincinnati Open in the United States Open Series, the tournament where she returned from retirement a year ago. She was disqualified in the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open by Zvonareva because of a thigh injury. Nonetheless, Clijsters fought back to defend her title at the US Open. She defeated three top-ten players in No. 3 in the last three rounds. Samantha Stosur, No. 6 No. Venus Williams, No. 4, and No. 1 No. 8 Vera Zvonareva. Venus came nearest to ending her title defense but lost in three sets after taking two double faults in the second set tiebreak, which might have ruined her the match. In less than an hour, the Clijsters won the final over Zvonareva. This was her third straight appearance at the US Open and the fourth time she made it to the championship match after being disqualified four times since 2003. The WTA Tour Championships, Clijsters' last game of the season, where she qualified for the seventh time. Despite losing in her last round robin match to Zvonareva, she advanced to the knockout rounds and defeated No. 1 in No. 69. 5 Stosur and the world No. 1 are the best in the world. 1 Caroline Wozniacki for her third title at the year-end championships. The Clijsters ended the season at No. 1. For the second time, she was named WTA Player of the Year.

Clijsters knew she wanted to retire in 2012 by the time her daughter was in school but she didn't want to be on the tour. Despite winning the first five games of the tournament, she began the season at Sydney International, where she finished runner-up to Li Na in straight sets. The two also met in the final of their forthcoming tournament, the Australian Open. Despite losing in the first set, Clijsters won the tournament for the fourth time and first outside of the United States Open. This will be the last of Clijsters' career. At her upcoming WTA event, Petra Kvitová defeated her in the finals, she reached the Paris Open, where she was defeated by Petra Kvitová. Nevertheless, this achievement helped the Clijsters regained the world No. 1. Before Caroline Wozniacki, it was the top-ranking before she took it back a week later. Clijsters were limited by a variety of injuries throughout the season and only appeared in five more tournaments. Due to a shoulder injury, she was forced to pull out of a fourth round match at the Indian Wells Open. The French Open was the first clay court appearance she attended as a result of a right ankle injury while dancing at a wedding in April. She was dissatisfied in the second round of the year's second Grand Slam tournament. Arantxa Rus lost two match points in the second set after struggling to convert two match points. Aggravating that ankle injury at her next appearance, she was forced to postpone Wimbledon. Clijsters returned to the Canadian Open, where she suffered an abdominal injury that kept her out the remainder of the season.

In her last year on the WTA Tour, Clijsters was unable to recover. She returned to the Brisbane International Tour for the first week of the season. She needed to withdraw in the semifinals due to hip spasms, which was a precautionary measure to brace for the Australian Open. Clijsters qualified to the semifinals as the year's first Grand Slam champion. She defeated No. 2 in the fourth round for the fourth time. Li Na is 5 in a rematch of the 2011 final. In the second set tiebreak, she overcame rolling her ankle in the first set and saved four match points at 6–2 for the second time in three sets. After the Clijsters defeated the world No. 1st, they became the only one to win. Caroline Wozniacki lost to No. 1 in the quarterfinals. In another three-set match, Victoria Azarenka defeated 3 Victoria Azarenka. Both her hip and ankle continued to ache after the tournament, prompting her to miss the clay court season. Clijsters' last WTA tournaments of the season came after playing once in March and returning in mid-June. She lost in the fourth round at Wimbledon to No. No. 10. 8 Angelique Kerber is only winning two games out of a row. The clouts were first to win a match since the 2003 final, and they were ranked in the US Open. In the first round, she defeated Victoria Duval in the WTA singles match before losing to Laura Robson in her next match. With a second-round mixed doubles loss alongside Bob Bryan to the eventual champions of Ekaterina Makarova and Bruno Soares, who have officially retired at that time.

Clijsters returned to competitive tennis at the Dubai Tennis Championships in February 2020 as a wildcard after more than seven years of retirement. In the first round, the Clijsters lost to Australian Open runner-up Garbi Muguruza. She continued her wildcard to lose in the first round to Johanna Konta in two sets. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak from March to July, no tournaments were held. At the inaugural Top Seed Open in singles and doubles with Sabine Lisicki, the clejsters had wildcards. Both singles and doubles were disqualified from both singles and doubles. In the first round to Ekaterina Alexandrova in three sets, the Clijsters next played in the US Open on a main draw wildcard. The Clijsters underwent knee surgery in October and did not qualify for another tournament in 2020.

The 2021 Miami Open claimed that she did not feel ready to compete after her recovery and contracting COVID-19 in January. She played in her first tournament of the year at the Chicago Fall Tennis Classic, despite accepting a wildcard, but she lost in three sets to Hsieh Su-Wei in the first round. Kirsten Flipkens, the partner, was in the doubles draw as well, but they failed in the first round. Clijsters then competed in postponed Indian Wells Masters, drew Kate Siniaková, and lost in three sets in the first round. Clijsters competed for World TeamTennis in 2021, aligned with the New York Empire.

Clijsters had only been able to play five games in the two years she had been back to action after many tournaments were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Clijsters retold her comeback and announced that she would no longer be interested in family life on April 12, 2022.

Career statistics

Sources: ITF profile and WTA profile

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