Kim Clijsters

Kim Clijsters IPA {{IPA|/k?m kl?ist?rs/}} {{Audio|Nl-be kim clijsters.ogg|listen}} , (born on June 8, 1983, Bilzen, Belgium) is a former World No. 1 tennis player from Belgium. She achieved that ranking on 11 august, 2003 but subsequently lost it to fellow Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne.

Tennis career

Clijsters was an accomplished junior player. In 1998, she was the runner-up in the Wimbledon junior singles event. She also won the French Open junior doubles event with Jelena Dokic and the US Open junior doubles event with Eva Dyrberg, and finished the year ranked number 11 in singles and number 4 in doubles in the ITF junior world rankings.

Related Topics:
1998 - Wimbledon - French Open - Jelena Dokic - US Open - Eva Dyrberg - ITF

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In 1999, Clijsters made the breakthrough into the senior ranks of women's tennis. At Wimbledon, she played through the qualifying rounds to make the main draw and beat Amanda Coetzer en route to the fourth round, where she lost to her childhood idol Steffi Graf. Later that summer, Clijsters reached the third round of the US Open, where at one stage she served for the match against, but ultimately lost to, the eventual champion Serena Williams. In the autumn of 1999, Clijsters won her first WTA singles title at Luxembourg, and then her first WTA doubles title at Bratislava, partnering with Laurence Courtois.

Related Topics:
1999 - Amanda Coetzer - Steffi Graf - US Open - Serena Williams - WTA - Luxembourg - Bratislava

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She climbed her way up the rankings over the next couple of years. She reached her first Grand Slam final at the 2001 French Open, where she lost an extremely close match to Jennifer Capriati by a score of 12-10 in the final set. Her next important breakthrough came at the end of 2002, when she won the year-end WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles, scoring a huge win in the final over the world number one at the time, Serena Williams.

Related Topics:
Grand Slam - 2001 - Jennifer Capriati - 2002 - WTA Tour Championships - Los Angeles

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Clijsters had the most successful year of her career so far in 2003. She won nine tournaments that year, including the WTA championships, reached two Grand Slam finals at the French Open and the US Open, losing on both occasions to her compatriot Justine Henin-Hardenne, and was ranked number one in the world for several weeks, although she eventually finished the season at number two behind Henin-Hardenne.

Related Topics:
2003 - Justine Henin-Hardenne

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Clijsters started 2004 by reaching her fourth Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, where she lost again to Henin-Hardenne; and then went on a very successful run where she won two titles at the Paris and Antwerp. Unfortunately, Clijsters then began to have injury problems with her wrist, which eventually required surgery and forced her to withdraw from the rest of the 2004 Grand Slam tournaments.

Related Topics:
2004 - Australian Open - Paris - Antwerp

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In February 2005, after almost a year of inactivity caused by injuries, she made her return to the WTA tour by participating in her home country tournament at Antwerp. She then completed a stunning comeback to the top echelon of tennis when she won, as an unseeded player, 14 straight matches against world's top players to claim two Tier I titles (Indian Wells and Miami) in March, 2005.

Related Topics:
2005 - Antwerp

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Clijsters has won 28 singles titles in her career so far. Two of those came at the prestigious year-ending WTA Tour Championships, affirming the fact that she is quite capable of winning a tournament featuring only the top eight women players in the world.

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Clijsters finally got the Grand Slam monkey off her back when she won the 2005 US Open. Clijsters defeated Mary Pierce 6-3, 6-1 in the finals, winning 2.2 million USD ? the largest payday in women's sports history. Her actual winnings from the US open were 1.1 million USD, but because of her #1 ranking in the USTA in 2005, she received a 100% bonus from the association. Along the way, Clijsters defeated both Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova. Clijsters is considered by her peers as one of the most likeable players on the WTA Tour. Her Grand Slam title dispels past criticisms that being "too nice" has prevented her from ever winning a major.

Related Topics:
Mary Pierce - Venus Williams - Maria Sharapova - WTA - Grand Slam

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On September 15, 2005, it was announced that the cooperation between Clijsters and her coach Marc De Hous would come to an end. De Hous had brought her during the three years they worked together, to the number one spot on the WTA ranking, two Masters titles and a Grand Slam victory but thought it to be time to do something else. Clijsters will take no new coach but will continue on her own.

Related Topics:
September 15 - 2005 - Marc De Hous

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Clijsters has reportedly said that she will play for another two years at most because of the toll that tennis has taken on her body.

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Coaches

• 1992-1996: Bart Van Kerckhove; he saw Clijsters as an 11 year old and was certain she would make it as a top 10 player in the world.
• 1996-2002: Carl Maes
• 2002-2005: Marc Dehous