After her latest 20-month-long attempt to resume her career never took flight, tennis legend Kim Clijsters has decided to officially announce a definite end to her participation in tennis tournaments.
The former world No.1 Clijsters started the third leg of her illustrious tennis career in February 2020, at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, but the Belgian was never able to find her rhythm, partly because of injuries, lack of form, and health issues, and partly because the COVID-19 disrupted the WTA calendar.
The last tournament the Tennis Hall of Famer played was the BNP Paribas Open in October 2021, where she lost to Katerina Siniakova in the first round. In total, Clijsters’ third comeback included just five matches, all of which were first-round exits.
On her official Facebook page, Clijsters explained on Friday:
I want to share with you that I have decided to no longer play official tournaments. I can’t wait to see what new adventures will cross my path. Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the past two years.
The 38-year-old Clijsters has realized that she can’t dedicate herself to tennis enough to be able to play competitively. Her family has recently moved from Belgium to New Jersey and she’s busy driving her children to school and back, overseeing homework, cooking, and doing other housework. Even though she has had several proposals to be a part-time coach, Clijsters declined them all, opting to focus on her daughter Jada’s basketball career.
My all time favourite tennis player.