Kim Clijsters wins US open

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Twenty six-year-old Belgian tennis star Kim Clijsters, playing on a wild card invitation from the United States Tennis Association, stunned the tennis world by making a comeback after motherhood and winning the grand slam.

CJ: Manven

Tue, Sep 15, 2009 13:34:06 IST

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EIGHTEEN MONTH old Jada, witnessed history being created by her mother at New York City's Arthur Ashe Stadium in the Women Singles Final at the US Open. Her mother Kim Clijsters defeated Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets by 7-5, 6-3 in an hour and 33 minutes.

The history of a mother winning a grand slam has repeated itself after a long 29 years. Australia's Evonne Goolagong Cawley had done this previously, when she won the 1980 Wimbledon Championships and the Venus Rosewater Dish. Wimbledon is played on the grass court, so this was an exclusive achievement on the blue cement court.

Clijster’s victory after motherhood may not be the most remarkable, but success in tennis has broadly eluded mothers due to the need hectic travelling across the globe, to gather points and qualify in the major tournaments.

The exception to this can only be the legendary Aussie Margaret Court who retired from the game at 24 to get married. By then she had won thirteen grand slam titles. She returned a year later in 1968 and won all four slam titles in the year.

Kim Clijsters was born on 8 June 1983, in Bilzen, Belgium. Her father Lei Clijsters was a successful football player and mother Els Vandecaetsbeek was a former gymnastics champion. This gene combination gave her both the strength of a footballer and the flexibility of a gymnast.

She started her professional career in the senior circuit in 1999. Comebacks are not new to her. In the year 2004, she had problems with her wrist and eventually went for surgery, forcing her to withdraw from most tournaments. The next year she returned to win the 2005 US Open, beating Mary Pierce, Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova.

On May 6, 2007, citing injuries, Clijsters announced that she was retiring from professional tennis on her official website. Later, on July 13, 2007, she secretly married American basketball player Brian Lynch to whom she was engaged. She gave birth to her daughter, Jada Ellie on Feb 27 next year.

In May 2009, Clijsters, along with Tim Henman, Steffi Graf, and Andre Agassi, played in an exhibition event on Wimbledon's Centre Court and returned to the tennis world.

She was out of active play since 2007 and had entered the tournament unranked through a wild card entry but, easily moved through the women's field, beating both Williams sisters en route to her second major title. This victory after two and a half year of rest, has rocketed Clijsters up the women's tennis rankings to 19th spot.

In Sunday’s final both players were struggling with their rhythm. Towards the end of the opening set, Wozniacki had her chances. When Wozniacki served for the opening set at 5-4, she reached 30-15. At that stage, Clijsters proved to be more fast than her to break the service holding the opponent at 30.

In the next game, Clijsters was 15-40 down, but she saved those two break points. When Wozniacki served to stay in the set, she could not even win a point on her serve and the Belgian excelled. The second set was more straightforward for Clijsters. The rest is the history.

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