Kim Clijsters is making her professional tennis comeback at 36 and fans are skeptical – but they shouldn’t be. Clijsters is known for being a four-time major winner, and for her sensational flexibility and speed on the court. She was criticized early on in her career for having a weak hit, but she quickly proved that what she lacked in impact power, she more than made up for in personal endurance.
“There are times during the U.S. Open when I think, ‘No way, that’s not where I’m going to be able to get to’ because it just looks like they’re hitting the ball so much harder,” Clijsters said in an interview with the WTA Insider Podcast. “But I’ve always had that in me. I always saw everybody as, ‘Oh my God, they move so well’ or they hit the ball so hard or they have so much variety in their game,” she said. “And then when I stood across from them I felt OK. It actually doesn’t feel as hard, the ball doesn’t feel as powerful as when I saw it on TV or something.”
Clijsters first retired after she won her first U.S. Open tournament in 2005 to start a family, however, she just couldn’t stay away from the game, and returned to play 18 months after her daughter was born. In 2009 she took home her second U.S. Open win beating both Serena and Venus Williams, two of the greatest tennis players of all time. After that, she went on to take two more major wins, ranking her at number 1 in the nation before she would hang up her racket yet again in 2012 to continue growing her family.
Clijsters now has two sons, who are 5 and 2, and after being away from the game for seven years to raise the two infants, she’s ready to jump back in yet again. Clijsters said that now with her youngest in nursery school, she’s had more free time on her hands that she’s filled with training and general exercise. Through returning to some of her old tennis training techniques, Clijsters realized that her desire to be on the court was far from over. Fitness went from being her break from motherhood, to a growing hobby that reminded her of her past life, so she decided to go for it.
When athletes choose to come out of retirement, specifically female athletes, there’s a major stigma that they’re too “old” and “washed” to still have the same level of skill they once did. Playing tennis above the age of 30 for a woman was blasphemous just a decade ago.
However, with the likes of the Williams sisters being the face of athleticism AND two of the best tennis players of all time, both while in their 30’s and going strong, people are forgetting about the traditional ways of thinking.
Clijsters couldn’t care less herself about the public backlash she might receive for not being at the top of her game, but she did have her concerns when it came to her children. Her three kids are all under the age of 12, so an increase in media attention on their mother, might be very impactful for them.
“Of course you’re going to have the whole media in your face. That was, to me, the toughest part about it. I know that I can handle it, but the kids, that’s a different story. Our life is very easy and simple right now. It’s not just my life that is going to change. But then obviously I talked about it with my husband and with the team and then with Steve Simon from the WTA about being able to just hold off as much as possible to protect the children.”
Clijsters also emphasized in her WTA podcast interview that she really was making this decision for herself and herself only.
“The love for the sport is obviously still there. But the question still is, am I capable of bringing it to a level where I would like it to be at and where I want it to be at before I want to play at a high level of one of the best women’s sports in the world. I don’t feel like I need to prove anything, but I want to challenge myself and I want to be strong again. This is my marathon.”
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
