She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in He played 40 times for his country. He passed away in January Her mother, Els, was a top gymnast in Belgium. She also has a younger sister, Elke Clijsters , a former top 30 junior, who peaked at No in singles and No in doubles on the professional tour.
Clijsters is married to Brian Lynch, an American basketball coach and former player. The two were married in and have three children — daughter Jada was born in , followed by two sons Jack — born in — and Blake — born in We are grateful that we can be together as a family. We have great admiration for everyone on the frontline — the doctors, nurses, medical staff — who are working so hard. She first reached the No 1 spot in singles on August 11, , and became the first Belgian player to attain the No 1 ranking.
She has spent a total of 20 weeks at the top of the singles rankings throughout her career. She spent 19 weeks at No 1 in her first career and returned to No 1 for one week on February 14, — making her the only mother to hold the top spot since computer rankings began in November In doubles, she first achieved the No 1 ranking on August 4, , and was No 1 for a total of four weeks.
She is one of only six women to simultaneously hold the No 1 ranking in both singles and doubles. Her current ranking and ranking history are available on her WTA Tour profile page. Clijsters has won a total of six Grand Slam tournament titles, four in singles and two in doubles. After losing the first four Grand Slam singles finals she contested, Clijsters won her first major at the US Open beating Mary Pierce in the final.
Will Kim Clijsters be back in the winners circle next year? Along with Margaret Court, she also holds the record for most Grand Slam singles titles won as a mother three. Clijsters has won 41 WTA singles titles in her career so far. She has also won 11 WTA doubles titles. You can find her updated prize money stats on her WTA Tour profile page. Clijsters led countrywoman Justine Henin in their career head-to-head battles. The two played doubles together as juniors and won the Belgian Junior Championships in doubles when they were 10 and 11 years old respectively.
Clijsters led their head-to-head on hardcourt , while Henin led the same on clay , and on grass Henin also won seven of their 11 meetings in tournament finals, including all three at Grand Slam tournaments. Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters was a complicated rivalry that started when they were kids.
We re-lived it on the TennisPodcast. Clijsters was very popular and well-liked as a player — known to be one of the friendliest players among her peers.
In , Clijsters was the runner-up in the junior Wimbledon tournament. As Clijsters' career took off, her father played a pivotal role in her career by taking care of his daughter 's contracts and finances. He also helped her mental game, though because of his lack of tennis knowledge, his role was limited.
Clijsters was ranked th in the world in In , Clijsters began appearing on the WTA tour, though she still primarily competed in challenger and satellite tournaments. She was only 16 years old. In , Clijsters began winning tournaments on the WTA tour. This event also marked the first time two Belgians played each other in a WTA event final. Clijsters made some progress in grand slams in After competing as a qualifier, she reached the fourth round of Wimbledon.
There, Clijsters lost to her former idol, Steffi Graf, , Clijsters saw the match as significant in her career. She told John Roberts of the Independent , "The honor of being one of the last players to play Steffi is my best memory of That meant so much to me.
Open, where she came close to defeating Serena Williams, who later won the title. Clijsters had shown she could compete with the best. She finished the year ranked number In , Clijsters played in 16 WTA tour events, winning two. One victory came in Leipzig, Germany. She also had some success in grand slams, albeit in mixed doubles. She reached the finals of Wimbledon mixed doubles with then boyfriend and Australian champion men's player Lleyton Hewitt.
The couple became engaged in , but ended their relationship in In addition, she reached the quarter finals of the WTA championship tournament. Clijsters also played for Belgium in the Fed Cup for the first time, a tradition that would continue at least through By the end of , Clijsters was ranked 18th in the world. Over the next two years, Clijsters continued to improve and nearly won her first grand slam. Clijsters also reached the quarterfinals of the U. That same year, she competed in the finals of the French Open.
Though she nearly upset her opponent, Jennifer Capriati, Clijsters lost in the end. However, by reaching the finals of the French Open, she became the first Belgian woman to reach a Grand Slam final.
Along the way to the finals, Clijsters had to defeat country-woman Justine Henin in the semi-finals. This match made tennis popular again in Belgium, with Clijsters representing the Flemish side of the country, and Henin, the French-speaking side. The pair claimed they were friends to the public, but actually had a growing rivalry. In , Clijsters won the WTA tour championship event as well as three other titles. That same year, she signed a sponsorship deal with Fila.
By this time she was one the top five women in the world. Clijsters won the most titles of her young career in She won nine titles that year, including a repeat victory at the WTA tour championship.
She also had success competing in doubles. Clijsters won the Wimbledon women's double title with Ai Sugiyama. This was one of seven women's doubles titles Clijsters won that year.
Clijsters also began working with a new coach, Marc Dehous. Her track record in singles grand slams was less impressive in She reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open, facing Serena Williams. Though Clijsters nearly won the match, she eventually lost to Williams. Clijsters lost badly, , At Wimbledon, Clijsters lost in three sets to Venus Williams in the semi-finals. While Clijsters reached the finals of the U. Open, she lost to Henin-Hardenne again, , Clijsters knew that she had to improve her mental preparation at such events and become more selective at events she played in before slams, but claimed she did not have a problem with Henin-Hardenne.
Clijsters told Scott Gullan of the Herald Sun , "That's always something that they're going to keep saying, if you lose against her. I definitely don't think [it is the case]. In those matches I knew where the problem was laying and I knew it wasn't psychological. At the end of , Clijsters was the number-two-ranked woman in the world. She had even spent some time at number one in August of , knocking off long-time number one Serena Williams. When the first grand slam of came around, however, Clijsters found herself in a now familiar position.
She reached the finals of the Australian Open, again playing Henin-Hardenne. Clijsters lost again, but had been suffering from ankle problems throughout the tournament. She did put up a better fight, losing , , Some commentators believe that Clijsters' sunny demeanor contributed to her failing to win big events. Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated wrote, "The knock on Clijsters has been that her sweet nature exacted a price on her tennis, a sport that all but requires streaks of self-absorption and nastiness.
Clijsters never fully recovered in She won only two events, in Antwerp and Paris, mostly because the year was filled with injury. Clijsters had wrist problems after tearing a tendon in March.
She continued to play for a while, but did not do well. Clijsters had surgery in June to remove a cyst from her wrist, but it did not help. She tried to play again in October, but the wrist was re-injured.
Clijsters did not play for about eight months and there was some uncertainty over if she could have a career again. Clijsters told John Roberts of the Independent , "There were days when the doctors said, 'It's going to be very tough for you to reach the same level again. You just have to be patient. You just try to think positive. Clijsters did not play in tournaments again until February of She rebounded in with a new attitude and nasty edge.
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