Kim Clijsters to Come Out of Retirement for 2020

Published 09/12/2019, 9:16 AM EDT

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Four-time Grand Slam champion, Kim Clijsters is all at to come out of her retirement from professional tennis as she announces her return to the WTA Tour in 2020.

Kim Clijsters, who had announced her retirement after the 2012 US Open said in a video posted by her, “For the past seven years, I’ve been a full-time mum and I love it. I really really do. But I also loved being a professional tennis player. And honestly, I missed that feeling. So what if I tried to do both?”

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With this, the Belgian establishes a comeback to the tour for the second time in her illustrious career. After turning pro in 1997, Clijsters announced her retirement at the age of 23 in 2007 due to injuries and family commitments.

However, two years later, Kim Clijsters returned to tour and claimed the second major title of her career at the 2009 US Open. The 36-year-old once again hung up her racquet for the betterment of her in 2012.

“I don’t really feel like I want to prove something,” Clijsters said on the WTA Insider Podcast. “I think for me it’s the challenge and I want to be strong again.”

Kim Clijsters further revealed her love for tennis and said, “For me, I still love to play tennis. Whenever I’m at a Grand Slam playing the Legends, if somebody asked me hey, do you want to hit some balls, I’m the first one to be like I’ll hit. I’ll be the hitting partner for your practice today. I still love playing tennis.”

Kim Clijsters also divulged her desire to once again reach a high level on the WTA Tour. She continued, “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.”

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Written by:

Varun Khanna

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Starting off as a tennis author in 2018, Varun Khanna has gone on to contribute to EssentiallySports in various capacities. After setting up interviews with the likes of Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou, Alizé Cornet, and Noah Rubin, Varun is now part of all major ATP and WTA press conferences and has gone on to pen more than 1300 articles for EssentiallySports. He now heads the tennis and NBA division of the organization.
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