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Serena Williams’ Top Rival Sidelines Her to Choose Renowned Compatriot as Tough Opponent to Face – ‘Impossible to Do Something’

Published 12/07/2022, 10:18 AM EST

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The four-time Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters once believed Serena Williams was one of her biggest rivals. They both have played several memorable matches against each other and created a huge fan base of their own. However, recently in a conversation, she was asked about her toughest competitor. Someone against whom she felt it was difficult to understand the trail on the tennis court. In her response, she might have sidelined the legendary tennis player.

After making her second comeback on the tennis court back in 2020, the Belgian tennis player retired earlier this year. Adding her name to the 2022 retiring list of athletes with Roger Federer and Serena Williams. 

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Kim Clijsters talks about her biggest rival

Kim Clijsters recently made her appearance on ‘The Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast’ where she was asked about who was her biggest or her toughest rival while talking about her tennis journey. The four-time Grand Slam champion said that Justine Henin was the toughest competitor to deal with.

via Getty

She said, “I’ll probably say, Justine. Because of the connection from the past, I think. I think Justine’s game also ..you know with Serena for me it was more off like an excitement to play and it was tough. I was definitely really tough, but it was different, right? It was different. I mean Serena, yeah of course. When she was on it was just times impossible to do something. With Justine it was more tricky, like the slice return she would play and the variety of her one hand and backhand with the slice. I mean, it was just her coming hard coming into the net, just that like her total game was harder for me to deal with.” 

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The Belgian tennis player believed that playing with the 23-time Grand Slam champion was tough but it was more of an excitement. However, when it came to playing again the seven-time Grand Slam champion, her one-hand and backhand shots were the trickiest to deal with.

Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters rivalry 

The Belgian tennis player has faced the legendary American tennis player nine times on the tennis Court. Among these matches, Serena Williams has won seven tilting the winning ratio to her side. However, both of these tennis players faced each other in three final Championship tournaments back in 2001 and 2002.

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WATCH THIS STORY –  Serena Williams once revealed her dislike for money but made a huge exception for her daughter Olympia

Nevertheless, the two last played against each other back in 2019 during the semi-finals round of the US Open tournament. 

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Written by:

Pratishtha Prakash

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Pratishtha Prakash is a Tennis writer at EssentiallySports. She has completed her Bachelor’s degree in Mass Media and Journalism from MIT ADT University, Pune. In the past, she has interned at the sports desk of The Hitavada, a regional English daily newspaper.
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Edited by:

Hitesh Nigam