April 12, (THEWILL) – Kim Clijsters has declared her third retirement from tennis, saying that she will not compete again in “official tournaments.”
The four-time Grand Slam champion retired from tennis when she was 23 years old in 2007, but returned in 2009 after giving birth to her daughter and won back-to-back US Open and Australian Open titles.
After the 2012 US Open, she took a break before returning in February 2020. The COVID-19 epidemic halted her comeback, and she also had knee surgery, which further lengthened the time of her return.
The 37-year-old has only played five matches since her return, none of which she has won, and her most recent appearance was in October at Indian Wells.
Clijsters took to her Instagram to say: “Hi guys, I want to share with you that I have decided to no longer play official tournaments. I can’t wait to see what new adventures will cross my path. Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the past two years.”
She won 41 titles, four times held the world number one ranking, and three times won the WTA Finals at the end of the season. She has three children and recently relocated to New Jersey from Belgium.
“It’s been on my mind for a while,” she told the WTA. “I still love to hit the ball. With my schedule three, four days was enough to keep my rhythm under control but definitely not good enough if I decided to play another tournament.
“Say, if I picked Australia, it’s three, four weeks. That’s just not possible at this stage in our family life. Life just sort of takes over, right?
“My passion for tennis will never leave no matter what I do. I feel a very big need to give back to tennis because I’ve gotten so much out of it. So, yeah, that will be the next phase, to see where I can go?”
Clijsters said she has no regrets about her career when asked if she had any: “No. None. I’ve always made career decisions on how I felt at the time – not what was good for my career in the long run. I’m happy how everything worked out.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
