Kim Clijsters Wins the Battle of Belgium yet Exits Wimbledon Anyway
Kim Clijsters, in the second half of her career after a recent retirement, can claim her victory in the much hyped and over-anticipated battle of the Belgians. Clijsters beat her long-time rival and compatriot Justine Henin 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, which propelled her into the quarter-finals of Wimbledon. It was a match that could have gone either way since both women were evenly tied 12-12 in their career.
It was also the 25th time the two women have played against each other, with Clijsters always being the dominant force. In tennis, Henin, 28, has won seven Grand Slam titles, while Clijsters, 27, has won two. Both have also been ranked No. 1 at some point in their careers. The duo seems to continuously follow each other throughout their careers and even retired around the same time.
At only 23 years-old, Clijsters who was injured and wanted to focus on starting a family, decided to retire from tennis in May of 2007. A year later, Henin retired while she was on top of the tennis world in May of 2008. Though ranked at the time as No. 1, the sport seemed to have burned the young player out.
Clijsters returned to the game last summer shortly after becoming a mom, and while only in her third tournament, won the U.S. Open. During this time, Henin was still in retirement and watching from the sidelines.
Although Henin witnessed Clijsters winning the U.S. Open, her bigger goal has always been Wimbledon, which is the only major that she has not won. And like Henin, Wimbledon has always eluded Clijsters. It is also the only major tournament where Clijsters has not reached the finals. Her best appearance at the tournament was in 2003 as a semi-finalist. And in 2006, she suffered from another semi-final loss to Henin.
In her most recent match in the Wimbledon tournament against Henin, Clijsters made too many mistakes in the opening set and could barely land a forehand in the court. At the same time, Henin was serving well and trying to make her way to the net if she could. Eventually Clijsters got the break that she needed in the eighth game of that third set and went on to serve out the match.
They've played each other twice this year, with Clijsters winning both times, yet there are no hard feelings. The competitive edge that their rivalry had in their early years seems to have slowly dissolved for the two former No. 1s.
"We're adults now, and we have a lot of respect," Henin said. "On the court we both want to win, but the relationship is very good."
Despite being victorious in her match against Henin, where both players had evenly matched skills, Clijsters couldn't bring the same level of consistency in her playing style as she could against her fellow compatriot when she played against Vera Zvonareva on Tuesday.
Clijsters is still less than a year into her comeback after being away from the game for the past two years, during which she had her first child. However, with her talent she will surely be an even bigger threat at next year's tournament.
With a 5-0 winning record over Zvonareva, including two wins on grass, Clijsters most likely assumed that it would be a match that could be easily won. Unfortunately, she overestimated her opponent's desire for the title. Will Clijsters continue her second career in tennis after being shut down in the quarter-finals? We’ll just have to wait and see what unfolds in the women’s singles tournaments to come.
Tags: