the Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Australian Open titles between them in the past year, but they have struggled with some inconsistent play and injuries the past few years.  Serbian stars, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic, have struggled since achieving the Number One ranking.  Current Number One, Dinara Safina needs to post some solid results in the next few months and win a Grand Slam title to cement her place at the top of the rankings.  All of which highlights that Clijsters can challenge for major titles and the top ranking if she can play up to her previous level on a consistent basis.  Clijsters left the Tour in 2007 at the age of 23, got married and then had a daughter, Jada in 2008.  Kim will return to tennis at an exhibition match against her idol, Steffi Graf, at Wimbledon on May 17th to test the new roof as part of a “Centre Court Celebration.” Clijsters will then play a couple exhibition matches and World Team Tennis prior to playing her first official tournament matches at the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour tournaments in Cincinnati and Toronto leading up to the 2009 U.S. Open.  For Clijsters, the start of this “second career” as she calls it, will be a chance for Kim to return to tournament tennis as a new mother with renewed enthusiasm for the practice and competition.  Clijsters, a former World Number One and U.S. Open Champion, is still very young (she will turn 26 in June) and if she enjoys the juggle of motherhood, marriage and the Tour, could play for several more years.  One of the main challenges for Clijsters will be to stay healthy because she did struggle with several injuries during the last couple years of her “first career.”   Welcome back Kim – we missed you!

Posted by TC at 10:58 AM |