The word “retirement” to a tennis player is starting to mean the same thing it does to a boxer — an extended rest until the competitive juices kick in again.
Four years after winning a U.S. Open title — and more than two years after she quit the sport at age 23 — Kim Clijsters is back. A former world No. 1, Clijsters was one of the sport’s most popular players. But persistent injuries and a desire to start a family led to her departure in May of 2007 — after reaching the semifinals in four of the previous five Grand Slam tournaments.
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Well, Clijsters, now 26, hasn’t missed a beat. She looked good in hard court tournaments last month in Cincinnati and Toronto. On Monday, she won her first-round U.S. Open match in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1. And she already whipped her next opponent, No. 14 seed Marion Bartoli, in straight sets in Cincinnati. A wild-card entry, the unseeded Belgian has a chance to wreck havoc in the women’s draw at Flushing Meadows. If Clijsters can make it that far, No. 3 seed Venus Williams looms in the round of 16.
