Kim Clijsters

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**Kim Clijsters**

Country	Belgium
Residence	Bree, Belgium
Date of birth	June 8, 1983 (age 23)
Place of birth	Bilzen, Belgium
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8½ in)
Weight	68 kg (150 lb)
Turned Pro	1999
Plays	Right; Two-handed backhand
Career Prize Money	US$14,758,652
Singles
Career record:	422-101
Career titles:	34 (11th in overall rankings)
Highest ranking:	No. 1 (August 11, 2003)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	F (2004)
French Open	F (2001, 2003)
Wimbledon	SF (2003, 2006)
U.S. Open	W (2005)
Doubles
Career record:	129-49
Career titles:	11
Highest ranking:	No. 1 (August 4, 2003)
Infobox last updated on: January 29, 2007.

Kim Clijsters (pronounced /kɪm klɛistərs/ listen (help·info)) (born June 8, 1983 in Bilzen, Belgium) currently is the fifth ranked female tennis player in the world, a former World No. 1 player, the 2005 U.S. Open champion, and the winner of the 2002 and 2003 WTA Tour Championships. She is generally considered by fans and the tennis community as the most likeable professional women's tennis player.

[edit] Playing style

Clijsters, known as Kim Kong, Killing Kim or Kim Possible to many fans, is recognized for her deep, powerful, well-placed groundstrokes, as well as her court-wide defense, characterized by speed and athleticism. [1] When being forced to play defense, sometimes Clijsters will go for her famous "splits-shot". This is a sqaush shot (forehand slice that sends the ball high into the air for more time to recover) but instead hit from a split position. She's also developed it on the backhand slice. She hits the shot when on the run and barely reaching the ball. Although this move would seem suited for clay only, she's also done it on hardcourts plenty of times. After being defeated by Clijsters in the U.S. Open, Maria Sharapova commented that Clijsters' strength lies in how she always forces her opponent to "hit that extra shot."

[edit] Family life

Clijsters is the daughter of a successful footballer, Lei Clijsters, and a national gymnastics champion, Els Vandecaetsbeek. Clijsters claims to have inherited a footballer's legs from her father and a gymnast's flexibility from her mother.[2]

Clijsters' younger sister Elke finished 2002 as the ITF World Junior Doubles champion and retired in 2004 after back injuries.

In November 2003, Clijsters announced her engagement to Australian tennis player Lleyton Hewitt, but their relationship ended in October 2004. As of October 2006, she is engaged to 27-year-old American basketball player Brian Lynch, who is based in Clijsters' hometown of Bree. In an interview with "Sportweekend," Clijsters said that she and Lynch will marry soon after Wimbledon in 2007 and that she will retire to become a housewife, look after her husband, and support him in his career. Their wedding is scheduled for July 14, 2007.

[edit] Tennis career

Clijsters was an accomplished junior player. In singles, she finished as runner-up in the 1998 Wimbledon junior event, placing 11th in the year-end singles ranking. In the same year in doubles, Clijsters won the French Open title with Jelena Dokic, and the U.S. Open with Eva Dyrberg, ending the season as number four in the International Tennis Federation junior doubles world ranking.

In 1999, Clijsters made her breakthrough professionally. Playing through the qualifying rounds, she made it through the main draw of Wimbledon, wherein she defeated tenth ranked Amanda Coetzer en route to the fourth round, where Clijsters lost to her childhood idol Steffi Graf. Later that summer, Clijsters reached the third round of the U.S. Open, losing to eventual champion Serena Williams after serving for the match. In the autumn, Clijsters won her first Women's Tennis Association (WTA) singles title at Luxembourg. She followed up with her first WTA doubles title at Bratislava, partnering Laurence Courtois.

Clijsters climbed up the rankings over the next couple of years. In 2001, she reached her first Grand Slam final at the French Open, where she lost to Jennifer Capriati 12-10 in the third set. Her next important breakthrough came at the end of 2002, when she won the year-end WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles, defeating top ranked Serena Williams in the final, 7-5 6-3. During that time, Serena was considered to be the most dominant player, and being defeated in straight sets by an 18-year old was an incredible shock. On her way to the final, she also beat fourth ranked Justine Henin and second ranked Venus Williams (when Williams retired).

Clijsters had her career-best season in 2003. She won nine singles tournaments and seven doubles titles that year, including the French Open and Wimbledon. She successfully defended her WTA Tour Championships title and reached two Grand Slam finals (French Open and U.S. Open), losing both to Henin.

On August 11, 2003, Clijsters attained the top ranking, holding the spot for 12 non-consecutive weeks before losing it later in the year to Henin. She is the first woman to be ranked number one on the computer rankings without winning a Grand Slam title.

Clijsters started 2004 by reaching her fourth career Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, where she lost once more to Henin. She then won two consecutive titles in Paris and Antwerp. While defending her Tier I title at Indian Wells, however, Clijsters began to have problems with her wrist, eventually requiring surgery and forcing her to withdraw from most tournaments. She attempted a comeback towards the end of the season, winning several matches, before reaggravating the injury.

[edit] 2005

In February 2005, after almost a year of inactivity caused by injuries, she made her return to the WTA tour by participating in her home country tournament at Antwerp, losing to Venus Williams in a quarterfinal. She then completed her comeback to the top echelon of women's tennis when she won, as an unseeded entry, 14 straight matches to claim two Tier I titles (Indian Wells and Miami) in March. During that run, Clijsters defeated five of the world's top six players.

Clijsters finally won a Grand Slam singles title at the U.S. Open. It was her first victory after reaching four Grand Slam finals previously. In the tournament, Clijsters defeated Mary Pierce 6-3, 6-1 in the final. Along the way, she defeated 10th seeded Venus Williams and top seeded Maria Sharapova. By winning the U.S. Open Series—a string of tournaments leading to the Grand Slam—Clijsters received a 100 percent bonus to the U.S. $1.1 million in prize money at the U.S. Open. Her U.S. $2.2 million paycheck was the largest payday in women's sports history.

On September 15, within days after her U.S. Open victory, it was announced that the cooperation between Clijsters and her coach, Marc Dehous, would come to an end. De Hous thought that it was time to do something else.

At the 2005 WTA Tour Championships, Clijsters was eliminated after only two matches. She lost her first match to Mary Pierce, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6. Amélie Mauresmo defeated her in the second match, 6-3, 7-6. Clijsters said in interviews that her defeats were due to fatigue and maybe jet lag, having had a relatively short time to adjust and acclimatize before the tournament began. Although she won her third match in the round-robin tournament against Elena Dementieva, 6-2 6-3, it was considered a dead rubber.

Overall, she won nine singles events in 2005, her last one being at the Gaz de France Stars in Hasselt. She ended the year ranked number two.

[edit] 2006

Clijsters started her 2006 season by winning an exhibition tournament, the Watson Water Challenge, in Hong Kong. On her way to the title she defeated Jie Zheng, Elena Dementieva, and top ranked Lindsay Davenport.

Clijsters then withdrew from her semifinal match at the WTA tournament in Sydney, citing a left hip muscle strain.

At the 2006 Australian Open, Clijsters defeated former champion Martina Hingis, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in a quarterfinal, before retiring from a semifinal match with Amelie Mauresmo. Despite the loss, the ranking points she accumulated were enough to regain the world number one spot, a position she last held on November 9, 2003. She was the first tennis player, male or female, to rise from outside the Top 100 (No. 134) to No. 1 in less than year.

Clijsters' loss to Mauresmo in the Australian Open semifinals was due to an ankle injury. Although she had been expected to miss at least eight weeks to recover, Clijsters returned two weeks later at the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp. She lost the final of that thournament to Mauresmo in three sets.

Clijsters won her first title of the year at a clay court event in Warsaw, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final 7-5, 6-2.

In May, Clijsters competed at the French Open. She did not lose a set on her way to the semifinals. In a quarterfinal, she once again defeated Hingis, 7-6, 6-1. However, she lost to Justine Henin in a semifinal 6-3, 6-2, on her 23rd birthday.

She was seeded second going into Wimbledon but was again eliminated in the semifinals by Henin.

Clijsters collected her second title of the year as the top seed in Stanford, defeating Patty Schnyder in the final 6-4, 6-2. Clijsters then reached the final in San Diego, falling to second-seeded Maria Sharapova 7-5, 7-5. This was her first loss to Sharapova in five career meetings.

On August 16, after receiving a first round bye at the 2006 Rogers Cup in Montréal, Clijsters faced Canadian Stéphanie Dubois in the second round. Having won the first set 6-1 and trailing 2-3 in the second set, Clijsters slipped and fell on her left wrist and was forced to retire from the match. On August 18, 2006, Clijsters announced on her official website that the condition of her wrist was worse than she had expected and that she would be unable to compete in the 2006 U.S. Open to defend her title. She also missed the Fed Cup final against Italy, which Italy won 3-2.^[3]

At the Gaz de France Stars, her first tournament in more than two months, Clijsters successfully defended her title by beating qualifier Kaia Kanepi 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the final. En route to the final, Clijsters defeated Anne Kremer (6-3, 6-2), Martina Müller (6-3, 6-2), Sandra Kloesel (6-1, 6-0) and Vera Zvonareva (6-4, 3-6, 6-4).

At the year-ending WTA Tour Championships, Clijsters lost a semifinal to Amélie Mauresmo 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, after defeating Dementieva and Kuznetsova and losing to Sharapova in the round robin phase of the tournament.

[edit] 2007

Clijsters started her final season on the tour by winning an exhibition tournament, the Watson Water Challenge, in Hong Kong. On her way to the title, she defeated Jie Zheng, Patty Schnyder, and top ranked Maria Sharapova.

Clijsters then won the Medibank International tournament in Sydney, Australia, defeating Jelena Janković in the final 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-4 after being down a match point.

At the 2007 Australian Open, the fourth seeded Clijsters defeated sixth seeded Martina Hingis in a quarterfinal match. However, she lost to Sharapova in a semifinal 6-4, 6-2.

She played her last tournament in Belgium at the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, where she lost to Amelie Mauresmo in the final 6-4, 7-6(4).

[edit] Coaches

1992-1996: Bart Van Kerckhove—he saw Clijsters as an 11 year old and was certain she would make it as a top 10 player in the world.
1996-2002: Carl Maes
2002-2005: Marc Dehous

[edit] Retirement plans

In an interview at the 2007 Australian Open, Clijsters confirmed that she is retiring at the end of the year to start a family. [4]

Clijsters said in an interview with "Sportweekend" that she had been offered the directorship of the Gaz de France Stars tournament in Hasselt after her retirement.

[edit] Records

2003

Clijsters' tour-best nine titles for the year, which she also achieved in 2005, is the most since Martina Hingis won 12 titles in 1997.

Clijsters became not only the first Belgian—man or woman—to be ranked number one, but also did it without winning a Grand Slam tournament (to be duplicated later by Amélie Mauresmo). Clijsters also is one of the few women to be both world number one in singles and doubles.

Clijsters compiled a 90-12 singles record. Her singles win total was the highest single-season total by any woman since 1982. Clijsters was the first woman to play more than 100 matches in a year since 1974.

2005

By winning in Indian Wells, Clijsters became the lowest ranked (No. 133) player ever to win a Tier I event. In the final, she beat top ranked Lindsay Davenport 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. She is the lowest ranked player to defeat a reigning world number one since 1975.

In Miami, Clijsters became only the second player (the first was Steffi Graf in 1994-1996) to win the Indian Wells-Miami double. En route to victory, she beat the sixth (Anastasia Myskina), fifth Elena Dementieva, second Amelie Mauresmo, and third Maria Sharapova seeds in consecutive matches. She was the first unseeded winner of the tournament and did not lose a set in the tournament.

Clijsters' victory in the U.S. Open allowed her to win the U.S. Open Series. Her total prize money for winning the tournament and the series was U.S. $2.2 million, the largest paycheck in women's sports history. To that date, she held a North American hardcourt win-loss record of 36-1, the most matches ever won on that surface during a season.

Clijsters had a 22-match winning streak from August to October. During the streak, she won tournaments in Los Angeles, Toronto, and Luxembourg and the U.S. Open.

2006

In returning to the world number one spot in the rankings after the Australian Open in January, Clijsters broke a rankings record. She was ranked as low as No. 134 in March 2005, so her return to the top spot in a ten-month span was the fastest and biggest leap in women's tennis history.

[edit] Awards

Clijsters is considered by her peers as one of the most likeable players on tour. This, combined with her accomplishments on court, has earned her numerous citations:

2000

WTA Newcomer of the Year (for 1999).

2001

Karen Krantzcke Sportmanship Award (for 2000).

2002

Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (for 2001).

2003

Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (for 2002).

2004

WTA Player Service Award (for 2003).
Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (for 2003).

2005

ITF World Champion.
WTA Tour Championships Race winner.
Belgian Sportswoman of the Year.
International Tennis Writers Association (ITWA) Player of the Year.
International Tennis Writers Ambassador for Tennis.

2006

WTA Player of the Year (for 2005).
WTA Comeback Player of the Year (for 2005).
Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (for 2005).

2007

Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award (for 2006).

[edit] Grand Slam singles finals

[edit] Wins (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2005	U.S. Open	Mary Pierce	6-3, 6-1

[edit] Runner-ups (4)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2001	French Open	Jennifer Capriati	1-6, 6-4, 12-10
2003	French Open	Justine Henin	6-0, 6-4
2003	U.S. Open	Justine Henin	7-5, 6-1
2004	Australian Open	Justine Henin	6-3, 4-6, 6-3

[edit] WTA Tour titles (45)

[edit] Singles wins (34)

Legend
Grand Slam (1)
WTA Championships (2)
Tier I Event (5)
WTA Tour (26)

Titles by Surface
Hard (23)
Clay (3)
Grass (2)
Carpet (6)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	September 20, 1999	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Carpet	Dominique Monami	6-2, 6-2
2.	January 10, 2000	Hobart, Australia	Hard	Chanda Rubin	2-6, 6-2, 6-2
3.	October 30, 2000	Leipzig, Germany	Carpet	Elena Likhovtseva	7-6(6), 4-6, 6-4
4.	July 23, 2001	Stanford, USA	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1
5.	September 24, 2001	Leipzig, Germany	Carpet	Magdalena Maleeva	6-1, 6-1
6.	October 22, 2001	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Hard	Lisa Raymond	6-2, 6-2
7.	April 29, 2002	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Venus Williams	1-6, 6-3, 6-4
8.	October 7, 2002	Filderstadt, Germany	Hard	Daniela Hantuchová	4-6, 6-3, 6-4
9.	October 21, 2002	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Hard	Magdalena Maleeva	6-1, 6-2
10.	November 4, 2002	WTA Championships, Los Angeles, USA	Carpet	Serena Williams	7-5, 6-3
11.	January 6, 2003	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	6-4, 6-3
12.	March 3, 2003	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	6-4, 7-5
13.	May 12, 2003	Rome, Italy	Clay	Amélie Mauresmo	3-6, 7-6(3), 6-0
14.	June 16, 2003	's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Justine Henin	6-7(4), 3-0 retired
15.	July 21, 2003	Stanford, USA	Hard	Jennifer Capriati	4-6, 6-4, 6-2
16.	August 4, 2003	Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	6-1, 3-6, 6-1
17.	October 6, 2003	Filderstadt, Germany	Hard	Justine Henin	5-7, 6-4, 6-2
18.	October 20, 2003	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Hard	Chanda Rubin	6-2, 7-5
19.	November 3, 2003	WTA Tour Championships, Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Amélie Mauresmo	6-2, 6-0
20.	February 9, 2004	Paris, France	Carpet	Mary Pierce	6-2, 6-1
21.	February 16, 2004	Antwerp, Belgium	Carpet	Silvia Farina Elia	6-3, 6-0
22.	March 7, 2005	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	6-4, 4-6, 6-2
23.	March 23, 2005	Miami, USA	Hard	Maria Sharapova	6-3, 7-5
24.	June 13, 2005	Eastbourne, England	Grass	Vera Douchevina	7-5, 6-0
25.	August 1, 2005	Stanford, USA	Hard	Venus Williams	7-5, 6-2
26.	August 8, 2005	Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Daniela Hantuchova	6-4, 6-1
27.	August 15, 2005	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Justine Henin	7-5, 6-1
28.	September 10, 2005	U.S. Open, New York, USA	Hard	Mary Pierce	6-3, 6-1
29.	October 2, 2005	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Hard	Anna-Lena Groenefeld	6-2, 6-4
30.	October 30, 2005	Hasselt, Belgium	Hard	Francesca Schiavone	6-2, 6-3
31.	May 7, 2006	Warsaw, Poland	Clay	Svetlana Kuznetsova	7-5, 6-2
32.	July 30, 2006	Stanford, USA	Hard	Patty Schnyder	6-4, 6-2
33.	November 5, 2006	Hasselt, Belgium	Hard	Kaia Kanepi	6-3, 3-6, 6-4
34.	January 12, 2007	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Jelena Janković	4-6, 7-6(1), 6-4

[edit] Doubles wins (11)

No.	Date	Tournament	Partnering	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	October 27, 1999	Bratislava, Slovakia	Laurence Courtois	Olga Barabanschikova and Lilia Osterloh	6-2, 3-6, 7-5
2.	May 21, 2000	Antwerp, Belgium	Sabine Appelmans	Jennifer Hopkins and Petra Rampre	6-1, 6-1
3.	August 12, 2002	Los Angeles, USA	Jelena Dokic	Daniela Hantuchová and Ai Sugiyama	6-3, 6-3
4.	October 27, 2002	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Janette Husárová	Květa Peschke and Barbara Rittner	4-6, 6-3, 7-5
5.	January 12, 2003	Sydney, Australia	Ai Sugiyama	Conchita Martinez and Rennae Stubbs	6-3, 6-3
6.	February 16, 2003	Antwerp, Belgium	Ai Sugiyama	Nathalie Dechy and Emilie Loit	6-2, 6-0
7.	March 2, 2003	Scottdale, USA	Ai Sugiyama	Lindsay Davenport and Lisa Raymond	6-1, 6-4
8.	June 8, 2003	French Open, Paris, France	Ai Sugiyama	Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez	6-7, 6-2, 9-7
9.	July 6, 2003	Wimbledon, London, Britain	Ai Sugiyama	Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez	6-4, 6-4
10.	August 3, 2003	San Diego, USA	Ai Sugiyama	Lindsay Davenport and Lisa Raymond	6-4, 7-5
11.	October 19, 2003	Zurich, Switzerland	Ai Sugiyama	Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez	7-6, 6-2

[edit] WTA Tour singles runners-up (17)

1999: Bratislava (lost to Amélie Mauresmo)
2000: Filderstadt (lost to Martina Hingis)
2001: Indian Wells (lost to Serena Williams 4-6, 6-4, 6-2)
2001: French Open (lost to Jennifer Capriati)
2001: 's-Hertogenbosch (lost to Justine Henin)
2002: Stanford (lost to Venus Williams)
2002: Tokyo (lost to Serena Williams)
2003: Antwerp (lost to Venus Williams)
2003: Scottsdale (lost to Ai Sugiyama)

2003: Berlin (lost to Justine Henin 6-4, 4-6, 7-5)
2003: French Open (lost to Justine Henin)
2003: San Diego (lost to Justine Henin)
2003: U.S. Open (lost to Justine Henin)
2004: Australian Open (lost to Justine Henin)
2006: Antwerp (lost to Amélie Mauresmo)
2006: San Diego (lost to Maria Sharapova 7-5, 7-5)
2007: Antwerp (lost to Amélie Mauresmo)

[edit] Singles performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the Miami Masters in Florida, which will end on April 1, 2007.

Tournament	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Career SR	Career Win-Loss
Australian Open	A	1R	4R	SF	SF	F	A	SF	SF	0 / 7	29-7
French Open	A	1R	F	3R	F	A	4R	SF		0 / 6	22-6
Wimbledon	4R	2R	QF	2R	SF	A	4R	SF		0 / 7	21-7
U.S. Open	3R	2R	QF	4R	F	A	W	A		1 / 6	23-5
Grand Slam SR	0 / 2	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 1	1 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 1	1 / 26	N/A
Grand Slam Win-Loss	5-2	2-4	17-4	11-4	22-4	6-1	13-2	14-3	5-1	N/A	95-25
WTA Tour Championships	A	QF	SF	W	W	A	RR	SF		2 / 6	15-6
Tokyo	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0	0-0
Indian Wells	A	4R	F	2R	W	3R	W	A	A	2 / 6	21-3
Miami	A	4R	4R	QF	SF	A	W	2R	4R	1 / 7	20-6
Charleston	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A		0 / 0	0-0
Berlin	A	A	1R	2R	F	3R	3R	A		0 / 5	7-4
Rome	A	A	2R	SF	W	A	A	3R		1 / 4	9-3
San Diego¹	A	1R	2R	QF	F	A	QF	F		0 / 6	12-6
Montreal/Toronto	A	A	A	3R	3R	A	W	2R		1 / 4	6-3
Moscow	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A		0 / 0	0-0
Zurich	A	A	A	QF	SF	A	A	A		0 / 2	4-2
Tournaments played	8	17	22	21	21	6	17	14	4	N/A	130
Finals reached	2	3	6	6	15	3	9	5	2	N/A	51
Tournaments Won	1	2	3	4	9	2	9	3	1	N/A	34
Hardcourt Win-Loss	6-2	16-8	32-11	31-10	57-7	9-2	47-4	21-6	14-3	N/A	233-53
Clay Win-Loss	4-3	1-2	11-5	9-3	15-2	1-0	8-3	10-2	0-0	N/A	59-20
Grass Win-Loss	6-1	2-2	7-2	2-2	9-1	0-0	8-1	6-2	0-0	N/A	40-11
Carpet Win-Loss	8-2	9-3	4-0	8-2	5-2	8-0	2-1	3-1	0-0	N/A	47-11
Overall Win-Loss	24-8	28-15	54-18	50-17	86-12	18-2	65-9	40-11	14-3	N/A	379-95²
Year End Ranking	47	18	5	4	2	22	2	5		N/A	N/A

A = did not participate in the tournament

SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played

¹ The San Diego tournament achieved Tier I status only in 2004.

² If ITF women's circuit (Hardcourt: 10-1; Clay: 23-4) and Fed Cup (15-3) participations are included, overall win-loss record stands at 425-102.

[edit] WTA Tour career earnings

Year	Majors	WTA wins	Total wins	Earnings ($)	Money list rank
1999	0	1	1	135,006	65
2000	0	2	2	418,503	23
2001	0	3	3	1,335,659	6
2002	0	4	4	1,754,376	4
2003	0	9	9	4,466,345	1
2004	0	2	2	787,366	15
2005	1	8	9	3,983,654	1
2006*	0	3	3	1,463,492	6
Career	1	32	33	14,350,137	9

* As of December 11, 2006.

[edit] Notable matches

2001 French Open final: lost to Jennifer Capriati, 1-6, 6-4, 12-10. The two-hour, 21-minute match featured the longest third set in a French Open women's final. Clijsters was four times within two points of winning, before Capriati prevailed.
2002 WTA Tour Championships final: defeated Serena Williams for the first time in her career, 7-5 6-3. This was only the fifth defeat of the year for Williams and snapped her 18-match winning streak. In her run to the finals, Clijsters also defeated Venus Williams, becoming just the fourth player to beat both of the Williams sisters in the same event. She also equaled the event's record for the fewest games dropped.
2003 Australian Open semifinal: lost to Serena Williams, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. After defeating Williams in the WTA Tour Championships the previous year, some commentators believed that only Clijsters could prevent Williams from winning her fourth consecutive Grand Slam singles title. Clijsters led 5-1 in the third set (and held a match point at 5-2) before Williams, who was playing with an injured foot, took the match. She went on to defeat her older sister Venus in the final.
2003 Italian Open final: defeated Amélie Mauresmo 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-0. After defeating Capriati and Serena Williams on her way to the final, Mauresmo led 6-5 in the second set and served for the championship. Clijsters, two points away from defeat, stormed back to win the set in a tiebreak, before cruising through the last set. [5]
2003 Los Angeles final: defeated Lindsay Davenport 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 for the fourth consecutive time. By winning her sixth title of the year, Clijsters gained enough points to overtake Serena Williams and claim the top spot in women's tennis, becoming the 12th player to do so and the first one to claim the spot without winning a Grand Slam title.
2003 Filderstadt final: defeated Justine Henin 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. With the number one ranking at stake, Clijsters rallied from a set down to beat her compatriot. The match marked only the eighth time that the top two players battled for the number one ranking. [6] This was also Clijster's second victory (and first to have concluded, her previous win came when her opponent retired in 's-Hertogenbosch) against Henin in their last seven meetings.
2003 WTA Tour Championships semifinal: defeated Capriati 4-6, 6-3, 6-0. While leading 6-4, 3-2, Capriati took an injury break, but after play resumed, she never regained her form. Clijsters won the next 10 games to claim victory and reached her second WTA Tour Championships final. [7] In the final, she defeated Mauresmo, 6-2, 6-0, which was the most one-sided final in the tournament since Martina Navratilova won over Chris Evert by the same score in 1983
2005 Indian Wells final: defeated Davenport 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. Unseeded, ranked 133 in the world, and in only her second tournament of the year after being sidelined by a wrist injury, Clijsters won seven straight games after Davenport opened up the match with a 4-0 lead. The victory was bittersweet for Clijsters, who began having problems with her wrist in the same tournament a year before. [8]
2005 Miami final: defeated Maria Sharapova 6-3, 7-5. Both players struggled to keep the ball in play as windy conditions prevailed throughout the match. Her victory meant that she was only the second woman to earn the Indian Wells-Miami double, after Steffi Graf. These consecutive victories (Clijsters won 14 consecutive matches) catapulted Clijsters from 133 in the world to within the top 20. As Sharapova noted, "I think the biggest surprise was that it was her 14th match and yet I didn’t feel like she was physically fatigued at all. She is a very strong girl and she can play all day. Running from corner to corner is like a piece of cake for her." [9] Sharapova, interestingly in the following year, would come within one match away from repeating the Indian Wells-Miami double (she lost the final of Miami to Kuznetsova).
2005 U.S. Open quarterfinal: defeated Venus Williams 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. Clijsters had won only three out of the nine matches she had contested against Williams (although she had won the last one). After Williams led 6-4, 4-2, Clijsters won 11 of the next 13 games, calling her win the best since she returned to competition. [10]
2005 U.S. Open semifinal: defeated Sharapova 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-3. Sharapova saved three match points while serving to stay in the match at 5-6 (0-40) after Clijsters had won the first set, Clijsters finally won the match on her sixth match point in the third set. [11] Clijsters won the final, defeating Mary Pierce, 6-3 6-1.

[edit] Famous quotes

Clijsters is often considered by few critics as "too nice." In response to these critics, she famously replied, "You don't have to hate your opponent to beat them."

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Official website
WTA Tour profile for Kim Clijsters
unofficial fanclub
Kim Clijsters fanclub
Kim Clijsters at the Internet Movie Database

Preceded by Serena Williams Justine Henin Lindsay Davenport	World No. 1 August 11, 2003 - October 19, 2003 October 27, 2003 - November 9, 2003 January 30, 2006 - March 19, 2006	Succeeded by Justine Henin Justine Henin Amélie Mauresmo
Preceded by Serena Williams	WTA Newcomer of the Year 1999	Succeeded by Dája Bedáňová
Preceded by Maria Sharapova	WTA Player of the Year 2005	Succeeded by Amélie Mauresmo
Preceded by Serena Williams	WTA Comeback Player of the Year 2005	Succeeded by Martina Hingis
Preceded by Anastasia Myskina	ITF World Champion 2005	Succeeded by Justine Henin

Preceded by Dominique Monami Justine Henin	Belgian Sportswoman of the Year 1999–2002 2005	Succeeded by Justine Henin Justine Henin

Women's Tennis Association | Top ten female tennis players as of April 9, 2007

Justine Henin
2.

Maria Sharapova

Amélie Mauresmo
4.

Kim Clijsters

Svetlana Kuznetsova
6.

Martina Hingis

Nadia Petrova
8.

Nicole Vaidišová

09.

Jelena Janković
10.

Anna Chakvetadze

v • d • e

US Open women's singles champions*