Belgian tennis star Kim Clijsters says goodbye to her fans after U.S. Open.
Kim Clijsters ended her singles tennis career Wednesday with a loss in the second round of the U.S. Open to British 18 year-old Laura Robson. While this is not the first time Clijsters has planned to retire, she has said with finality that now is the perfect time in her career to retire. She first announced her retirement back in 2007 due to injuries and starting a family, but came back to the sport in 2009. This time the retirement is her decision, on her own terms.
“This completely feels like the perfect place to retire,” Kim Clijsters emotionally told spectators in an on-court interview. But on ending her career with a loss she says “I just wish it wasn’t today.”
Even though the loss was her final match at the U.S. Open, it certainly does not reflect much on the otherwise shining Kim Clijsters career. The tennis phenom has three U.S. Open crowns, has been ranked one of the top players in the world and has won 41 titles in her professional career. Her U.S. Open win came only a month after her return from her first retirement and with a toddler, daughter Jada, in tow.
The U.S. Open is “the place that has inspired me so much to do well and to do great things,” she said, making it a fitting tournament to end her stellar career.
