Contented Clijsters keen to top the mother of all comebacks with Open win
Back on centre court in Australia, Kim Clijsters feels right at home, writes Linda Pearce.
Kim Clijsters has her daughter's name tattooed on the inside of her left wrist, and her husband's initial curled permanently in ink at the bottom of her left ring finger. Clijsters intends to have only one man in her life, but hopes to have four children, so skin space up to elbow level might eventually be in high demand.
Clijsters, the winner of the US Open at her last, memorable, grand slam outing is challenging world No.1 Serena Williams as favourite for the Australian Open, which starts today at Melbourne Park. In the past year, she has lost her father, but reclaimed her career while raising 23-month-old Jada with former American basketballer Brian Lynch. At 26, she is content and motivated again, recovered in body and rejuvenated in mind.
And yet, back in her home town, Bree, the previous, wintry January was a tearful one. Former Belgian football star Leo Clijsters passed away on January 4 from lung cancer, having been nursed by his daughters for the last of his 52 years. And so it was natural that, later that month, when Kim found herself watching tennis on TV for one of the few times since her retirement in mid-2007 and swift segue into motherhood, she was in an unusually fragile state.
It was not going to take much to set her off; Jelena Dokic's dramatic run to the quarter-finals was more than enough.
''I was crying all the time,'' she says. ''Obviously the whole situation with my dad, you're obviously more emotional, but I know Jelena very well, and we played juniors together and everything. I watched how she's dealt with it all, and I was just so happy for her.''
Just as, last September, the tennis world was thrilled for Clijsters, as well as stunned by her triumph at the US Open in just her third tournament in almost two years. Having rocketed back into the top 20 in that first month, the 15th seed will start her first Australian Open campaign in three years against Canadian qualifier Valerie Tetreault with perhaps fellow Belgian comeback artist Justine Henin awaiting in the quarter-finals.
Life is different now, even if Clijsters remains warm and welcoming.
Clijsters always wanted to be a young mother - her own, Els, gave birth in March to a son with her second husband, the golfer Jan Goossens - but having intended to return to Australia with Lynch and their children one day, never imagined it would be in circumstances like these. ''I remember being here last time and just thinking like, 'Oh, this is going to be the last time I'm going to be playing in Australia. I'll come here with Brian and with children, just to visit,' but I never thought I would be here to play tennis. I'm looking at each city in a completely different way now, and it's fun.''
In her previous life, Clijsters recalls the months spent in Melbourne while her then-partner Lleyton Hewitt prepared for Davis Cup finals, and recalls playing in the hotel pool with the children of Australian coach Wally Masur. Now she has her own family. She loves what she calls ''the balance'': practising or working out with her indispensable osteopath-trainer Sam Verslegers, then heading back to the hotel for lunch, an outing, whatever. ''We kind of pick up our lifestyle away from home a little bit, and that's nice, just try to bring the home atmosphere to the tournament,'' she says, while stressing that she could not hope to manage on her own, as many mothers must, and acknowledging her good fortune to have her husband and nanny with her on the road.
The other thing she manages better is her body. So worn down by injuries was the 23-year-old grand slam winner when she decided to hobble away from the game the first time that she has resolved to manage her body far better in phase two.
After each match and practice session, Verslegers checks to see that her body is still balanced and aligned, in what is less a treatment that a preventative measure. Clijsters is convinced that the wrist, hip and other problems that dogged her in the past could have been avoided if only she had known what she knows now.
''But when you're 15, 16, your body just goes on adrenalin and you're just so excited to play and everything is great,'' she says.
Her mind and appetite have been restored to health. ''I have the butterflies again. I'm excited to play and excited to just be out on the court again, and that was something that was really missing the last few years when I was playing.''
While things continue to work out, the family intends to continue this way until the London Olympics in 2012, after which it will be time for Jada to start school.
Clijsters returns three years older and convinced she is wiser than when last she played here, paying greater attention to detail, her sights and ambitions higher than before, more confident now. ''Knowing in really important match situations that I can just count on myself a little bit more, whereas in the past I may have been a little bit more doubtful whether I would be able to do it, and to finish off big matches,'' she says.
Chances are Clijsters will play a few more in the next fortnight. For the moment, her major singles titles (2) outnumber her children (1). But if she has room set aside in her life and on her wrist for more offspring, then she has reason to be confident that her trophy cabinet still has space for some important additions, as well.