About Kim Clijsters
Kim Clijsters, a professional Belgian tennis player is one of the most popular tennis player of her generation. She began her professional career from 1997 in an era in which her primary rivals were compatriot Justine Henin and 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena Williams. She has been a world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, having held both rankings simultaneously in 2003. She won the US Open in 2005, 2009, and 2010 as well as the Australian Open in 2011. She compiled a total of 41 WTA singles titles and 11 WTA doubles titles. Her success at majors has been highlighted by winning three consecutive appearances at the US Open. She became the first unseeded player to win the US Open with her victory in 2009, which came in the midst of her post-retirement comeback to the sport. She has also won the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award eight times. After her retirement in 2012, she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in the year 2017. She has recently announced that she will be coming out of retirement and aims to play in 2020.
Kim Clijsters is back again. She has retired twice. She rejoined the WTA Tour in February, losing two close first-round matches, only to be stopped by the pandemic and then by a tropical storm at the Jersey Shore town where she, her husband, the basketball coach Brian Lynch, and their three children live part-time. She also received wildcards at inaugural Top Seed Open both in singles and doubles and she was set to play alongside Sabine Lisicki, whom she partnered during World TeamTennis matches, but withdrew from both disciplines. She will play as a wildcard next at the tournament; Cincinnati Open and US Open. At the US Open play, she received a wildcard into the doubles draw with American Hailey Baptiste.
Source: @tennis-tourtalk
Kim Clijsters is famous for being a professional tennis player from Belgium. She is best known for winning a total of six Grand Slam tournament titles, four in singles and two in doubles.
Kim Clijsters was born on 8th June 1983 in Bilzen, Belgium. Her birth name/real name is Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters. Her nationality is Belgian and she belongs to White ethnicity. Her race is White and her Zodiac sign is Gemini. She was born to her parents; Lei Clijsters (father) and Els Clijsters (mother). Her mother Els was a Belgian national artistic gymnastics champion. Her father Lei was a professional football defender who played for a variety of clubs in the top-flight Belgian First Division, including KV Mechelen with whom he won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1988. Moreover, she also has a sibling, a sister named Elke Clijsters. As of 2020, she celebrated her 37th birthday. Her religion is Christian. When Clijsters was five years old, her father built a clay tennis court at their home as a gift to his daughter to celebrate him winning the 1988 Gouden Schoen, an award given to the player of the year in the Belgian First Division. She began playing with her sister at the Tennisdel club in Genk by the time she was seven. At the age of nine, Clijsters began working with Benny Vanhoudt.
Kim Clijsters stands tall at the height of 1.74 m or 5 ft 8.5 in. Her body build is athletic. Her balanced bodyweight consists of 68 Kg or 149 lbs. Her body measurement is 33-26-35 in. She wears a bra size of 32B. Her shoe size is 6.5 (UK). Her hair color is blonde and she has got a pair of brown eyes.
Tennis Career of Kim Clijsters
- Kim Clijsters had success at both the national and international levels since her very young age where she won the 12-and-under division of the Belgian Junior Championships (the Coupe de Borman) in doubles with her future longtime rival Justine Henin. It was in 1993.
- She also won the 12-and-under singles event at the same tournament in 1994.
- Her first big international junior title came at Les Petits As, a high-level 14-and-under tournament where she defeated future top 25 players Iveta Benesova and Elena Bovina in the semifinals and final as well.
- In the ITF Junior Circuit, she played full two seasons.
- At the very end of 1997, she partnered with Zsofia Gubacsi where she won her first ITF title in the doubles event at the Grade A Orange Bowl, one of the highest level junior tournaments.
- She had her best year on the junior tour, finishing the season at career-high rankings of world No. 11 in singles and world No. 4 in doubles in 1998.
- She then won two junior Grand Slam doubles titles, the French Open with Jelena Dokic and the US Open with Eva Dyrberg.
- After then, she defeated her French Open partner Dokic in the US Open doubles final and in singles, she made it to the Wimbledon final but finished runner-up to Katarina Srebotnik.
- She was qualified for her first main draw at her second career tournament on the lower-level ITF Women's Circuit, which was held in the Belgian coastal town of Koksijde in the year 1997 of the August month.
- She played in Brussels in July 1998, she won both the singles and doubles events for her first career professional titles.
- And also she continued to excel at the ITF level, winning four more titles within the next year, two in both singles and doubles.
- Her 1999 year began with a WTA singles ranking of No. 420 in the world making her WTA debut at the tournament in May, entering the main draw as a lucky loser after losing in the final round of qualifying.
- She also entered Wimbledon as the youngest player in the top 200 after turning sixteen. By defeating world No. 10 Amanda Coetzer in the third round where she lost to Serena Williams in the third round after squandering a chance to serve for the match.
- After that, she played at the Luxembourg Open where she won the title with relative ease in just her fourth career WTA event, taking affinity for the friendly atmosphere of the smaller tournament and the faster carpet courts.
- At the end of the season, she was named WTA Newcomer of the Year, having risen to No. 47 in the world.
- At the Indian Wells Open in 2001, she finally defeated Hingis in her fourth meeting against the world No. 1 player to reach her first Tier I final but lost to Serena Williams.
- She became the first Belgian to contest a Grand Slam singles final where she had defeated No. 16 Henin in the semifinals in their closest and highest-profile match to date, coming back from a set and a breakdown, and also having saved three break points that would have put her behind 5-2 in the second set.
- Additionally, Kim won three singles titles in 2001, including her second titles at both the Luxembourg Open and the Sparkassen Cup, to help her finish the season at No. 5 in the world.
- With four doubles finals in total, she was also ranked No. 15 in doubles at the end of the year.
- She also began her singles season by winning the Sydney International over Lindsay Davenport, her third consecutive title.
- She won another Tier I title on clay in May at the Italian Open over No. 4 Amelie Mauresmo by defeating Devenport.
- She lost to Henin in the final in straight sets in US Open but she later defeated Henin in the final of the Tennis Grand Prix in Filderstadt to defend her title and her world No. 1 ranking.
- She then maintained her form in the 2004 season where she suffered injuries and required surgery. Due to this, she missed the Australian Open.
- Later, she won her next two tournaments, including the Diamond Games in Antwerp for her first WTA title in her home country in February.
- She also won both Tiers I events in March, the Indian Wells Open and the Miami Open, to become the second woman to complete the Sunshine Double after Steffi Graf in 1994 and 1996.
- The 2006 season saw several injury issues for her as she only played in 14 tournaments, missing the US Open as well as the Fed Cup final.
- She withdrew from her first tournament of the year at Indian Wells Open due to ankle injury.
- After her recovery, she won her fourth Stanford Classic and finished runner-up to Maria Sharapova at the Tier I San Diego Classic during the US Open Series.
- She made her return at the Hasselt Cup and won her second consecutive title at the event.
Source: @essentiallysports
- She then entered 2007 intending to retire at the end of the season, but only ended up playing in five tournaments due to injuries.
- She won her only title of the year in her first tournament, the Sydney International.
- In her last two tournaments, she lost to Li Na in the fourth round of the Miami Open in March and qualifier Julia Vakulenko in her opening match at the Warsaw Open in May.
- In the 2007 season, her last win was against Samantha Stosur in Miami.
- After losing in Warsaw, she announced her retirement at the age of 23, forgoing plans to finish the season.
- After two months after her father's death, it was announced that she would play in an exhibition in May with Tim Henman against Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi to test the new retractable roof on Centre Court at Wimbledon.
- Later, Clijsters and Henman won the exhibition doubles, and Clijsters also defeated her idol Graf in singles.
- She received wild cards for the Cincinnati Open, the Canadian Open, and the US Open and returned to the tour in Cincinnati, Clijsters defeated three top 20 opponents, including No. 6 Svetlana Kuznetsova, before losing to world No. 1 Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals.
- At the end of the 2009 season, she won the WTA Comeback Player of the Year award for the second time.
- For the next 2010 season, she planned a limited schedule to keep her focus on her family and ended up playing just eleven tournaments.
- She won the Brisbane International, narrowly defeating Henin in a third set tiebreak in Henin's first tournament back from her own retirement in her first event and entered the Australian Open as one of the favorites, but was upset by No. 19 Nadia Petrova in the third round, only winning one game in that loss.
- She won the Miami Open for the second time.
- During the US Open Series, she won the Cincinnati Open, the tournament where she returned from retirement a year earlier.
- She was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open by Zvonareva while struggling with a thigh injury.
- Her final event of the season was the WTA Tour Championships, where she qualified for the seventh time.
- She finished the season at No. 3 and was named WTA Player of the Year for the second time.
- She began the 2011 season at the Sydney International, where she finished runner-up to Li Na in straight sets despite winning the first five games of the match.
- She made one last final at her next WTA event, the Paris Open, where she was defeated by Petra Kvitova.
- She entered the US Open having not lost a match there since 2003 final and then recorded her last WTA singles match win against Victoria Duval in the first round before falling to Laura Robson in her next match.
- Her career ended with a second-round mixed doubles loss alongside Bob Bryan to the eventual champions Ekaterina Makarova and Bruno Soares, at which point she officially retired.
- She again came back to resume her tennis career after the seven years of retirement at the Dubai Tennis Championships in February as a wildcard.
- But lost to Australian Open runner-up Garbine Muguruza in the opening round. Whereas she was widely praised for her level of play.
- After that, she entered the Monterrey Open as a wildcard, played top-15 player Johanna Konta, and lost in two close sets.
- After that, no tournaments took place due to the COVID-19 pandemic from March to July.
- She then received wildcards at inaugural Top Seed Open both in singles and doubles and she was set to play alongside Sabine Lisicki, whom she partnered during World TeamTennis matches, but withdrew from both disciplines.
- She will play as a wildcard next at the tournament; Cincinnati Open and US Open.
- At the US Open play, she received a wildcard into the doubles draw with American Hailey Baptiste.
Awards and Life Achievements of Kim Clijsters
Source: @ubitennis.net
ITF awards
- World Champion: 2005
WTA awards
- Newcomer of the Year: 1999
- Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2012
- Peachy Kellmeyer Player Service Award: 2003, 2006, 2010
- Comeback Player of the Year: 2005, 2009
- Player of the Year: 2005, 2010
- Humanitarian of the Year: 2006
National awards
- Belgian Promising Youngster of the Year (Beloftevolle Jongere van het Jaar): 1998
- Belgian Sportswoman of the Year: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011
- Flemish Giant (Vlaamse Reus): 2000, 2001, 2010
- Flemish Sportsjewel (Vlaams Sportjuweel): 2001
- Belgian National Sports Merit Award: 2001 (with Henin)
- Belgian Sports Personality of the Year: 2003
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown, by Royal Decree of King Albert II (Grootkruis in de Kroonorde): 2003 (with Henin)
- Belgian Sporting Team of the Year: 2006 (with Fed Cup team members Butkiewicz, Flipkens, Henin, and Caroline Maes)
International awards
- The International Club’s Jean Borotra Sportsmanship Award: 2010
- Laureus World Sports Award for Comeback of the Year: 2010
- International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee: 2017
Kim Clijsters's Husband, Brian Lynch
Kim Clijsters is a married woman. She was married to her handsome husband, Brian Lynch in the year 2007. By profession, Brian is an American basketball coach and former player. The couple also welcomed three children; two sons - Jack Leon (born 2013), Blake (born 2016), and a daughter - Jada Elly (born 2008). The family splits their time living in Bree and New Jersey. Currently, the duo is living a pleasant life with their children without any sign of divorce. Her sexual orientation is straight.
Source: @essentiallysports
Previously, in December 2003, Kim Clijsters announced her engagement to Australian Lleyton Hewitt, but their relationship ended in October 2004.
Kim Clijsters's Net Worth & Salary
Kim Clijsters is a professional tennis player who has achieved great success and earned a huge amount of money along with prizes money. As of 2020, the net worth of Kim is estimated to have US$20 Million. Till now, she has earned US$24,461,695 as her prize money winning from various tournaments. She has drawn a salary of US$24,442,340 from the WTA circuit. Additionally, she has served as a part-time coach to several players, including compatriots Elise Mertens and Yanina Wickmayer. Moreover, she has been a commentator at the Grand Slam tournaments, working for the BBC and Fox Sports Australia at Wimbledon and for Channel 7 at the Australian Open. Whereas her major source of income comes from her tennis career along with coaching, commentator career, and endorsements deals as well. Talking about her endorsement deals, Babolat has sponsored her racquets since 1999, and she specifically has used the Pure Drive model. She had previously worn Nike apparel but was not under contract. She has turned down Nutella in addition to endorsements that involved her daughter. She endorsed banana supplier Chiquita and United Soft Drinks, the producer of the AA sports drink. She was a brand ambassador for the nutrition company USANA as well as the Citizen Watch Signature Collection. She also had endorsement deals with Belgian telecommunications company Telenet, personnel services firm Adecco, and the travel services company Thomas Cook Group. After her retirement from a tennis career, Van Lanschot banking helps sponsor the Kim Clijsters Academy. She is satisfied with her career earning as of today.
