Kim Clijsters first caught everyone’s eye at the 1999 Wimbledon tournament, upsetting seeded player Amanda Coetzer in the 3rd round. She then came within inches of beating the 1999 U.S. Open Champion Serena Williams in the 3rd round. The Belgian hasn’t had overnight success, but from the first day she placed her hands on a tennis racket, she was always going to have a successful tennis career.
She was born on 8 June 1983 in Bilzen, Belgium. Her father (Leo Clijsters) was a professional soccer player and was Belgian Player of the Year in 1988. Her mother Els is a cancer survivor. Clijsters also has a sister called Elke. Kim first picked up a racket when she was 5. At first, she thought it would be fun to pursue tennis as a hobby but of course it soon became apparent that she had serious potential. With her father's incredible soccer career, the young Belgian never had trouble finding the money for coaching and travelling. After performing well in several Junior Championships, it soon became clear to Clijsters and her coach Carl Maes that she was ready for the WTA Tour.
She was not well-known in her premiere year of 1999 but this changed after that year's Antwerp tournament. After entering the tournament as a Lucky Loser, Clijsters reached the quarterfinals. At her first Grand Slam (Wimbledon 1999), Clijsters reached the 4th round after upsetting the 10th seed Amanda Coetzer in the 3rd. Although she lost in the 4th round, at least she fell to her idol Steffi Graf. She put on a phenomenal show at the U.S. Open that year too where she reached the 3rd round and faced the eventual champion Serena Williams.
She played well at the 2001 French Open, beating her fellow-Belgian, Justine Henin, but lost in the final to Jennifer Capriati after a very exciting third set which ended 12-10. Later that year, she managed to get to the quarter-finals at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open where she was defeated by Lindsay Davenport and Venus Williams respectively.
Here are her most important wins :
Victories: 19
10/11/2003: Tour Championships
26/10/2003: Luxembourg
12/10/2003: Filderstadt
10/08/2003: Los Angeles
27/07/2003: Stanford
21/06/2003: Rosmalen
18/05/2003: Rome
16/03/2003: Indian Wells
11/01/2003: Sydney
11/11/2002: Tour Championships
27/10/2002: Luxembourg
13/10/2002: Filderstadt
05/05/2002: Hamburg
28/10/2001: Luxembourg
30/09/2001: Leipzig
29/07/2001: Stanford
05/11/2000: Leipzig
15/01/2000: Hobart
26/09/1999: Luxembourg
Finals: 13
07/09/2003: US Open
03/08/2003: San Diego
07/06/2003: Roland Garros
16/05/2003: Berlin
02/03/2003: Scottsdale
16/02/2003: Antwerp
22/09/2002: Tokyo
28/07/2002: Stanford
23/06/2001: Rosmalen
10/06/2001: Roland Garros
17/03/2001: Indian Wells
08/10/2000: Filderstadt
24/10/1999: Bratislava
Her successes are too numerous to list here (click on the link below for a list of all her victories) but suffice to say she is already destined to go down in history as one of the world's greatest tennis players. She was the number one female tennis player in the world until recently (WTA ranking) and I'm sure we will see her holding that coveted position again soon. She is well loved amongst players, fans and the media. Belgians all over the world are justly proud of her achievements.
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