Kim Clijsters

About Kim Clijsters

Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters (IPA: [kɪm klɛistərs], listen (help·info); born 8 June 1983, in Bilzen, Limburg) is a Belgian tennis player. She is a former World No. 1 ranked player in singles and in doubles.

During her professional career, Clijsters won 34 WTA singles titles and 11 WTA doubles titles. She won the US Open singles title in 2005 and the WTA Tour Championships singles title in 2002 and 2003. In doubles, she won the French Open and Wimbledon titles in 2003. Clijsters was twice a singles runner-up at the French Open and a one-time runner-up at the Australian Open, also reaching two Wimbledon singles semifinals. She announced her retirement with immediate effect on 6 May 2007, but almost two years later, on 26 March 2009, she publicly declared her intent to return to the WTA tour next summer for several hardcourt tournaments in the United States, including the US Open.

Clijsters, known as Aussie Kim, Kim Kong, Killing Kim, or Kim Possible to many fans, was recognized for her deep, powerful, well-placed groundstrokes, as well as her court-wide defense, characterized by speed and athleticism. Clijsters, along with Jelena Janković and Svetlana Kuznetsova was among the few tennis players on either the Association of Tennis Professionals or Women's Tennis Association tours who could slide (known as the straddle) on all surfaces. After being defeated by Clijsters in the 2005 Nasdaq-100 Open, Maria Sharapova implied that Clijsters' strength lies in how she always forces her opponent to hit an extra shot, that "you just have to expect that she's going to get every ball back".