Poignant Melbourne return for 'Aussie Kim'

TENNIS: AUSTRALIAN OPEN COUNTDOWN:As Kim Clijsters returns to Grand Slam tennis after being out for most of last year, she tells DONALD MCRAEof her inspiration and her remaining ambitions

‘THERE HAVE been many moments over the last year when I thought it was all over,” Kim Clijsters says of the physical ravages which continue to threaten an end to one of the most remarkable comebacks in professional sport.

“These were the moments when I was disappointed and frustrated, when I got so low because it seemed all my hard work had been wasted. But the moments passed and the motivation to go back to rehab was there again. I’ve worked really hard but it’s definitely not been easy.”

Clijsters may be the most likeable professional tennis player in the world and a sporting superstar who prefers an ordinary life to a celebrity existence, but she now faces more uncertainty. The last eight months of 2011 were ruined for Clijsters by ankle, shoulder and stomach injuries which forced her late withdrawals from Wimbledon and the US Open.

After acknowledging that she needed to play less and concentrate on strengthening her fragile body, Clijsters took a long break. Last month she finally played an exhibition in her native Belgium against Caroline Wozniacki – and beat the world number one in straight sets.

Even if it was a mostly hit-and-giggle exercise, Clijsters displayed some of the skill and tenacity which symbolised her greatest triumph when returning from retirement in 2009 to win the US Open in only her third tournament back on the circuit.

Having left tennis in May 2007 to start a family, she had no world ranking and only gained a wild card entry. Clijsters became the first unseeded player to win at Flushing Meadows – yet, far more evocatively, she was a new mother to a small girl called Jada and an inspiration to women around the world.

Clijsters repeated her US Open triumph in 2010 and followed it by winning another grand slam in Australia last January. She then pushed herself to play an indoor tour event in Paris and briefly replaced Wozniacki as the world’s top-ranked woman.

The cycle of injuries began soon afterwards and Clijsters is still recovering from her latest setback. Last week in Brisbane, she retired when a set up against Daniela Hantuchova, in the semi-final of her first tournament for five months. A scan has confirmed that she merely suffered a muscle spasm in her hip. Clijsters insists the decision to withdraw was precautionary and evidence of her desire to play in the Australian Open – beginning on Monday in Melbourne. “I feel physically stronger than ever,” she says. “Now it’s time to get used to tournaments again.”

Clijsters won her first three matches in Brisbane and hopes her hip spasm was a consequence of easing into competitive play rather than the start of another serious breakdown. She claims to have a “good feeling” this time – unlike on two key occasions last year. “When it was the ankle before Wimbledon and my stomach tear before the US Open it was serious. The second one was far worse because I knew it was bad straight away. It was very hard getting back after that injury.”

Her acceptance that this will be her final Australian Open is framed by an anniversary.

Last Wednesday it was exactly three years since the death of her father, Lei, the former Belgian international footballer who died from cancer on January 4th, 2009. “I think of my dad every day,” Clijsters says in a theme that dominates our two separate interviews for this article. “I think of him mostly in fun ways or while bringing up Jada. Of course it hits me when people leave messages but mostly it’s just a number, four, on his anniversary. He’s with me every other day of the year.”

She shakes her head in amazement. Clijsters is at her most compelling in such moments, when recounting the often eerie way she has been reminded of her father since his death. “If it happens once you can say it’s a coincidence, but when it keeps happening you start to feel it’s something else. I get chills thinking about it. Me and Dad had this big thing about the number one. Sometimes at night I think of that because I wake up and look at my clock and it’s 11 minutes past one: 1.11. This happened at the US Open in 2009.”

Clijsters takes a deep breath as if she wants to control herself before unravelling a mysterious web of stories. “I made it to the quarters against Venus Williams. In the last game I was down 15-40 (with Clijsters 5-4 up in the deciding set). It was tough and I missed my first serve on the next point. Even though I never usually look at the speed of my serve, this time I did: 111. I might have been down two break points but it gave me such peace. I was like, ‘ah – okay’.

“A few days later I was driven back to the courts. I was anxious, a new mother out of the game for 2½ years and up against Serena Williams now. And Barry White came on the radio. My dad was a huge Barry White fan and this was the same song we had played at his funeral. I called my sister, Elke, in Belgium and said ‘Listen . . . ’ I felt amazingly calm and of course I won the match and the tournament.”

Clijsters tells me two more stories, in a list that she says could go on and on, and the first comes from last summer when, on June 8th, she turned 28. “My dad always sent me the biggest bouquet of roses every birthday. Last year Brian (her husband) and I had dinner and we were driving home around 11 at night. I was thinking about my dad and how he would’ve been involved if he’d been alive. I was talking to my sister on the car phone and, as soon we finished, this song came on the radio . . .”

She sings, more hauntingly than Katie Melua: “There are nine million bicycles in Beijing . . .”

Clijsters nods meaningfully. “It was the other song we played at my dad’s funeral. I looked at my husband and said, ‘Here’s my last birthday gift.’ I started crying then. But it’s so comforting. I love those moments. Also, a few months after Dad died, I was at my grandparents’ house and we were looking at old photos and they were telling me things about him I’d never known. When I left I started crying in the car. They were big tears and my vision was blurred and I was wiping my eyes when this white Audi cut me off. I slammed on the brakes and the first thing I saw was the number plate. It said LEY – Dad’s name. I laughed because my Dad would’ve said: ‘Hey, get yourself together – don’t cry.’.”

Her surprising return from retirement, which began with an exhibition at Wimbledon in May 2009, was framed by the birth of Jada and the death of her father. “A few weeks after my Dad passed away my manager called – and he was one of Dad’s best friends. He said they wanted me to play a special match to open Wimbledon’s new Centre Court with Steffi Graf, who was my idol, Andre Agassi and Tim Henman. I was very happy.

“I thought of the year I’d just had. When I was seven months pregnant I found out my Dad was sick. We’d go home, my husband and I, and we so wanted to enjoy that special time of pregnancy but I’d just seen Dad in hospital. And even after Jada was born we’d come home after more bad news. We’d see Jada laugh for the first time and we’d have fun with her – just an hour after seeing my dad so ill. It was very weird.

“But in that last year we were very close. Dad was staying in our farmhouse and we had dinner together almost every night. He saw Jada a lot and I was proud of how we helped him live to the end. It was painful but it makes you stronger and really appreciate life in a new way – and death as well. I never expected my Dad to die so young. He was only 52.

“The important thing was that he got to know Jada and he would love it if I left her with him – and he’d feed her and play with her. He was my Dad, a great friend, an adviser, a protector. He was also strict and taught us values that these days a lot of kids don’t get.

“We didn’t always see eye-to-eye and we had words but now I’m older I understand. There are things I do with Jada that make me understand why he did those same things to me. That’s comforting – knowing I’m passing on what he taught me.”

Unlike Wimbledon, where she has such rich memories of him, her father never visited Australia. “He wasn’t so keen on flying and he definitely didn’t like the heat, but he obviously knew what the country meant to me because of my relationship with Lleyton Hewitt.”

Clijsters was once engaged to the feisty Australian, who won Wimbledon and the US Open, but their relationship ended in 2004.

“That’s why winning last year in Melbourne meant so much to me. It was so emotional. For a long time, since the Lleyton days, people out here called me ‘Aussie Kim’. I took that as a big compliment but, like I said after the final (against China’s Li Na), I only felt I really deserved that name once I was Australian champion.

“I’ve got this special feeling towards the Australian Open because I have been there so many times as a spectator, watching Lleyton. I think that changes your relationship with a tournament when you experience it more as a spectator than just a player. It gives you a real feel for the emotion of the place. Last year the emotion was there all the time.”

Her long catalogue of injuries underpins Clijsters’s poignant realisation that a final retirement cannot be delayed much longer.

“All my time in rehab has made me appreciate tennis more than ever. I would love to do well one last time in Melbourne and my dream would be to win Wimbledon and play in the London Olympics. And of course one more US Open would be special. But the last months have taught me not to expect anything. I already know how lucky I’ve been because, whatever happens, it’s been a wonderful second career. My Dad would want me to remember that forever.”

Guardian Service

Williams withdraws from Australian Open

SEVEN-TIME grand slam winner Venus Williams has withdrawn from this month’s Australian Open saying she is not ready to return to action after being sidelined because of health reasons.

The American has not played competitively since withdrawing from the US Open in September ahead of a second-round match and has been receiving treatment for Sjogren’s syndrome, an auto-immune disease that causes fatigue and joint soreness.

The five-time Wimbledon champion said she is targeting a return to action in February.

“I regret to announce that I am withdrawing from the 2012 Australian Open. After several months of training and treatment, I am making steady progress to top competitive form,” the 31-year-old said in a statement.

The Australian Open starts next Monday.