Former world No.1 Kim Clijsters says she ‘is not sure yet’ if she is encouraged to continue playing on the Tour following her exit from the US Open.
The 37-year-old, who returned to professional tennis earlier this year, was ousted 3-6, 7-5, 6-1, by Russian 21st seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in what was her first taste of Grand Slam tennis since 2012. Clijsters did have opportunities during the match but failed to capitalise on them due to the resilience of her opponent. In the second set she was broken while behind 5-6. Then in the decider the Belgian broke immediately at the start before losing six games in a row to exit the tournament.
“I think leading up to the match today I didn’t know my opponent. I just knew from the last few days watching videos of her,” said Clijsters. “Then there was a matter of trying to get a feel for it out there, see how fast the ball is she hits, see how accurate her serve is, kind of get a feel for all that.”
“I felt like I had a couple chances early on in the second set where I had some breakpoints. Kind of lost my footing a little bit where I had a shorter ball, missed it. Then she started serving a lot better, I felt. She started returning better. Was just missing less I think than in the first set.’
“The third set, I felt like she was, yeah, just seeing the ball very well, just hitting her targets all the time.”
Due to the WTA Tour taking a five-month break because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is only the third match Clijsters has played this season. Earlier this year she lost to Garbine Muguruza at the Dubai Tennis Championships and then to Johanna Konta at the Monterrey Open. Both of those losses were in straight sets. Clijsters also played in the TeamTennis tournament during this summer.
Describing her comeback as a ‘process,’ the multiple Grand Slam champion is staying coy over what her future plans may be. Speaking to reporters in New York about if she is still encouraged to continue playing, Clijsters gave a mixed response.
“To be honest, I’m not sure at the moment yet. Yeah, we’ll see,” she said.
“It’s been a strange year obviously. When I started in Dubai and Monterrey, I was excited to play more tournaments, have the family travel with me. But that obviously didn’t happen. We’ll see what the future holds.”
Although Clijsters can’t be written off just yet as she also acknowledged her latest match had its positives. Providing her wih a good foundation to work on in the future.
“The match that I played so far, out of the three matches I played officially on tour, I think this by far was my best one,” the Belgian reflected.
“Looking at that, I think that’s the most positive thing, is looking at the things that have to be better and keep building on the positive things.”
Clijsters has won 41 WTA titles during her career.
