Hingis backs Kim
TENNIS great Martina Hingis is fascinated by Kim Clijsters’s comeback and has applauded the former world No.1 for “putting herself out there”.
Seven years after retiring for a second time, Clijsters announced two months ago that she was plotting a return to the WTA Tour in 2020.
“I don’t feel like I need to prove anything, but I want to challenge myself and I want to be strong again. This is my marathon. This is where I’m saying OK, let’s try this,” the four-time major winner said.
Hingis was as surprised as anyone.
“She’s 36 years old, a threetime mother. I think that’s a very ambitious challenge to come back,” the Swiss said at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen.
“But I’m sure she won’t come back until she’s ready. When she feels she’s ready, she’ll play some good tennis.
“I’m actually excited to see how she’s going to do. I mean, speaking as a mother, it’s not that easy after having a child and everything.”
Hingis doubts Clijsters, who won her last grand slam title at the 2011 Australian Open, will challenge for more major spoils but is not ruling out the Belgian making some impact.
“The game has evolved. The last time she won was 2011 or 2013. It wasn’t yesterday,” said Hingis, who limited her comeback in 2006 to doubles before having her first child this year.
Clijsters stunned the tennis world by winning the 2009 US Open as an unranked wildcard after having her first child.
In doing so, she became the first mother to win a slam since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980, and then added two more and returned to world No.1 before quitting and having two more children.
Not even Serena Williams has managed to win a major since having her daughter two years ago, losing the past two Wimbledon finals and past two US Open deciders.