Serena Williams’ great rival outlines biggest challenge ahead of possible singles return at Wimbledon
Kim Clijsters is intrigued to see how Serena Williams holds up physically if she does choose to play singles again.
The 44-year-old stole the headlines when she announced she was returning to the WTA Tour after nearly four years away.
The 23-time major winner decided to test the waters by pairing up with Victoria Mboko in the doubles at Queen’s Club and ended up winning their first match in straight sets on Tuesday.
However, their quarter-final clash with Leylah Fernandez and Laura Siegemund was cancelled after Mboko pulled out of the tournament with a knee injury – one that she suffered in the singles against Karolina Pliskova on Wednesday.
Despite this setback, Serena is set to continue her comeback in Berlin next week, where she will reportedly team up with Karolina Muchova.
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The veteran has said she is considering playing doubles at Wimbledon this summer and is yet to rule out a singles return in the future.
Now, former world No 1 Clijsters has opened up on what intrigues her the most about Serena‘s return to the WTA Tour.
She said on the Love All podcast, “You don’t get to where she is if you don’t have that super competitive mindset. I am amazed to see that she still has that. I don’t believe she is just there for the fun of the game. She wants to do well.”
Clijsters believes that Venus Williams’ run to the US Open quarter-finals in the doubles with Fernandez may have “triggered” Serena into wanting to come back again.
But as she nears her 45th birthday, how will her body hold up if she does play singles again?
The Belgian added, “The interesting thing is how will she react? It’s too soon to talk about singles but there is a part of me that thinks this is just the warm-up to get her to a level where she feels good enough or just to see, ‘Can I still play singles?’.
“That is going to be the question. How good can I move and recover after playing a few matches in a row?”
Clijsters became the first mother to be ranked world No 1 after winning the 2010 US Open and 2011 Australian Open, in what was a remarkable comeback following a two-year hiatus.
However, her second comeback was far less successful and came after more than seven years out of the game. This time, she was 38 rather than 27. Between 2020-2021, she played just one Grand Slam match and struggled to pick up wins.
Clijsters said, “The second time was a lot harder. I have had injuries throughout my career but then little things like a knee ache, I had meniscus surgery, then came back from that. I have herniated discs in my neck, and they start to bother me more.
“You don’t recover as fast as you did before. Emotionally, mentally, I enjoyed the challenge but when Covid hit, it just wasn’t worth it for me, also leaving my family.
“I have compared it to my friends who have a goal. ‘I am turning 40 or 50. I want to run a marathon once in my life’. It was almost like that is going to be my goal to see if I can come back after having three kids and play some good tennis. I am excited to watch Serena.”
Clijsters won two of her nine meetings with Serena, the last of which was in the US Open semi-finals in 2009 – a tournament where the Belgian went on to win the trophy.
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