Victorious, exhausted Clijsters returns home

12 September 2005

BRUSSELS — A visibly tired Kim Clijsters returned to Belgium on Monday morning after winning the US Open in New York on Saturday.

The 6-3 6-1 victory against French tennis star Mary Pierce was Clijsters’ first Grand Slam win and was the culmination of a stunning comeback from a career-threatening wrist injury last year.

The Limburg-born Clijsters — who scarcely ate or slept during the flight to Zaventem Airport — was greeted by about 100 fans, newspaper ‘De Standaard’ reported.

She will rest during the coming few days and resume training over the weekend for the WTA tournament in Luxembourg starting on 26 September.

Clijsters was initially meant to stay on longer in New York, but after 10 weeks in the US she wanted to return home to rest with family and friends.

“I have been away from home almost 10 weeks and I really didn’t want to stay away a day longer. After my win, I was kept on the move until 3am with all of the obligations,” Clijsters said.

“I have not had a lot of time to sleep. And due to the time difference, I hardly slept a wink on the plane. I am really craving some rest.”

Clijsters confirmed to newspaper ‘Het Nieuwsblad’ that despite her first Grand Slam victory on Saturday, she intends to stick with her decision to retire in two years time.

“My decision is made. Two years is a long time. It is not that I am stopping in two weeks. I want to have some fun now. Going out, spending some time at home with family and friends. In the last eight weeks I have been very concentrated on work,” she said.

“For myself, it is good to have that goal in front of me. In the following two years I will need to take care of my body. It is not like it was two or three years ago. I need to work much more, practice more.

“Hopefully my body last for another two years. But I am going to give it everything in the following two years.”

Subject: Belgian news