Mal Tamm Clijsters is trying to avoid the Kimmy slide.

FROM THE ROGERS CUP IN TORONTO – In 2003, Kim Clijsters arrived in Toronto to a heroine’s welcome, having just assumed the mantle of No. 1 after winning a title in Los Angeles.

In 2005, she had long ago relinquished that top ranking, but she went on to the win the Rogers Cup as the seventh seed, which helped propel her to a US Open title just a few weeks later – which remains her sole Slam crown.

In 2007, she may not have played in the tournament, but she still commanded a strong presence, with countrywoman Justine Henin winning the title as the world’s No. 1 , and answering lots of questions about Clijsters’ retirement three months earlier.

That brings the story to 2009. It is Henin who has been retired for more than a year while Clijsters is in town for stop number two on a much-anticipated comeback tour that’s giving women’s tennis a big boost during this year’s lead up to the US Open.

Last week, in her debut match back on tour as a wildcard entry, Clijsters upset Marion Bartoli – no small feat considering the Frenchwoman had just won Stanford. Clijsters followed that up with a victory over French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, before losing to top-ranked Dinara Safina in the quarters.
Tuesday night in Toronto, the Flemish star had a much easier opening assignment, drawing English qualifier Elena Baltacha, ranked 104th in the world. Although Clijsters cruised to a routine 6-3, 6-4 victory in one hour and eight minutes, she wasn’t overly impressed with herself.

“I think today especially it was -- yeah, just, you know, felt tough out there. I mean, as much as I was looking forward to playing here again and playing a night match, it just felt -- I felt heavy out there,” said the 26-year-old. “You know, the good thing was that my serve was going well. That's something that in Cincinnati wasn't going too well.”

While Clijsters may not have been thrilled with her movement, she did draw oohs and ahhs from the adoring crowd late in the second set with one of her trademark shoe-squeaking splits while tracking down a ball. It was such a natural instinct for her that she said she didn’t even remember doing it, before adding that she hopes to do a lot less of it in the latter part of her career.

“I just want to try to avoid it just to prevent injuries,” said the Belgian, who experienced knee to wrist problems before retiring. “It's something at the past, at the end of my career, I really felt like it could help me at some points, and it could really just, yeah, confuse my opponents sometimes and they would miss an easier shot or something, but I really felt like the points afterwards I really struggled just because I felt like my hip injuries were something that were coming from the sliding and just the pressure out there with that shot. So I'm going to try to not use it, but I know, if I'm in a tough match and the atmosphere is there and everything, of course it's going to come out. It's not that I can't do it, but I'm just going to try to hopefully be fast enough to get there without the slide.”

Clijsters said one of the reasons she did so well in Cincinnati is that she had months to prepare for that return, with August 10 circled on her calendar long ago. Now, she explained, it’s time to focus on consistency, because the emotions that fueled her successful debut can’t last week after week.
“You build it (the return in Cincinnati) up a little bit more,” she said. “You train towards that, but then -- yeah, I was very happy with the level that I got. It's not that I was on a high or anything. I was just really focused on what I had to do out there. But it's going to be up and down, and that's something that I have to realize, although that's not what I want, you know. I want it to go well and I want everything to go smooth, but that's obviously something that's not realistic to think about right now.”

Partly because of that, she’s not setting any goals for herself on this comeback and could be hard-pressed in her afternoon match against Victoria Azarenka, who really needs a big win after fading in her two tournaments past Wimbledon.But before she thinks too much about that match, the priority for the “new” Kim Clijsters is to race back to the hotel for precious time with her young daughter Jada.

“In the past I didn't mind hanging around and watching other matches. Now I just have so much else to look forward to when I go back to the hotel room,” she said.

© TennisReporters.net 2009