THE tennisreporters.net NEWSLETTER: MONDAY, MARCH 1, NO, 73

Will 'too conservative' Clijsters Slam
before she becomes a mom?
'We'll all have to see Serena at a tournament before believing that she'll play and enter; Maybe it's tougher for Venus than she expected'

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Siggi Bucher

Kim has won many titles, but she's still 0-4 in Slam finals.

Kim is off to another Clijsters-like start to the year, with 14-1 match record and two titles, but neither of them Grand Slams.

Currently practicing at home in Bree with fiancé Lleyton Hewitt, Clijsters will next play the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, Calif., March 8-21, where she's the defending champion.

Clijsters has been a tremendous Tier I and II player over the past two years, but has consistently come up short at the Slams. At the '04 Aussie Open final, she gave her nemesis, Justine Henin-Hardenne, all she could handle in a three-set loss, but still didn't show the mental toughness of a great player at closing time.
Clijsters knows that the next time around, she has to keep her weapons unholstered. Being conservative is getting her nowhere.

"Yes. I think so, especially with my serve," she said. "I have the feeling that ever since I've had my shoulder problem [in '02] something in my mind still doesn't have that sense of going for my serve every time. I still do exercises but I still don't really get that feeling back that my serve is up on top and at my best. I haven't ever had that feeling since I had my injury. That's one of the main reasons that my serve has let me down in a few matches."

Clijsters – who is now 0-4 in Slam finals and has lost the last three to Henin-Hardenne – all but admits that her 21-year-old countrywoman has become a better player than she is. The question for the 20-year-old Clijsters is how far she is willing to go to improve, which will mean to not only having the guts to whack big serves instead of just spinning them in at three-quarters speed, but also adding a competent net attack and be more aggressive with her returns. Then, of course, she'll also have to really believe that she can take down Henin-Hardenne and the Williamses at a major.

"I definitely don't think that I under perform," Clijsters said. "I [used to think] think I could overpower [Justine]. Now, she has put the puzzle together and she's really worked on her game and become a lot stronger. … They can write whatever they want to. I know personally what I have to work on. And losing those kind of matches makes me want to play harder, train harder. In a way, it's a very motivating thing. I try to see that as a positive thing. I go to the gym now and what I train for is to try to get to the Grand Slams and try to make sure that I'm strong enough and fit enough."

'Maybe it's tougher for Venus than she expected'
Clijsters does not appear to be convinced that the Williamses will dominate the game again. Venus hasn't reached a semifinal in three tournaments back this year and it can certainly be argued that Serena – who hasn't played since injuring her knee last August – has lost a fair amount of interest in her sport.

"When they came on the tour, they just overwhelmed people with their power and presence on the court as well," Clijsters said. "I think maybe for one or two years they were really dominating and they were playing all the finals against each another. And that's when players like Justine and myself, we decided to work harder and play hard. Like even now, Venus is struggling. I know she has a hard time coming back and it's just because players are used to playing against her, used to playing a high level of tennis.

"I still think Serena is Serena. I think she's got the perfect game and after a couple of matches, be back at where she was when she was stopped – when she was No. 1. But that's what I thought about Venus as well. Venus, at the moment, is struggling a little. It's obviously harder than you think. When they were dominating for such a long time they made tennis look so easy. Someone forgets how much actual work you have to do. Even if you're out for a few months, it's not that easy to come back and regain the level that you were at before. That has shown with Venus. She has lost a few matches now and it's tough. And it's maybe tougher for her than she may have expected."

Serena's camp said that she would be back to play Doha this week and, lo and behold, she pulled out with the flu. Given that she has played through worse injuries and illnesses when she was dominating, Serena's pullout has led to speculation that she simply hasn't trained enough to be comfortable enough to return. Her next scheduled event is the NASDAQ-100 in Miami, some three weeks away.

"Maybe she's feeling like she's not practicing well enough yet," said Clijsters. "I don't know what the real problem was, why she pulled out or what the real reason was. I think we'll all have to see her at the tournament before believing that she'll play and enter."

However, Kim realizes that just like when Serena and Venus were dominating every tournament they entered, the fact that she and Henin-Hardenne have been virtually unbeatable since August is ill-tidings for a sport that would like to brag about its depth. In her title runs in Paris and Antwerp, Clijsters was only pushed hard twice. The inside-the-baseline slugger would like a step up in competition and having the Williamses around week-in, week-out would answer that problem.

She said. "It's fun to win the tournaments and everything. That is what makes me work harder. That is what makes me train harder to get ready for those big matches. You need those big matches to keep you going. That is something that I definitely miss. I miss the matches against Venus and Serena as well. I think the crowd definitely misses having them around and seeing those matches again."

SISTER ACT, BELGIAN STYLE
Like Venus, Clijsters also has a younger playing sister, Elke, who by no means is her "Serena" in ability. The 19-year-old Elke hasn't won a main-draw match on tour this year and is even struggling on the satellites. By the time Kim was 19, she was already a Slam finalist and had bagged numerous titles. Kim says that Elke will soon have to make a decision as to what her future holds, but for now, she'll keep plugging.

Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA

Kim is talking about kids before tying the knot with Lleyton Hewitt.

"I would like to see her do well and I would like to see her where I am, but I see that she's happy and she doesn't have any problems with it," Kim said. "She's still training hard and she's still wanting to work hard.

"We're two completely different kind of persons and players and I don't think you can compare us. Venus and Serena ... I honestly don't think you will ever, ever in the history of tennis have two sisters like them. I'm her sister and she's my sister but there is nothing else you can compare us with. We have completely different styles of tennis, different builds, everything."

It's now been five years since Kim broke out as a pro in Antwerp, when she reached the quarters as a 15-year-old. Perhaps that's why she's already thinking ahead to motherhood in four to five years time, a young age to give birth by modern standards, but not be her own family's. However, becoming a parent doesn't mean that's she going to stop playing.

"It's something that I really look forward to," she said. "I have a very young mom as well and I think that's something that I would like to be. I'm not going to say that I may quit completely. Who knows, I may try to come back. I don't know. Look at Sandrine Testud. She was saying, 'Oh, I'll never come back. I will have my kids and I'll stay home and be a housewife.' And it's only been a year and she's back already. So, it's something that I would really like."

Hewitt and Clijsters are currently investigating potential sites for their wedding, which will likely be held in April of 2005. Hopefully for Clijsters, she will have gotten the albatross of being the "best player not to have won a Slam" off her back before she gives birth to baby Rusty/Rusti.

"That is something that I would like to do," she said. "But you never know what is happening with your career. That's something that I'm thinking about."

"I know if I work hard, I have the talent for it," she said. "I'm not going to hide that. I feel if I work hard that it will pay off. I remember the tough times and I worked hard. Look where I've gone from there."