Critics have always said Kim Clijsters lacks the killer instinct that defines greats like Monica Seles and Serena Williams. She rose to No. 1 anyway. The Belgian, who won the U.S. Open in 2005 with her well-placed ground strokes, retired in 2007 so she could have a baby. But in March 2009, in the lead-up to an exhibition match at Wimbledon, Clijsters, then 25, announced that she was returning, partly to help cope with the loss of her father, who had died of skin cancer two months earlier. “Coming back helped me get rid of a lot of emotions,” she says. “I was able to talk with my trainer and my coach about my dad, and it helped me to grieve in a way.” In only her third tournament after giving birth, she won the 2009 U.S. Open. She struck another blow for working moms by defending her title in 2010 and winning the 2011 Australian Open. She credits daughter Jada for her rise to No. 2 in the rankings: “Being a mother is much harder than being an athlete. Everything has to be organized a lot better now, so I have a better approach toward my tennis career.”
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Rebel, survivor, pinup, sweetheart, pit bull, rock chick, ice queen: female tennis players sure seem to get labeled a lot. And while that kind of media sizzle makes tournaments like Wimbledon a hot ticket, it doesn't begin to sum up the resilience and power of the sport's biggest stars. Find out what drives the greatest players of the past 40 years, from Billie Jean King to Li Na
Kim Clijsters
Full List
Wimbledon Women
- Li Na
- Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
- Andrea Petkovic
- Petra Kvitova
- Caroline Wozniacki
- Yanina Wickmayer
- Victoria Azarenka
- Agnieszka Radwanska
- Bethanie Mattek-Sands
- Ana Ivanovic
- Samantha Stosur
- Vera Zvonareva
- Maria Sharapova
- Kim Clijsters
- Justine Henin
- Serena Williams
- Venus Williams
- Martina Hingis
- Monica Seles
- Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario
- Gabriela Sabatini
- Steffi Graf
- Tracy Austin
- Martina Navratilova
- Chris Evert
- Evonne Goolagong
- Virginia Wade
- Rosie Casals
- Margaret Court
- Billie Jean King