Some time ago, thinking it would be interesting to make a post that would consist of photos of female tennis players when they were kids, I started searching the Internet. Unfortunately, the only childhood photos I found were ones of Ana Ivanovic, so I gave up the idea. Now, completely unexpectedly, browsing the website of newly-wed and mother-to-be Kim Clijsters, I've come across some of her first photos with a tennis racket. Isn't she cute? Read more »
Retired tennis star Kim Clijsters married US basketball player Brian Lynch in a secret wedding ceremony in Brussels, on July 13th. She got married only a few days after the announcement of her pregnancy. I found these photos via wodjo, but you can see some more photos at Kim's official website.
Kim Clijsters has retired in May, after her short but successful career, in order to focus on her private life. Former world No. 1 is about to marry U.S. basketball player Brian Lynch, and the latest news is that she is pregnant.
Kim’s father said: "If everything goes well, then Kim will become a mother next year and me a grandfather. Yippee." (source: Reuters, photo: Getty Images)
Even though everyone was dissappointed by Kim's early retirement, I think that after all she made the right choice. I wish her all the best!
Kim Clijsters of Belgium was supposed to quit after the tournament in Stuttgart, taking place in October, but she changed her mind and retired May 6, 2007. Even though still in the top 5, she decided to quit after losing to a qualifier Julia Vakulenko in Poland and in that way failing to defend her title.
Former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles had too many injuries in her career, so she decided to leave tennis at the young age of 23. "It's tiring to get out of bed and to use an hour just to warm up stiff muscles in the morning," she wrote on her online diary. "The constant injuries and continual rehabilitation … it makes it all even more difficult to go on." All those injuries lead to tiredness and lack of motivation. In addition, she's had enough of packing and unpacking, enough of jet lag and gossips in newspapers.
"It is time for a new life," she said. "Time for marriage. Time for children? Time also to relax and to play with my dogs. And especially to spend a lot of time with my family and friends."
The first Belgian player to be ranked No. 1 in the world won 34 career singles titles and 11 doubles titles. She has one Grand Slam title having won the 2005 U.S. Open.
Kim Clijsters will stay in our minds as not only a great player, but also a great person.
How often do injured players retire when closer to victory, and how often when they are losing? Which players are more likely to retire, and which stay in match even though they are losing?
Tennis Magazine, who did this research, took into account the top 20 players and calculated the proportion of times they retired when close to losing a match. The aim of their work was to determine which players retire when they see that defeat is near, which, as they believe, tells a lot about a person's attitude. So, matches where a player retired before the completion of the opening set, as well as those when a player withdrew while less than two games behind, were not included.
Some players are more prone to injuries, but you can see that some of them withdraw when they see that they can't win. It's evident that player's retirement affects the opponent as well as spectators. The opponent can't enjoy the victory as much, because things were left unfinished.
One of favorite WTA players, Kim Clijsters, had lots of injuries in her career, but retired while losing only once. Ana Ivanovic, Shahar Peer, Nicole Vaidisova and Martina Hingis have never left the match when behind.
On the other hand, an unbelieveable 11.4 % of Jelena Jankovic's defeats are retirements while losing, which is more than one in every nine losses. Players following Jankovic are Serena Williams and Anna Chakvetadze.
A spokesperson for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, who saw the results of the research, said: "There is no evidence that WTA Tour players do anything other than compete their very best." However, John Lloyd, British Davis Cup captain and former Australian Open finalist, claims that "really good champions don't feel they're going to lose until the last point, so they never throw in the towel."
I don't really agree with the view that players who are prone to retiring while losing are players with worse attitude and not real champions. It shows a certain part of their character, but it doesn't make them worse people, or worse players. They are simply like that (it's normal to lose interest when you see you have no chance to win), and after all, it's not forbidden to withdraw while behind.
(more at Tennis Magazine website)
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