Hasselt, Belgium—At the end of the 2007 season, Clijsters might end her tennis career and exchange tennis for motherhood. The Belgian tennis star has plans to marry her American fiancée and basketball player Brian Lynch in the summer of 2007. Clijsters confirmed that 2007 is going to be her last year as a pro tennis player.
“I will certainly play at Wimbledon next year, and after that, we will see what happens,” Kim Clijsters said in an interview held on Belgian television.
Clijsters never made a secret of the fact that she is tired of living as a pro tennis player. The daily grind of playing, the travelling, the pressure to perform, and the string of injuries have been asking a lot from the 24-year-old. She is determined to fulfill her wishes to start a family and being a young mother.
Clijsters still found enough determination to work on her comeback and play the Gaz de France Stars in Hasselt, which is close to her home in Bree. She will also play at the season-ending championships in Madrid after Patty Schnyder did not succeed to reach the spot in the final in Linz last week. The Swiss lost the semifinal to Maria Sharapova in a close 7-5, 7-5 match. The Russian took the Generali Ladies Linz title, defeating her compatriot Nadia Petrova in the final.
“I am very excited to play the year-ending championships in Madrid, but maybe it's too soon to compete against the other players,” Clijsters said in Monday’s press conference. She is hoping she can use the Gaz de France Stars tournament as a warm up and getting back into the rhythm for Madrid.
“I play week by week, and each week I will see how things are going. You have to schedule your plans for the WTA twice a year, so I have made my plans until Wimbledon. After Wimbledon, I don’t know what tournaments I will be playing. I will be playing somewhere, but I have no schedule for that. It also depends on how we organize things for our marriage after Wimbledon.”
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