Clijsters on Comeback: "I Intend to Keep Going"

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Clijsters on Comeback: "I Intend to Keep Going"

Kim Clijsters was just getting her comeback started when the Coronavirus put the kibosh on the 2020 tennis season, but the depressing situation has not forced the Hall of Fame Belgian to retreat. She still intends to continue her comeback, even if tennis isn’t able to continue in 2020.

“I'm still motivated. I hope we can still play this season. But even if we don't, I intend to keep going," the Belgian tennis star, who will turn 37 next month, told Het Laatse Nieuws (HLN).

The mother of three and four-time major champion says she’ll be ready if the US Open happens this season. Clijsters is still searching for her first win of the season. She fell in Dubai to Garbine Muguruza and in Monterrey to Johanna Konta, but showed glimpses of her former greatness in each contest.

The Belgian completed a first successful comeback after two and a half years off the tour that began in 2007. She had originally retired with one major title and left the sport to give birth to her daughter Jada. Just two months into the comeback she had already claimed a US Open title; she went on to win three more majors in just over three seasons, topping out in the rankings at No.2 in the world before she retired in 2012 again.

Clijsters says she is eager to get her "third career" on track, whenever the sport is ready to begin again.

"If the US Open can happen, I want to be ready," she said in a recent interview with Blair Henley for the International Tennis Hall of Fame. "I would also be happy if I had to play on court 18. I don't have to be out on Arthur Ashe."

Clijsters has not played at the US Open since 2012.

“In a way it will almost feel like 20 years ago, or fifteen years ago, from when I was out there,” the three-time US Open champion said. “It’s like a new story. It’s exciting. I look forward to it.”