Clijsters' Final Comeback Tour Begins Again in Den Bosch

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Clijsters' Final Comeback Tour Begins Again in Den Bosch

By Erik Gudris

Photo Credit: Mark Howard

(June 19, 2012) -- Kim Clijsters. Remember her? The woman who stunned everyone, especially Li Na, after spraining her ankle and then saving four match points to win their fourth round match in Melbourne this year hasn't been around much lately. A series of injuries over the last several months have forced the former No. 1 out of action for most of the season.

But now "Kimmie" is back this week at the Unicef Open where she's won her first two rounds as she hopes to gain some needed match play and good form heading into what appears to be the final Wimbledon of her career. Though Clijsters announced in May that the U.S. Open would be her last ever tournament, it's still hard for many to truly believe that at age 29 she really won't be coming back next year.

To say that Clijsters's second career was a success is an understatement. Since returning in 2009, she won three Majors (two U.S Opens, 1 Australian Open), won the Year-End Championships, reached No. 1 again if only for a week, and won two premier mandatory events. For many fans, Clijsters, even when she wasn't ranked at the very top, filled the void as being considered the best women's player in the world during Caroline Wozniacki's reign at No. 1, the absence of Serena Williams due to injury and while Maria Sharapova was slowly climbing her way back up the ranks.

In a time of transition for the WTA when a lot of the young hopes simply weren't winning matches or the hearts and minds of fans, there was a sense of relief that at least we had Clijsters in the final stages of events, being ever cheerful or letting us know what her daughter Jada was up to. Until she got injured again forcing her to miss several weeks or even months as she did this time last year when an ankle injury caused her to withdraw from Wimbledon and then an abdominal injury basically ended her 2011 season after Toronto. That's why there's hope that a healthy Clijsters, or at least as healthy as she's going to be, will be able to compete not only at Wimbledon and the Olympic Games but during the summer hard court season that's been so good to her, allowing her fans the chance to see her one last time.

Does Clijsters's have one more big title run left in her? That's hard to say. Though she may well just play with full abandon knowing her last days are ahead of her, her ranking, that's in the top 50's for the moment, makes her a dangerous floater in any draw. That's a similar scenario that took her to the title in New York back in 2009 and as we learned then, to simply count out Clijsters from this year's Championships due to a lack of match play would be a mistake.

Since her "miracle" run to the semis of Melbourne, Clijsters's absence has been felt on the women's tour especially with the return of Williams, the rise of Victoria Azarenka and Sharapova's ascent to No. 1. Wimbledon would be the perfect place for Clijsters to reassert her presence on the year and prove she can still challenge the very best. And since it was an exhibition match at the All-England Club in 2009 that inspired Clijsters to give the pro tour one more go, a unexpected run by her this year at the event would probably be, in some ways, a fitting and almost final chapter to a truly superb career.