Kim Clijsters Delivers For Mets, Can She Close At US Open?

By Joe McDonald
© Marc Levine

FLUSHING MEADOWS, NY – New York Mets pitcher Mike Pelfrey threw a gem of a game Friday night, but none of the pitches he threw were as good looking as the first one of the game. Defending US Open champion Kim Clijsters toook the mound to throw out the first pitch. With the Open starting Monday, what better way to celebrate the one of the biggest sporting events in the United States than to tie it in to the National Pastime.

Yet, you can forgive Clijsters for throwing it high and outside, as she is new to the game.

"It was fun," she said, adding that her husband, New Jersey native and long-time Mets fan, Brian Lynch is a big baseball fan. "I'm not saying I'll sit there for hours and watch the whole game, but obviously once in a while I'll watch the highlights on the website or whatever. I watch some highlights."

Wearing the Mets' home jersey bearing the No. 4 once worn by fan favorite Rusty Staub, Clijsters will be playing for US Open title No. 3 at Arthur Ashe Stadium, a short walk across the boardwalk from the CitiField home of the Mets.

Fun, sure, but that ended Friday. Now she has a title to defend.

A year ago, the Belgian wild card returned to the Open for the first time since she beat Mary Pierce to capture the 2005 Flushing Meadows major. Playing just the third tournament of her comeback, there was little pressure on Clijsters, who beat both Venus and Serena Williams before sweeping Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets in the final. This year, Serena is out with a foot injury, Clijsters' arch rival, Justine Henin, is sidelined with a right elbow injury and the pressure has shifted squarely on the shoulder of the woman who looked like she might actually might actually be able to help a sagging Mets' bullpen, but can she close out another US Open title?

"My attitude isn't any different compared to last year," Clijsters said. "Obviously last year had probably a few more unanswered questions but this year I know what I have to do if I want to try and do as well as I did last year."



The second-seeded Clijsters is one of four US Open champions in the field along with Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova and is the best hard-court player in the draw.

Clijsters won her 38th Tour singles title earlier this month in Cincinnati, rallying past Sharapova in the final, and now will be looking for her third US Open title, also taking the 2005 championship. A win in Flushing Meadows would give her a fourth championship in 2010 with titles in Brisbane in January, and Miami in April when she crushed fifth-seeded Venus, 6-2, 6-1, in the final.

Yet, she lost to Nadia Petrova during the third round of the Australian Open, and was forced to withdraw from Roland Garros with a foot injury. She had a Grand Slam comeback at Wimbledon reaching the quarterfinals, yet lost in three sets to Vera Zvonareva, who beat Clijsters again in Montreal last weekend.

But Flushing is home away from home for the Belgian. It’s not only the site of her two Grand Slam wins; her husband's family still lives New Jersey, where the couple maintains a home with their two year-old daughter Jada Ellie, who spent part of the summer playing with her cousins.

And as she returned to Flushing Meadows, the memories of 2009 came right back to her.

"You relive the details a little more, the things you forgot faster than the title and the celebration," Clijsters said. "It's the little things when you come back you pick up a little more. They make it nice."

And this year, the second seed is regarded as a favorite, especially since Serena is MIA. Can Clijsters withstand the pressure that comes with expectations?

"Obviously there are a lot of other players who have as big a chance as anybody to win this year," Clijsters said. "It's a very interesting US Open this year."

Indeed. Venus, seeking her first trip to the final since 2003, is seeded No. 3 with three-time New Haven champion, and last year’s runner-up Caroline Wozniacki holding the top spot.

"She is a great player," Clijsters said of Wozniacki. "You don't get there by luck. She definitely deserves to be up there."

So it’s going to be a tough fight. But if Clijsters is able to defend her title, she will definitely cap off a banner year and who knows, maybe the Mets will bring her back, this time to take some batting practice.

 
Joe McDonald is the Publisher and Editor of Tennis Ledger, where this story first originated.