Former world No.1 Kim Clijsters has said she doesn’t know when her next tournament will be after announcing a short break from the WTA Tour on Monday.
The 37-year-old Belgian confirmed that she will not be heading to the European clay at the moment after opting instead to stay in New York with her family. Clijsters’ announcement follows her first round loss to Ekaterina Alexandrova at the US Open. In that match she clinched the first set and was a break up in the decider before losing.
“I have decided to spend the next few weeks with my family. NYC showed how much progress I’ve made and also what I need to work on,” Clijsters wrote on Twitter.
“I’m not sure where I’ll play next but will let you know soon. For now, back to training and school lunches.”
Clijsters is currently in the process of her second comeback to the Tour. The Belgian first retired from the sport in May 2007 before returning two years later. She would continue playing for another five years before calling it quits at the 2012 US Open following a lengthy battle with injuries.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a five-month halt to professional tennis, the four-time Grand Slam champion has only been able to play three matches this year. Prior to New York she also lost to Garbine Muguruza at the Dubai Tennis Championships and Johanna Konta at the Monterrey Open. During the summer she also played in the World Team Tennis tournament in America.
Following her latest clash against Alexandrova, Clijsters gaved a mixed response when asked by one reporter if she was encouraged to continue her comeback.
“To be honest, I’m not sure at the moment yet. Yeah, we’ll see,” she said.
“It’s been a strange year obviously. When I started in Dubai and Monterrey, I was excited to play more tournaments, have the family travel with me. But that obviously didn’t happen. We’ll see what the future holds.”
Clijsters has won 41 WTA titles so far in her career with the most recent occurring back in 2011 at the Australian Open. She has spent a total of 20 weeks as world No.1 which is a longer period than Venus Williams, Jennifer Capriati and Jelena Jankovic.
