Remember the Comeback Queens of tennis, Kim Clijsters? At first she was announced her retirement on May 6, 2007 to start family with American basketball, Brian Lynch. And two years after that she decided to return to tennis and preferred to think her comeback as her second career, because she has gone through several things like marriage, birth of her daughter and the recent death of her father, which is different than her first career.
She talks to CNN about her second career inspiration and her tight schedule to practice tennis and mothering her daughter, Jada Ellie.
First inspiration to return to tennis was an invitation to play in a Wimbledon gala event in May 2009, she tells, “I started practicing and it felt like every day it started get a little bit better and that hunger and motivation came back,
“I didn’t tell anybody for the first few days because I was really surprised myself by how much I was enjoying playing tennis. I spoke to Brian first and he said ‘talk to your coach, train and see how it goes.’
“It was a tough decision, but once I made my mind up I was just ready to go from the beginning and I was really motivated to get back into shape.”
Lindsay Davenport, an American tennis player also helped encourage her to go ahead and spirit as living example. Davenport also a top-ranked player who returned after a year off to have a child and she was won three of the first four tournaments and rose to world no. 21.
But what Clijsters achieve is more amazing, she ranked world no. 3.
Many of people admires her achievement, one of them is a former British tennis player, Annabel Croft, she said, “What Kim achieved was unbelievable. Motherhood appears to have given her a different perspective on life and where tennis fits into it.
“However I think Kim is capable of winning the U.S. Open again but it will be very tough to repeat it with so many other great players in the draw. She will definitely have the crowd behind her. It’s going to be a great tournament.”
A Belgian tennis player is very success in combining a motherhood and her marvelous tennis career. Not easy as it looks, but need a hard work to manage her time between family and career.
There are times Clijsters tends to get practice done early in the morning before settling down to breakfast with Jada. Thankfully she got help from the nanny, she employs who travels around with her on tour along with plenty of baby-related paraphernalia.
“It’s definitely a lot more busy,” she said. “In the past, whenever I was done with practicing or massage or treatment or working out, I had all the time to myself and now I’m sharing that with Jada.
“But it’s a pleasure having her around and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
“We travel with a ‘Babycook
A 27 years old supermom would love to add more children but she has her own goal for now to achieved, she said,
“We would love to have more children but I think for now my goal is to try to make it to the Olympics in London 2012. Obviously Jada’s going to have to go to school at some point as well, so that’s really important to us.”
But it doesn’t mean she put her family behind her career, she affirms
“I didn’t come back to play tennis to put my family situation in a bad situation. But as long as it’s going well and it’s working for us then we’ll keep going.”
