There will surely be nobody within tennis who will not welcome the return of Kim Clijsters. The bubbly Belgian was always one of the most popular players on and off court, while her athletic defensive play – frequently ending in the splits – brought water to the eyes. She was nothing like as good as her compatriot Justine Henin, the winner of seven slams, but her sunny personality shone through the highs as well as the painful lows.
Her mother was a gymnast and her father a professional footballer, so the genes were all in place for her to succeed in her chosen sport, and she duly won the US Open in 2005, and climbed to No1 in the world. Belgian tennis was thrust to the international forefront as she and Henin rubbed shoulders in the top 10. "And for those of you who don't know where Belgium is, it's a small country to the north-west of France," enthused a US television commentator, seemingly confusing it with Ireland.
In all she won 34 singles titles and 11 in the doubles; then in 2007, as her body continually broke down under the strain, she called it a day at the age of 23 and began a family, daughter Jada being born last year. But there always seemed a strong possibility that she would be drawn back, and when she began to exchange emails with Lindsay Davenport, another tennis mum, currently expecting her second child after a brief comeback, the second coming of Clijsters became a certainty. "I look at this as a second career, not as a comeback. I'm now in a situation where not everything revolves around tennis 24 hours a day. We'll see how I, Jada and the others can handle this," she said.
The absence of the Williams sisters in last week's tournament in Indian Wells underlined the relative weakness at the top of the women's game at the moment. Clijsters might be expected to make a considerable impact, and is planning to play at the US Open. If she were to sweep to the title then the rest can blame Wimbledon. She was invited to join Steffi Graf, Tim Henman and Andre Agassi for an exhibition this May when the new Centre Court roof will be officially unveiled, and it was while beginning her preparations for this that she decided she could compete again at the top level.
Not that it will necessarily be straightforward. Clijsters, who will be 26 in June, has youth on her side, unlike Davenport, who turns 33 on the same day and struggled to make much impact when she returned after her first child. But the game moves on, and her injury-prone body may let her down again. It is to be hoped not for she was always fun to watch, while her return to the locker room will be roundly welcomed.
And might it be that her return will tempt back Henin, still only 26? Less likely perhaps, though the four-times French Open champion, who retired last year just before Roland Garros, has been much more sorely missed.
