OFF: Should Kim Clijsters Have Skipped the Farewell Tour?
Posted by Aaress Lawless on May 4, 2007 | Print
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Kim Clijsters’ clay court season was virtually non-existent this year. In fact, it was so quick that if you blinked, you might have missed it. For the former world number one, her entire 2007 clay court season was composed of two sets - and she lost both of them.
I’ve been thinking a lot about Clijsters over the past 24 hours, especially after writing just a few vague thoughts about her so-called farewell tour yesterday. Nexty sent us some good thoughts about Kim’s performance today, so I’m going to give this week’s edition of Open Forum Friday to your opinions on whether she should have just quit while she was ahead or play the tennis equivalent of a lame-duck year.
Today’s question:
No doubt we’ll come across a lot of varied opinions, but I’m interested in hearing all sides.
As for my own opinion, let’s look at Nexty’s comments first:
Was it a good idea to continue after this year’s Antwerp? What can we expect from Wimbledon? And how do you feel, as an American about her withdrawal from the US Open?”
Even when there was no “Brian Lynch” on the scene, it was still pretty obvious that Kim Clijsters was planning on retiring early. Maybe the break-up with Lleyton Hewitt made her think twice about priorities, who knows? But, we’ve come to expect that top players should try to go out at the top of their games, like Steffi Graf or even Lindsay Davenport who retired for one of the best reasons in the world.
With Clijsters, the tables have turned. She has spent more time talking about withdrawing from tournaments than she has entering them, plus since Antwerp, her last event at home, we’ve not seen anything spectacular.
If she had wanted to make a memorable exit, Antwerp would have been the place to do it. Even though she lost the final, she still won the admiration, love, and life-long support from her fans worldwide after her emotional speech.
But for Clijsters, it looks like this year is more about the journey than the destination. If she wanted the big final hoorah, she would have done at Antwerp. No more losses. No more critics. They could have bottled up some of her tears, stuck them in her “Kimuseum”, and that would have been the end of a good career.
For me, it is easy to understand why Kim didn’t want to end it right there. She has some unfinished business on Tour. Plus she is not called “Miss Congeniality” for nothing. She wants to have a chance to say goodbye to the fans who supported her for the last ten years.
Even though I support her decision to play her final year, I do question her decision to skip the Grand Slams. The four majors are mandatory, regardless of how much you like or dislike the surface.
For example, Maria Sharapova is not a big clay fan - would that give her the right to wake up one morning and say, “Dad, forget that red stuff. It gets all over my dress and my game stinks on the surface, so I’ll just rest another two weeks so I can play Wimbledon at my best.”
Sharapova would be roasted alive if she tried to pull that stunt, so why should it work for Clijsters? The only legitimate excuse for skipping a Grand Slam tennis tournament is injury or extreme family situations.
Plus, it is not as if Kim plans to call it quits after Wimbledon - she is still planning to play Luxembourg and Stuttgart in the fall.
Going back to Nexty’s question, I don’t think Clijsters will be a threat at Wimbledon. Not because I think she is a lame-duck, but because she will not have had as much match-time as her peers before the tournament. Winning a Grand Slam out of the blue is just a little difficult, unless of course you are a Williams’ sister, and not having any significant matches between Miami and Eastbourne will probably come back to haunt Kim after Wimbledon.
I was disappointed to hear that she is skipping Flushing Meadows, not just because I’m an American, but because she is a former champion that never defended or tried to recapture her title.
Anyway folks, that’s my $0.02. Take it away in the comments!
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Chris | May 4, 2007 | Reply
I’ll KISS: she can play the tournaments she wants to, but I still think she’s a moron for skipping the home of her only Slam.
I think she would have retired if she had won the Antwerp final. No more Slams, no nothing. Alas.
JC | May 5, 2007 | Reply
If she wasn’t planning on really PLAYING this year, she might as well have told us last year would be her “farewell journey”. As to Wimbledon–it’s Kim’s poorest surface and she’ll be going in with very little match play. I don’t expect her to survive the 4th round.
cyandream | May 5, 2007 | Reply
As long as Kim is up front about her plans which IMO she has been, I have no problem with her picking and choosing her tournaments. She has given the TD’s plenty of warning.
As far as her loss in Warsaw, I think way too much has been made of it. So she lowt to a qualifer who was playing her 4th match at the tourney and was acclimated to the clay. I can’t imagine Kim spent a lot of time practicing on the dirt for one tournament. She only lost by a break of serve, and from the stats simply looks like she couldn’t get a groove on her serve. I’m not all that surprised she lost to Julia. I don’t think it’s an indication she should have skipped this tournament, any more than Nadia losing to Mara means Nadia should have quit tennis earler.
As far as Wimbledon, there reallly aren’t a lot of warm up tournaments or preparations for it anyway. It’s not a surface you necessarily practice to. I see no reason why depending on her draw, she can’t get to at least the SF’s again. As far as skipping clay to concentrate on grass, well she’s in fine company there because numerous players including Lendl, Navratilova, etc have done so.
As far as skipping the USO, sure I’m disappointed. OTOH, she’s not Justine, I don’t think she would spend most of her honeymoon practicing, so the odds of her “defending” her 2005 cup are low. I can see why she would want her last memories of Flushing Meadows to be her championship. And I can’t imagine she feels the need to show to the USO to make her good-byes that she feels for the smaller, friendlier and cozier tournaments.
Nexty | May 5, 2007 | Reply
Thaks Aaresse for answeing..I have nothing to add, things are clear enough!