Former world No. 1 Kim Clijsters announced Tuesday that she is retiring from tennis. It’s her third time making such an announcement.
Her career has spanned 25 years and 52 total titles between singles and doubles, including six Grand Slam titles – four in singles, two in doubles.
Clijsters made a comeback in 2019, when she said she would attempt to return to the WTA Tour for the third time. She played in her first match in more than seven years in Dubai in February 2020.
“I don’t feel like I need to prove anything, but I want to challenge myself and I want to be strong again,” she told WTA Insider at the time. “This is my marathon. This is where I’m saying ‘OK, let’s try this.’”
She initially retired from tennis in 2007 but returned in 2009, winning the US Open in just her third tournament back. She successfully defended that title one year later and won the Australian Open in 2011, making a brief return to world No. 1.
The Belgian then announced her second retirement in September 2012.
On Tuesday, she told WTA Insider that retirement has been “on my mind for awhile” as she and husband Brian begin to settle into life with their three children in New Jersey.
“I still love to hit the ball. With my schedule, three, four days was enough to keep my rhythm under control but definitely not good enough if I decided to play another tournament,” she said. “Say, if I picked Australia, it’s three, four weeks. That’s just not possible at this stage in our family life.
“Life just sort of takes over, right?”
Clijsters is one of few players to have completed the “Sunshine Double,” which is reserved for players who win Indian Wells and Miami in the same season. Current world No. 1 Iga Swiatek became the fourth player to do so in early April.