kim clijsters

Previewing last weeks Bartoli v Clijsters match, Matthew Cronin wrote on the US Open website..

Cronin Wrote

"How's this for sour apples? While discussing her loss to Clijsters in Cincinnati, the Belgian's first match back after more than two years off, Bartoli said she played badly, which was primarily the reason why she lost, not the 2005 US Open champ's excellent play.

In one sense, that's an understandable comment, as the Frenchwoman believes herself to be an elite player, and many top performers, including defending US Open champion Serena, usually state that their lack of performance is the reason for their losses, not their foe's superior play on the day. But in another sense, the comment comes off as dismissive because Clijsters is a former No. 1 who owns many more titles and way more victories over the top players than Bartoli does. Even though Bartoli was in great form in knocking off Venus Williams to win Stanford, she does not own Clijsters' sizeable resume and should be a bit more humble."

Marion Said

At face value, Cronin's argument looks credible. However he doesn't offer a direct quote to substantiate his point.

This is what Marion actually said following the Cincinnati match;

"You know, two years after - without playing a match is pretty amazing the level she (Clijsters) has already right now."

"I guess the level of play, yes, it's inside the top 10 already."

"When I was putting her to be wide on the forehand she was coming up with some amazing shot on the forehand side. So I went to the backhand, and, you know, it was a little bit better. That surprised me a little bit. But the way she was moving and hitting the points and her physical strengths after two years without playing a match, it's just amazing."

Selective Quotes

It's clear Marion paid ample tribute to her oppponent after the Cincinnati match. Yes, she also offered mitigating factors for the loss, but what's wrong with that? After all, that's what the media solicit. They want explanations.

Now I can't say which comments Cronin had in mind when he wrote this, he doesn't disclose. But someone could equally perform the same selective exegesis of a Clijsters press conference text (or any other players text for that matter) and skew the tone.   

Sexing things up seems to be regular currency with Cronin's style of late, for all the mock morality he expressed in last week's preview, he was still quick to run with Jeltoligate a few weeks earlier; that was the.. I always beat her.. Bartoli's going to get it tomorrow.. spat between Marion and Jankovic. A non story, which Marion later clarified as resulting from a misquote. Third party bloggers such as myself depend on reliable first hand reports from journalists such as Cronin, or else we get it wrong too, and go way off message.

Also it's worth saying I didn't notice Cronin rush to lecture Jankovic when she told his Tennis Reporters site “I think I’m the best player and I should always think like that,” but maybe that's just it, Jankovic told Tennis Reporters ..

It's double standards. Why single out Marion Bartoli?

(Jankovic has reached one grand slam final, same as Marion)

Kid Gloves

Just as a general point, all tennis journalists know very well that because of the international nature of the sport, English is not most players first language, and generous latitude should be used accordingly when handling players press conference statements and their intended meaning - the benefit of the doubt at the very least.

Much as I am hugely impressed by players command of the English language, marion included, and the way in which the modern player shows media-friendly, light, shade, and nuance in their statements, getting their message accross in a professional manner 99% of the time, we still gotta remember they are only young people, some still teenagers, they are not 50 year old politicians (thank goodness.. bored already).

Demonize

Just to finish, in a country so adherant to a good guy bad guy mentality, demonising a player on the official US Open website in advance of the players stepping on court in front of 10,000 people, may add to his sense of entertainment frisson, but it's irresponsible journalism. Most casual visitors to the tournament website won't have any knowledge of the finer points of press transcripts or off-the-cuff remarks allegedly made. Visitors have neither the time nor the inclination to look at who said what, when where why and how. Instead they depend on his expertise and perspective. It's therefore frustrating that Matthew Cronin an accomplished journalist that I respect (I voted for him in last year's On The Baseline top journalist poll) should choose to make a story out of little. Besides, he himself describes Marion as spunky, so what does he expect, apple pie and motherhood? I think that market is already cornered....

2009 US OPEN
2nd Round

Match Summary

High octane tennis from the racquet of Marion Bartoli enabled the French number 1 to dictate play throughout the first set of this highly anticipated encounter. Marion looked to have found those much hoped for solutions against the Belgian, and for the first time in four meetings took a set off the former US Open champion - applying relentless pressure on the former world number 1. At times Marion played top class tennis befitting a top class player, and that's encouraging.

However from 40-0 up in her first service game of the 2nd set things began to falter, "Unfortunately, I had a bit of a bar (hurdle) early in the second set and she managed to pass over. I knew I had to play 100% of my ability all the time to get to win. I got to do a set. Unfortunately, I fell a little on the second set, I should be at 80-85%. That was enough for her to pass over."

Clijsters errant forehand was now finding greater accuracy, and the top Frenchy's serve was becoming less consistent; Second serves which Clijsters could exploit, and a double fault tally that a top player will punish.

True to her word, Marion never gave up the set or the match, at 4-0 down she retrieved a break of serve for 4-1. However Clijsters quickly levelled the match at one set all.

Although no reference has been made to this in the text released at time of writing, Marion received a medical time out at the end of the 2nd set. The bothersome left thigh was bandaged up again. But slightly less in focus is the fact Marion was munching down an energy bar with great enthusiasm. Did Marion have what we used to call in cycling the 'knock', or runners 'wall'? The contrast in the scoreline between the first set and the remainder of the match is stark. Could there have been a depletion of energy? Only she can say.

Marion's impairment didn't impede her opponent’s ability to keep up the pressure. After the first five games of the 3rd set Clijsters was leading 3-2 and a break, the 26 year old had the momentum, and soon wrapped up the match.

Retrospectively, I discovered a few words Marion said the other day on Europe 1; she pointed out that this was not at all like Lindsay Davenport's comeback, but in view of Kim's condition was a quite different proposition.

Possibly in a part inquisitive tone, Marion reaffirmed the points she's made over recent weeks, "One has the impression that she has never stopped competing."

Impact

Typically a 2nd round exit at the US Open by Marion Bartoli would be considered a big disappointment. However, this exit isn't in my view comparable with the exits experienced by other French players. Marion is a good player who happened to lose to a good player. The fact that they both met in the 2nd round of a major, borders on the absurd. But that's the highly arbitrary nature of this years draw, with top class players like Sharapova and Clijsters always destined to meet other top seeds at a premature stage of the tournament. If the draw had fallen another way this match-up could so easily have been a semi final or even a US Open final tie. So the result has to be put in context, and positives can be taken from the fact she asked more questions of Clijsters than she has ever done before. She promised she would, and she did. She was just unable to maintain that level, pass over each hurdle, for the whole of the match.

The fallout from this unfortunate 2nd round collision means that Marion could lose ranking points, and may slip in the ranking a bit, but that's all arithmetic for another day, and not irretrievable.

So the Pointers Sisters comeback has had to be shelved for another time. The mood is a little more dissonant now. For Steve Tignor, It's Monk and Coltrane on a drive back from Indian Wells. For me.. just listen.

Marion's next scheduled event is Tokyo 27 Sept. Here

*Quotes via Sophie Dorgan of L'Equipe in New York. French translation.

Edit 17:00 - Sat Sep 05 2009 (typo corrections)

US OPEN
Marion Bartoli vs. Kim Clijsters
Wed 2nd Sept 2009
Armstrong Stadium - Match 3

                                                       
On Monday night the Marion Bartoli Fan Blog person asked the guys at US Open Radio for their considered opinion on Marion's chances against Clijsters. Of course it was naughty of me, because I knew pretty much which way the guys would swing. Co-presenter Bill Oates said, "er, Matt Cronin's already left the building", I smiled to myself... but without too much hesitation, Mr. Oates nailed his own colours and Matthew Cronin's colors to the mast.. 

It's funny, a few weeks ago in Cincy Marion actually started as the favorite, yet If 'picks' be the measure of status then Marion will start as underdog this time around. She is not the popular choice. But that's fine, Team Bartoli isn't out to win a popularity contest. Just as Clijsters' oblique remark thar Marion is "different" reflected a majority opinion, there is also tacit acknowledgement among this same majority that Marion Bartoli's sheer difference is a strength - on court and off. "She's a good player.. it works for her." said Kim Clijsters.

Forewarned is fore-armed they say, and this time Marion knows a bit more about what she's getting into. Kim's movement and hitting has been described as "amazing". But as far as Marion's own game goes, in addition to her known strengths such as powerful returning, great placement, focus and anticipation, Marion's speed and movement has also improved, and her defensive skills offer an added dimension.

For team Bartoli this match offers an exciting challenge. Let's hope that Walter and Marion have the solutions.

That's all, enough has been said this past month already.

Give it the best you have Marion. You can beat anyone. Supporting you 100%. You can do it!

CUMMON!!

And The Rest Is (A Lesson From) History

The Apple of our eye is in the Big Apple! The melting pot of cultures and dreams! Marion's joint favorite city in the world, and the scene of one of her greatest conquests - humbling Lindsay Davenport in the Arthur Ashe Stadium last year.

One year on, that outstanding victory has largely been consigned to history by all but the diehard Bartoli fan. At Wimbledon this year I bumped in to one such fan who had had made the trip over to New York. He recounted his amazement seeing Marion Bartoli pound former US Open champion Lindsay Davenport with a shock and awe performance that silenced the crowd on that rainy shiny floodlit evening.

No one really gave Marion a chance before that tie. Indeed Lindsay was being talked up as one of the serious contenders to win the US Open outright, and to be fair it was not without some justification. After taking time out of tennis to have a child, Lindsay returned to the tour in late 2007 and made an immediate impact by winning the very first tournament she entered upon her return. Over the course of the next 10 months she won a further three titles, beating players such as Jelena Jankovic, Daniela Hantuchova, world number 2 Ana Ivanovic, and also Marion. The lanky American achieved all this playing a skeleton schedule.

Having withdrawn from last year’s French Open and Wimbledon, Lindsay's modest Number 23 seeding at the US Open belied her reputation and talent. It was Marion Bartoli's apparent misfortune to be the top 16 seed who would face the former world number 1 even before the first week was over.

Marion won the match, and the rest is (a lesson from) history.

Clijsters Round 2?

Here we are 12 months on, and once again Marion Bartoli has the prospect of being the first top 16 seed to face a former US Open champion and world number 1. A top class player and grand slam finalist playing a proven world class player... in round 2 of a major...

Kim beat Marion in Cincinnati two weeks ago, but Marion learns quickly, she is a great student of the game, and she watches other players incessantly. Kim was in effect an unknown quantity that night in Cincy, and held the element of surprise on her very first match back on tour after more than two years out the game.

Afterwards Marion remarked that if she plays Clijsters again, "I think the match would be different, and maybe the results as well." Having followed Marion closely for a couple of years, this to my mind isn't denial or hubris on her part, but the word of the quiet astute problem solver.

At Eastbourne in 2007 Marion lost in straight sets to Justine Henin. Two weeks later at Wimbledon.. and the rest is (a lesson from) history.

The Pundits

Extensive trawling of both English and French language tennis and news websites, reveals scant consideration of Marion Bartoli’s prospects for the the 2009 US Open. But not for the first time Sport Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim isn’t one to overlook Marion entirely. An admirer of the Selesian style which Marion's game incorporates, he writes "Marion Bartoli, a player to watch. Her results tend to be as quirky as her game and temperament. She sure looked like a contender based on her play in Stanford."

No admirer of Walter Bartoli, Diane Elayne Dees at Women Who Serve nevertheless considers herself an admirer of Marion’s game and personality, she writes "The Stanford champion is very unpredictable. Prone to injury and retirement, she is also prone to flashes of amazing tennis, and is a world-class returner of serve."

Quantifying Marion’s chances in numerical emotion, betting site Live Tennis claim, "In the Women’s (draw) Venus Williams has attracted money at 5/1, and is now 9/2. The other one being backed is the outsider Marion Bartoli who is now 66/1 from 100/1."

One Round At A Time

Once again the US Open draw has presented Marion with a very tough challenge. Of any seed in the first week Marion has the toughest task, even tougher than the task ahead of Sharapova and Dementieva in my view. But she has proven in Stanford that she can not only beat one top player in a tournament, but a succession. She is going to have to show this again.

On the eve of the final major of the year, the focus of Walter and Marion won't be on a potential 2nd round tie with Kim Clijsters or a 4th round tie with Venus Williams, but on the first round match with another mom on tour - The evergreen Paraguyuan, Rossana De Los Rios. More on that later.

All that's left to say is we are all right behind you Marion, every point, 100% support!! Give it the best you have, that's all we ask. Good luck Hero.

CUMMON!!!!

Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What did you expect from Kim going into that match and did she do anything to surprise you?

MARION BARTOLI: Well, it was very difficult to expect anything, because I haven't seen her play since two years. That was, I think, the reason why I didn't start well, because I just tried to figure out the way she was playing during those four games and I was forgetting to play myself. You know, two years after -- without playing a match is pretty amazing the level she has already right now.

Q. So did winning against Venus help you with this match today here in Cincinnati?

MARION BARTOLI: Well, I think, you know, if I would play against Kim like two or three rounds after it would be different, because I would already have some matches and get the rhythm and see her play. I think the match would be different, and maybe the results as well. Again, going on this match without having any kind of tactics or anything to start with, it was so difficult. Maybe Kim has seen me play more often maybe on TV or whatever. I haven't seen her play in two years. I didn't know what to expect. The way she was serving, moving, hitting the ball, I didn't know at all anything. By the time I tried to figure out the kind of tactics, I was already 4-0 down. So it was just a really bad draw, I guess.

Q. Do you believe she can quickly become another top 5, top 10 player?

MARION BARTOLI: Well, there is a lot of things to be a top 5 player. It's not a level on one match, first of all. You have to play the whole season and you have to be really fit during the whole season, which is very difficult because it's ten months long there's and a lot of travel. It's just not about only the level. It's about other things you have to cope with. I guess the level of play, yes, it's inside the top 10 already. I can tell you that. But after there are so many reasons you can or can't be there. I can't really tell you how long or how many months it's gonna take her to be back.

Q. Did you feel like a little bit emotionally different because it was maybe more tension because it was her comeback match?

MARION BARTOLI: Not really I feel any tension, because I'm used to playing some big matches against top players. So I didn't felt nervous or, yeah, against her. The thing is I was so worried about the tactics to use that, again, I forget to play my game at the beginning. I was just looking so much for what she was doing and the way she was moving and hitting the ball on both sides I just forget to play.

So to start a match at 4-Love down it's difficult, even if I came back. Again, I was 4-Love down because she was playing very well as well, so...

Q. There was a special stroke of her that surprised you that's very good?

MARION BARTOLI: Yeah, well, I thought before she retired her forehand was weaker than the backhand, and I guess today it was the opposite. When I was putting her to be wide on the forehand she was coming up with some amazing shot on the forehand side. So I went to the backhand, and, you know, it was a little bit better. That surprised me a little bit. But the way she was moving and hitting the points and her physical strengths after two years without playing a match, it's just amazing. Again, if I was playing against some weaker player at the beginning I would have some time to get the rhythm and some matches here maybe I would play better.

But for the first match she was already playing at the top 10 level so I have to be there. Even if I tried to be there, I think the level of game was quite okay, for a first round match very difficult.

-----------END------------

The form of words Marion uses to describe Clijsters physique is similar to those used by Serena Williams; “I look like I’m the one who had a kid more than her. She looks amazing.”

Clijsters during Monday's match

Matchpoint (from 3:50)

Clijsters also won her second round match lastnight against Patty Schnyder in straight sets.

Some have taken the view that Clijsters win over Marion was a statement on the current level of the women's game. I think that's rubbish.

Others think it's a statement about Clijsters. I'm inclined to agree with this, but just what kind of statement exactly? That Clijsters is wonderful brilliant exceptional? Hmm, i'm not sure. But yeh, it sure was amazing. We will watch with interest to see if she can maintain this level under the unforgiving scrutiny of tour life. Like Marion say's, a 10 month season takes it's toll.

As for Marion, It's a set back to her hopes of winning the US Open Series. Clijsters was effectively an unknown quantity. But Remember, at Indian Wells last year Marion lost in straight sets to Lindsay Davenport soon after Lindsay's comeback, then six months later at the US Open Marion beat Lindsay in straight sets. So maybe next time against Clijsters things can be different.

Marion is an intelligent and adaptable player. She learns tactically - Hey, look, she lost her first match against Venus Williams, in the 2007 Wimbledon final.. but beat Venus in their next match, the Stanford final 11 days ago.

So, let's get over this freaky draw, and remain confident about our hero's level of play. We got the US Open and everything to look forward to.

   
Cincy celeb Nick Lachey flanked by Marion Bartoli and Kim Clijsters  (Photo via W&SFG Women's Open)   

W&SFG Women's Open
Cincinnati
Round 1

 

The Shock Of The...... ? 

Our Stanford hero has experienced a partially disappointing first round exit against Kim Clijsters at the Premier 5 event in Cincinnati.

First Set

From the very first point of the match, won by Clijsters after a long rally, the Belgian sought to advance her agenda. Two balls wide by Marion Bartoli and Clijsters had put her first game on a WTA scoreboard in over two years. A double fault in the next game brought up the first break point, which Clijsters converted.

Losing the next game, Marion called for her coach.

Taking only five points over the course of the first four games, Marion found herself down a double break against Kim Clijsters - less than the time it took to philosophise over whether the headline should read the shock of the new or the shock of the old.. 

But there were at least now tentative signs that Marion was beginning to stem the tide.

Clijsters looked shaky in the service department, but her shots and ability to get Marion running a lot was crucial to her success.

Marion earned two break points in the next game, Clijsters saved the first with a backhand down the line, but a double fault from the Belgian and Marion was at last on the scoreboard.

Recovering from the initial shell-shock, Marion fought back well to draw the first set level at 4-4, but serving second in line in both sets, Marion was effectively always playing catch up even when the score line was level. In that situation it seemed that nerves crept in and Marion double faulted at crucial moments; serving to stay in the set the Belgian broke again to clinch it 6-4.

Second Set

Calling on the assistance of hawk-eye, Marion had a break point opportunity to move 2-1 ahead, but she couldn't convert the opportunity and Clijsters moved into a 2-1 lead on serve.

At this stage, Marion again called her coach over for a chat.

A 4-1 deficit emerged in the second set, yet Marion will rue those missed opportunites she had to break back in what was generally a closer set than the first, (despite winning one game less). Marion earned SEVEN break points in the second set and was unable to convert any of them.

Serving to stay in the match (2-5), Marion showed she has a lot of good tennis in her and lashed her opponent the width of the court to close a point with a decisive smash (15-15), before hammering Clijsters with one of her powerfall deep balls for 30-15. With a sense of urgency, Marion continued to pressure her opponent who surrendered the game with a wild ball which was last seen high up in the grandstand.

The crowning agony has to be Marion up 0-40 on the Clijsters serve in the final game of the match. It was some fine urgent tennis on her part that earned her three break points, rather than nerves on the Belgians part. However the 2005 US Open winner surgically picked her way back into the game point by point. pretty much as she had done the whole match. With a forehand cross court it was deuce.

Clijsters sealed the match at her second point of asking, and Marion made a swift exit from the half full stadium in sodden Cincy.

Consolation

The Clijsters physique looked more pumped and imposing than ever before. She was able to maintain her level throughout the whole match, her shots of both wings were great, her volleys also.

"Without playing a match for two years, it is pretty amazing the level she already has right now," Marion said of her opponent, “Before she retired, her forehand was weaker than her backhand; today I think it was the opposite. When I put her wide on the forehand she was coming up with some amazing shots. But the way she was moving and hitting, it’s just amazing.”

The success of Clijsters comeback was never going to be judged on the outcome of one match win or lose, but it's an impressive start for her.

For Marion, it happens so often in tennis; a player will win a tournament one week, then in the next tournament they lose early. This was an unbelievably tough draw for Marion in a first round, both in terms of tennis technique and player pedigree, and this is why at worst it can only be described as a partial disappointment.. she was on a hiding to nothing as the first player to face comeback-Kim. About all we can say guys is at least it wasn't the US Open, and hope dearly that Marion is well, and returns in good form up in Toronto.

The shock of the nearly new?

From Press Transcript “It was very difficult to expect anything. I haven’t seen her in two years. That’s the reason I didn’t start well. I was trying to figure out what she was doing instead of playing my game. By the time I figured out her tactics, I was down 0-4. It’s just a really bad draw, I guess.”

This report was patched together mainly consulting Belgian sources in Dutch.

Player	Marion Bartoli FRA	Kim Clijsters BEL
Aces	0	2
Double Faults	5	5
1st Serve %	58%	49%
1st Serve Pts Won	50%	67%
2nd Serve Pts Won	45%	58%
Break Points Saved	2/6	8/10
Service Games Played	9	10
1st Serve Return Pts Won	33%	50%
2nd Serve Return Pts Won	42%	55%
Break Points Won	2/10	4/6
Return Games Played	10	9
Total Service Pts Won	48%	62%
Total Return Pts Won	38%	52%
Total Pts Win	42%	58%
Duration	1hr 22mins 50secs
Fan Blogger Moodset	Squeakworld

Tournament website: W&SFG Women's Open

Marion Bartoli Fan Blog thanks Anna Dornette and Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open for their support.

(CC Atrib 2.0 / David Gold) - Kim Clijsters 2006

W&SFG Open - Cincinnati
Round 1

Monday 10 August 2009 (night match - 7:30 Local)

Marion Bartoli [FRA] v Kim Clijsters [BEL]

On her Twitter page Kim Clijsters describes herself; "Mother, wife, sister, daughter, tennis player - I have many aliases"

Following her announcement that after two years out the game she would be returning to the Tour, I heard a discussion on 5Live in which she shared in the collective lamentation about how today's young players are one dimensional on and off the court, how they don't have a life outside of tennis, and tennis is their only life. They are tennis, tennis and no other alias but Miss. Tennis.

Maybe she has a point? But then again maybe not... can you live life in the fast lane partying hard while literally trying to play hard? Or can you juggle domesticity in transit, diapers and all, and play tennis at the highest level? Can you maintain a mutiplicity of roles, while aiming for the very top?

Judging on past outcomes by mothers who have returned to tennis after childbirth, the results have been mixed. It's understood Clijsters has consulted with fellow mom Lindsay Davenport. Lindsay of course returned to tennis for a year. Reached the edge of the top 20, but hasn't played since her loss to Marion at last years US Open.

Clijsters says her long term goal is Wimbledon, but in the open era only Evonne Goolagong in 1980 has won the Wimbledon title as a mother, in fact that stands alone as the only Grand Slam title in the open era to have been won by a mother. Writing that doesn't give me any satidfaction, and now Kim has an opportunity to buck the trend. It's exciting to see her back.

Over the same time period - since 1980, a total of eight fathers have won grand slam titles.

"For us girls, it's much harder, we train more than boys, we need to be much more rigorous" Marion said in April.

Speaking of a generation rather than a gender gap, Marion continued, "These people do not realize what has become of top-level tennis in 2009! In their time it was enough to take their racquet, they would play, they would go out to a nightclub."

From Clijsters perspective, she has reason to comment about the colorness of some aspects of today's game, but on the other hand returning to the Rennae Stubbs quote for the third time in as many weeks, "I think the biggest singular thing that you have to have as a professional is commitment. You have to have commitment to practice, you have to have commitment to not going out late at night, not half-assing it in practice. You have to have that mental edge to push yourself when you don’t want to. You have to have the mental edge to tell yourself to go for it when you’re nervous." This is coming from a player who has more than a decade on Clijsters! So age in itself is not an impediment. It's really just a personal judgement call for Kim, can she harmonise all her various roles?

But by all accounts Clijsters understands the challenge and is meeting it with a positive frame of mind and full on commitment. She says she has the hunger, has been working really hard on her fitness. Her team say that her groundstrokes are as clean and effective as they ever were, and that her famed stamina, endurance, and mobility is intact. If ever there was a player who could have managed a 5 set women's match had that rule existed, then it would have been Kim Clijsters. "You always have to push yourself," she said. "I was never happy with where I was, always wanted to do more, whether it was lifting some weights or doing a long-distance run."

She actually declined a Wimbledon wild card simply because she felt that her fitness still needed a bit more work.

So let's not be lulled into a false sense of security about the outcome of this match. This is a former US Open champion and world number 1, and a player Marion lost too albeit millennia ago in tennis terms (2003). Pram or no pram, our own big baba won't be approaching this tie thinking it's going to be some stroll in the park. Yes we are pregnant with hope following Stanford, and expectant of a win, and if Marion does win, it'll simply be another positive remark on the long hours of sweaty labor she has put in to achieve that win. The level of play Marion showed at Stanford was thrilling, and put last year's US Open Series runner up, right in the top spot of the competition this year.

Tonight Marion will play one of the most successful players of her generation in an opening round tie. Marion Bartoli and Kim Clijsters could scarcely have got a tougher opening round than this, and the Cincy crowd certainly could not have been handed a more juicy plum tie.

Lastly, personally I don't subscribe to the Heninite belief that the women's game lacks a leader, but in a general sense it's nice to see a grand slam champ return to the fold and give it her best shot. Wishing Kim Clijsters every success and happiness with the choices she makes now and in the future; as a mother, wife, sister, daughter, tennis player - Well, apart from tonight of course.

Western & Southern financial Group Womens Open - Website

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