Kim Clijsters’ recently revealed that her daughter Jada was taking a major step in her basketball journey. Reflecting on the moment, the Belgian tennis star penned a heartfelt note of support of the youngster.
Clijsters was a prominent name in the tennis world for a decade between the late 1990s and early 2000s. However, she abruptly retired in 2007 to focus on starting a family, and she welcomed her daughter Jada in 2008 alongside former basketball player Brian Lynch. The couple welcomed two more children, Jake and Blake in 2013 and 2016.
Recently, Kim Clijsters’ daughter Jada announced her transfer to the Westtown High School as she follows into her father’s footsteps as a basketball player. Reacting to this, the tennis star wrote,
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“Exciting new chapter for Jada. We'll miss her so much, now I'm officially the lone lady in the house.”
Kim Clijsters reflects on balancing tennis and motherhood
Kim Clijsters called time on her tennis career in 2007 when she was just 23 years old in order to start a family. The tennis star then returned to court two years later and stunned the world when she lifted the US Open trophy as an unseeded player just three tournaments into her comeback. She went on to repeat this feat a year later, and in 2011 she claimed the Australian Open crown.
Speaking up about the challenges of balancing a tennis career with motherhood, Clijsters opened up about the difficult choice women face, telling The Sit-Down podcast,
"I remember when I came back in Cincinnati in 2009, there was a player who came up to me and said: ‘I wish I did what you did, and that I had the guts to do it, because now, [I’m] mid-30s, and I don't have a partner, I've kinda been playing a [whole] career'.
“It really made things sink in for me and realise, 'oh wow, this is an issue for a lot of women'. There's so many women where your clock starts ticking and you feel like you want to start a family, but at the same time you also feel like, 'oh I've been playing tennis for 20 years, or even longer, working to be at this level and to play the Grand Slams’. It's a tough situation to leave to start a family,” she added.
After her successful return to tennis in 2009, Kim Clijsters called time on her career again in 2012. She briefly returned to the WTA Tour between 2020 and 2022 but was unable to reach the top.
