Sports are cruel and more than unfair. Net cords happen. Brutal fumbles cripple drives. Blown three-foot putts humble the mighty. And time – uncaring time – defies us all. Unsparing and unrelenting, time refuses to know. Time won’t be defied.
Yes, the young athlete, trim and brimming with such audacious vigor, spits at time: out of my way – a mere inconvenience. But whether your name is Gehrig or Ruth or Jordan or Joe, time will not be denied; not even if you are as nice as Kim Clijsters and are the most popular player of this or maybe any other era; even if you have proven that sport and life can be brilliantly balanced; even if you twice won the U.S. Open as a mother and have a 22-match winning streak at the Open; and even if your fresh-faced British foe – the lefty with the killer forehand – is the youngest kid in the top 100 and, by the way, was all of just nine when you last lost on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
But time doesn’t care. Time doesn’t know that this is Clijsters’ last tournament, that the U.S. Open script clearly commanded that the athletic Belgian icon go past Labor Day, deep into the annual New York tennis marathon.
More immediately, unseeded Laura Robson didn’t seem to care that Clijsters had never lost to any of the 19 unseeded players she had faced at the Open or that (outside the British Isles) the tennis universe was pulling for our adopted Jersey Girl who has captured many a heart.
Stepping in, pounding her forehand, Robson won the first set tiebreak – and in the second set had match points (or what Cliff Drysdale called “career points”) on the muscular beauty. Yes, noted Pam Shriver, “The stadium may just be one-quarter full, but short of a final I have not seen so much tension in a Slam for years.” Brave Kim played a last great defensive point, offered us a last screeching gymnastic split and saved two match points. But time was just chuckling as Robson, the Olympics mixed doubles silver medalist, was pinning her foe with fearless forehands.
But as kids from Scarsdale in their braces yelled out, “We love you Kim,” knowing fans scanned in their minds the considerable arc of her career: her sassy first boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt, her rivalry with her fellow Belgian Justine Henin, her lapses at the French Open and Wimbledon, her losses in four Slam finals, her first retirement, her victories at last in four Slam finals and that inspired mother and daughter moment when she and her 18-month old toddler gleefully celebrated mommy’s triumph at the 2009 U.S. Open.
No wonder fans chanted, “One more year.” But sometimes there is just isn’t an encore. And at 5:34 p.m., time had its way.
Like Chrissie Evert losing to Zina Garrison or Andre Agassi going down to Benjamin Becker, Arthur Ashe Stadium at the U.S. Open was again the stage for the triumph of time over the one of the icons we had all grown to love. Every journey must end. And in the tradition of Agassi’s “I Stand on Your Shoulders” farewell speech, Clijsters gave us parting words to put it all in perspective.
She told the adoring crowd, “One of my biggest dreams came true in 2005, winning here, and every time I came back, I was so inspired by the energy that was out on this court. I played some of my best tennis here … This completely feels like the perfect place to retire. I just wish it wasn’t today. But there was no doubt in my mind to pick a tournament where I would be able to play my last singles match … Laura played extremely well today. I fought; I gave it my all. It just wasn’t good enough at the end. Since I retired the first time, it’s been a great adventure for my team and my family and it’s all been worth it, but I do look forward to having the next part of my life.”
Shriver then asked about Kim coming out of retirement in 2009 and winning the Open as a mom, just weeks after returning to the circuit. Kim replied that it was, “crazy, a dream emotional roller coaster. For two years, picked up a racquet maybe once. I had my daughter; my dad passed away at the start of 2009. When I won it nine months later, it was an emotional roller coaster and it was so hard to take it all in. I didn’t know what happened those two weeks in 2009, but it was great.
“Again, it’s the place that has inspired me so much to do great things … Sometimes it just clicks when you step out on court, and here it has done that for me. I couldn’t have a better place to have it happen. I’m really proud that it happened here in New York.”
Inside Tennis then spoke with Clijsters’ slightly shell-shocked, but reflective, husband, Brian Lynch, who lingered in the friends’ box. He explained that Kim “always had a support team behind her. That was really tremendous. She’s always had me, [our daughter] Jada and her team. It made it easier for her to concentrate … She’s a perfect example of someone who just put out goals and really worked hard for them and then had some inspiring play … In the two years she was off, there was so much going on. We had our daughter, her dad was dealing with cancer. It wasn’t like we had a normal life. And then we got right back into tennis as a family in 2009. So now when Kim stops, it’s not a mystery, but it’s exciting. OK, what’s next? What is it going to be like now that there’s no tennis? She’s going to have to find her way. We’ll bring some more children into this world.”
INSIDE TENNIS: What is Kim Clijsters’ most special quality? Why do you love her so much?
BRIAN: The thing I love most about her is she’s the most caring human being I’ve ever met. That’s why players and people are so sad to see her go. She may not have been the best who ever played, but she’s one of the most favorite for fans and players alike. She cares about everybody. She gives respect to people who deserve it. She’s a true professional, a true champion.
INSIDE TENNIS: Where does that come from?
BRIAN: She had a good upbringing and good parents. Her father instilled good values and kept her feet on the ground, no matter how well she did. Because of that, she’s always stayed true to that. She never let any type of fame or success take her away from the person that she was brought up to be. A lot of people who get in the limelight can fall. She never did.
And she never did one other thing. She never could defy time which tapped her on the shoulder one afternoon in a New York tennis arena and said, “Enough Kim, enough.”
