There is nothing quite like the US Open experience. No other event provides fans with the large doses of daily drama and unparalleled excitement that annually define the Flushing fortnight. In this series, we offer some first-hand takes on those things that make the US Open experience so special.
In 2005, Kim Clijsters got the monkey off her back at the US Open, raising the women’s singles trophy in Arthur Ashe Stadium and silencing critics in one fell swoop. The Belgian had lost her first four major finals, but after a laser-focused fortnight that saw her tackle Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Mary Pierce in her final three rounds, it was clear that she belonged at the top of the women’s game.
But as quickly as she had arrived, Clijsters was gone from the sport. At 23, the Belgian retired from tennis to raise a family. She didn’t defend her US Open title in 2006 and was out of the sport until the summer of 2009.
Without a ranking, Clijsters — now married and a mother to daughter Jada — played two tournaments at Cincinnati and Toronto before taking a wild card into the US Open that year.
With just two tournaments in two-and-a-half years under her belt, expectations were low, but after three-set wins over Marion Bartoli in the second round and Venus Williams in the Round of 16, Clijsters found herself in the quarterfinals.
Dead set on her destiny, Clijsters reeled off three more wins, against Li Na, Serena Wiliams and Caroline Wozniacki, to become the first wild card and the first unseeded player to win the US Open women’s singles title in the Open Era.
More impressive: Clijsters became the first mother to win a Grand Slam singles title since Evonne Goolagong in 1980.
Bedlam ensued. Jada, then 18 months of age, hammed it up on court after the final, creating one of the most iconic trophy ceremonies in US Open history. The merriment continued well after 11 p.m., when Clijsters explained to the crowd: “We tried to plan her nap time a little bit later. It’s the greatest feeling in the world being a mother.”
Clijsters, who is one of only three mothers to have claimed a Grand Slam title, would successfully defend her US Open title in 2010. She is one of just seven players to have won more than two women’s singles titles at the Open.
