Serena and I Think Alike

Why am I not surprised to death that Kim Clijsters is returning to competitive tennis after 2 years of family time (aka she retired because she said tennis is not the only thing she wants to experience so she left the professional tour, got married and had a kid)? She became world number 1 and had a Grand Slam title. Since her arch nemesis, who's also a Belgian, Justine Henin retired whilst on top of the game. Justine was ahead of high 2,000+ to low 3,000+ ranking points from the 2nd best player at that time, Maria Sharapova/Ana Ivanovic (they only had a hundred points apart and the points fluctuate). Now Justine's gone, now that she has experienced family life, she decides to go back to the one thing where her life revolves or used to revolve. Like most professional tennis players, she started out early. So ever since she was an infant, tennis was her ABCs, well, until she got married. You've been attached to tennis since the Dinosaur Age, decided to "stop" doing it in your early twenty's, what d'you expect? It wasn't a surprise that Kim would pick up a racquet and start whacking balls again or chase after them. Retiring in 23, back in 25. Maybe 2 years of changing nappies (running after her kid won't be much a problem for Kim) and waking up in the middle of the night because of crying. Why? 'Cause it feels so good to wear tennis clothes. Okay, aside from the clothes, doing sports really makes you feel better because of all those endorphins and what nots.

It's not headlines but I just wanted to say it. I've heard/read of it earlier in the week but I was just busy as 10,000 bees stinging each other for a flower.

From Yahoo! Sports. I'm not plagiarizing so I'm citing it. Right.

“I still have that craving,” the 25-year-old Belgian said Thursday. “I look forward to the challenge.”

Clijsters, who retired in May 2007 to get married and start a family, announced her comeback at the tennis facility where she has been practicing. She plans to enter the U.S. Open, which begins Aug. 31—her first competition at Flushing Meadows since winning her only Grand Slam singles championship there in 2005.

She asked for a wild card into the U.S. Open, along with WTA hard-court tournaments in Cincinnati and Toronto earlier in August.

The U.S. Tennis Association is setting aside a spot in the main draw for Clijsters, who won 34 career singles titles overall and was the runner-up in four major finals.

Clijsters accepted a wild card into the Rogers Cup Toronto, tournament officials said Thursday. She won the tournament in 2005.

Top-ranked Serena Williams said she wasn’t surprised Clijsters is mounting a comeback.

“It’ll be great for the game, because she had such a great spirit and she’s such a good player,” Williams said in Key Biscayne, Fla., where she’s preparing for the Sony Ericsson Open. “And also, she was just so nice. It’s good to have people like that around. It’ll be good to see her again.”

Rising to the top at the same time as fellow Belgian Justine Henin—who also retired early—Clijsters held the No. 1 singles ranking for 19 weeks.

“I am not coming back to lose in the first rounds,” she said. “Otherwise, I might as well go on holiday."

She asked for wild card entries (this means you don't have to endure the elimination rounds for lower ranked players usually lower than 32) for tournaments where she had won, so it's acceptable for everyone and they'll say, "she was a good tournament winner then." Well, this would make the tennis tour better, an added bonus after Maria Shriekapova has sunk down to 30 because she hasn't been playing. Maybe she's doing a movie, "Shriek the Freak" or whatever she wants. Or maybe she's pregnant. OH.


MORAL: You can't turn your back on something you really want to do. It would just be like a punishment, an everyday torture when you try to persuade and convince yourself that you are sick of doing it, that you want fresh air. Well, you can breathe fresh air once in a while, but you'll still be swimming underwater afterwards because after that breath of fresh air, it makes the whole experience better again. It's supposed to be really profound but somehow I got lost typing the words again. Guess I can't really express the intimate person inside of me.