The 21st century
Belgium · born Bilzen, 1983 · right-handed · former world No. 1 and Wimbledon doubles champion 2003 with Ai Sugiyama
All playersBack to the rankings
4
Major singles titles: three US Opens and the 2011 Australian Open
2
Wimbledon singles semi-finals, 2003 and 2006
3
Senior Wimbledon finals: mixed 2000, doubles 2001 and 2003
41
WTA singles titles
16
Her age at her Wimbledon debut in 1999, when she came through qualifying to the fourth round
Born in Bilzen in 1983, the daughter of a professional footballer, Lei, and a national gymnastics champion, Els, Clijsters rose from No. 409 to No. 47 in 1999 and was the WTA's Newcomer of the Year. She lost her first four major singles finals, but won the WTA Tour Championships in 2002 and 2003, and in August 2003 became world No. 1 in singles and, a week later, in doubles.
A left wrist injury needed surgery in 2004 and kept her out of four majors. In 2005 she won nine titles, including her first major at the US Open, and was ITF World Champion. She retired in May 2007, married Brian Lynch that July and had a daughter, Jada, in 2008. Returning in 2009, she won the US Open, the first mother to win a major singles title since Evonne Goolagong at Wimbledon in 1980, then won it again in 2010 and the Australian Open in 2011, returning to No. 1.
She won 41 singles and 11 doubles titles, played for Belgium at the 2012 Olympics, and played her last singles at the 2012 US Open. She entered the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2017 and became its honorary president in 2022.
| Junior Wimbledon 1998 | Reached the girls' singles final unseeded and lost to Katarina Srebotnik 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon finals | 2000 mixed with Lleyton Hewitt, lost to Donald Johnson and Kimberly Po 6-4, 7-6 (7-3). 2001 doubles with Ai Sugiyama, lost to Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs 6-4, 6-3. 2003 doubles with Sugiyama, beat the top seeds Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suárez 6-4, 6-4 |
| 's-Hertogenbosch 2003 | Beat Justine Henin-Hardenne in the final, 6-7 (4-7), 3-0, Henin retiring with a wrist injury |
| Eastbourne 2005 | Beat the holder, Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the semi-finals, saving six break points in the third set, and the qualifier Vera Dushevina 7-5, 6-0 in the final |
| Invitation doubles | Won the ladies' invitation doubles at Wimbledon in 2018 with Rennae Stubbs and in 2022, 2023 and 2024 with Martina Hingis |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Women's doubles | with Ai Sugiyama |
| 's-Hertogenbosch (Rosmalen) | ||
| 2003 | Women's singles Rosmalen Grass Court Championships | |
| Eastbourne | ||
| 2005 | Women's singles | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"You just kind of felt the magic coming through the television, I think."
The person behind the player.
Wimbledon 1999
At 16 she won three qualifying matches and three in the main draw, one of them against the tenth seed, Amanda Coetzer, before losing in the fourth round to Steffi Graf.
Source: International Tennis Hall of Fame; Tennis.com's-Hertogenbosch, 2003
Clijsters had lost the 2001 final at 's-Hertogenbosch to Justine Henin and had never beaten her in a final. In 2003, two weeks after her 20th birthday and two months before she first became No. 1, she did.
Source: Libéma OpenCentre Court, May 2009
Before the new Centre Court roof was used at The Championships, the club staged a celebration to test it. The main event was mixed doubles: Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf against Tim Henman and Clijsters.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025 (AELTC)Belgium, childhood
Asked about her first memories of Wimbledon, she recalled watching it during the summer holidays at home, then arriving as a junior: "It was like to me this was like Disneyland to another child."
Source: Tennishead, 2012Wimbledon 2012
Her last Wimbledon singles match was a 6-1, 6-1 defeat by Angelique Kerber. "I won't be sorry about anything," she said. "I'll never say that I didn't work hard enough or I didn't practice hard enough."
Source: Tennishead, 2012Free membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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