The evidence is mounting.



I'd love to see Clijsters come back and get a slam or two. The women's game could certainly use her talent and her personality.

Kim!!

Kim is talented, for sure, but I never really thought of her as adding much in the personality department.

That said, if she comes back I hope she's commited to the game - women's tennis is somewhat uninteresting right now.

Her return is really a statment on the Women's Game today. Serena & Venus truly belong at the top when they're playing their best. Their games are just too much for anyone out there. But since they are now closer to 30, they don't produce their best as often as they used to, and look what's below them: Safina, Ivanovic, Jankovic, Zvonereva..not exactly paragons of consistency. There's a huge opening for someone like Clijsters since Justine quit.

Clijsters looks at that and probably said to herself, "Gee..if Davenport can come back and beat some of these people, moody and lumbering as she is, then I can come back and beat any of these. I move way better than Lindsay ever did, and can hit the ball almost as hard as she could. Damn, I might even be able to win another Major!!"

More power to her. If she did come back and pulled off another Major, then you could effectively look at the rest of the WTA Tour and say "JUSTINE!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE COME BACK AND RESCUE US FROM THE MEDIOCRITY!!!!""

OMG...I would LOVE it if Kimmy came back!! She had such amazing defense but was vulnerable in her serving. She's one who has more variety than just the bam bam power hitters that many of the women are today. It would be great. With today's current state of women's tennis minus Venus and Serena, she should have success. Who knows how long it will take Sharapova to get her confidence and winning ways back. The other girls are just....I don't know. Safina could possibly be #1 at the end of Miami and thats just like wow. She has a boat load of points to defend from Berlin on though and we've already seen cracks in her so far this year. But, thats great news for the women's game. As for Justine, I don't see a comeback for her happening. She's about to star in some tv show now from what I understand. I think she was pretty set in her decision to retire.

The last time she came back from a long layoff was in 2005. Didn't she basically dominate the hard courts that year? She'll be starting back at a time when the tour has been bruised and battered with half the season gone, so she'll have a great opportunity to make an impact.

It's official.

Kim!!

I'm predicting if she is committed to this come back, she'll be in the Top 5 this time next year.

Women's tennis just got 1,000 times more interesting...well, for me anyway. I thought Kimmy would come back, but I didnt think it would be this soon. Yayyyyy!!!!!! And I'll see your Top 5 prediction, and I will raise you Top 3 and another Major title under her Belgian Belt.

She should be able to get back to top 5 no doubt, but honestly...Jankovic is a poor man's Clijsters. Clijster's never had a great serve, second serve was often eaten up, and relied on consistency and great defense and getting ball back as a part of her success. I even think Jankovic is more consistent than her in terms of keeping the ball in play more. Kim could have her days where she could really spray the ball. So I mean it will definitely shake things up but the ESPN article I'm reading talking about "Kim to the Rescue" makes it seem like she at one point dominated the sport. She has one slam. Now if Justine came back, I think others would be shaking in their boots. Kim? Not so much. Still great news though.

The way Henin played in 2008 before she retired, I don't think many people would be shaking in their boots if she returned. Remember, she lost in the quarters to Shoulderova at the AO, in the quarters to Schiavone in Dubai, was utterly bitchslapped by Serena in the Miami quarters and then lost to Safina in the 3rd round of Berlin. Sure, she won two piddly tournaments (Sydney and Antwerp) but it was clear she wasn't the player from the previous two years. For whatever reason, we may never know, but something changed with JH, and it was clear she didn't want to continue to lose.

I don't know what to expect from Clijsters, other than just being happy she's coming back. Keep in mind, that after her 2005 USO win, she made it to the semifinals of all 4 slams she played afterwards (the '06 AO, FO, Big W, and the '07 AO) Add to the fact that she made 4 slam finals before winning that '05 USO, and she's hardly the "one-slammiest" © one-slam-wonder there is. I had to eat plenty of crow when Hingis made it back to #6 and had a very impressive year-ending championship in her return, so I'm not going to jinx anything...the glaring and obvious difference being that I hope Clijsters DOES succeed when she comes back.

Kim!! Welcome back!!

Well many think it was the fact that Henin may have simply been burned out. But having a break off, there wouldn't be a doubt in my mind that she would be able to come back and have more success than Kim would. Biggest difference between those two was mental toughness. Kim folded like a tent when going up against Justine and in big match play. I hope that now she's a mother and has a different perspective she won't have that same mental vulnerability. She will have a lot of high expectations coming back though because she left at such a high point. Her speed was her weapon and I hope she still has it because if she's even lost half a step, she's going to need weapons to make up for it. I remember Kim as a mostly defensive player. She would get some offense in at moments, and she could really drive the ball when she wanted to, but she was more defense than offense.

No doubt she played great defense, but you are forgetting that Kim had some deep and powerful groundies. And yeah, Kim was an enigma....overall very mentally tough, closed out matches well, can come from behind, never gives up.....and yet she did have choking issues in the really big matches. I still say her biggest issue with that was she never really admitted that she had choked certain matches away. And similar to Roger-Rafa, the issue seemed to only pop up against Justine. Time will tell on how she will handle those big moments.

I can see the comparison to Jankovic, but Kim's serve (while not great) is better, and she has much more pop on her forehand. And while she could be error-prone, she still very rarely lost to inferior players--hence all thos GS semifinal appearances. Early in her career she was Justine's equal and dominated the head-to-head, but she was not the same competitor. She liked to choke away matches to Serena and sometimes Davenport too.

Still, with the current state of the WTA, I can't see any reason why she wouldn't get to the top 5 again. Hell--if she returns to 2005 form, even #1 is a possibility. She may not be better than Venus or Serena, but she is likely to play more tournaments and be more consistent.

This is absolutely terrific news. Yeesh, but for Venus and Serena, the starlessness of the WTA Tour is kinda pathetic. The only other bona fide star is out indefinitely with a troubling shoulder injury. The rest of the pack looks either incapable of winning a Slam or at least incapable of winning another one (Ivanovic, Kuznetsova) any time soon. First and foremost, I hope Kim enjoys herself and has a ton o'fun playing tennis again. I do remember that nerves got the best of her on the big occasions, but maybe motherhood will help with that. When you're single, tennis and whatever big tournament you're playing are the be all and end all. When you're a parent, it's more like, hey, chill - it's just a tennis match. In any case, all the best to Kim, one of the sweetest WTAers ever.

I'm amused more than anything, because Clijsters would all but sneer and hiss and throw tomatoes at journalists who asked if she could see herself returning to the game post-motherhood. Yet here the placenta has barely dried and she's eager to get back on court.

I'm of two minds. Take away the weeks at #1 and Clijsters, in terms of accomplishments, was a more credible Kuznetsova: a single USO title and a couple of other Slam finals lost to arch-nemesis Henin. Now Henin has departed and ironically Sveta's results have dried up despite the major obstacle removed. So I'm not so sure Clijsters will set the world alight.

Nevertheless, Jankovic has never defeated her (although she held match points against her in the Sydney final), nor has Ivanovic, and she had a terrific record against Sharapova until three straight losses when her interest in the game had waned significantly. She more than held her own against the various top Russians. I could see her consistent defence vanquishing the Williams sisters on off-days much like Jankovic has managed on occasion, and she wouldn't be coming back unless she was 100% determined to pick up another Slam title to her name, so she will be motivated unlike the current crop of fragile mental cases we've got out there now. It will be interesting to see if she manages a Hingis-esque comeback (a solid return to the Top 10 in short order with a few titles but no real headway at Slams - her three new quarterfinal losses all came at the hands of Clijsters, incidentally) or a Capriati-esque comeback in 2000-2001, picking up the Slams people had expected her to be challenging for in her first incarnation (one of these coming against Clijsters herself 12-10 in an epic Roland Garros final) or even just a Davenport comeback (prove she still has game, pick up a few minor titles, have cute photo-ops with the tot, but little else due to injury-prone layoffs plaguing her yet again).

Still, it's an extra storyline and a potentially heartwarming one to have beyond the endless 'Who is going to get her act together first?' we've got going on for some time now.

The WTA needs all the help it can get right now. Do your thing, Kim.

I too remember her hitting hard, if not as hard as Venus and Serena.

But her defensive game was truly no joke. I wonder how well it is going to hold up after time away, especially now that she's older. To avoid the injuries that plagued her in her last years of playing, she has to watch it with the splits and hard-court slides. Leaves those to Jelena, please. If she does and is fit, I can see her movement and footwork being a real asset.

A WTA player that can hit hard and reliably keep the ball in the court is a rarity these days. Kim can do both.

Umm...Clijsters vs Kuznetsova? You're comparing one of the best one-slam wonders ever (2nd only to Sabatini) to one of the weakest.

Grand Slam Finals: 5 vs 3
Grand Slam Semifinals: 12 vs 4
Career Titles: 34 vs 9 (including two WTA tour championships)
Career WL record: .804 vs .703

And although she lost all four of her finals appearances to Justine (and a whole pile of semis to the Williamses), her overall record against Justine was 10-12, 6-4 on hard courts. She was 6-1 vs Kuznetsova.

I think that's what Urban had in mind when he called Kim a "more credible" Kuznetsova, in that she (Clijsters) was the kind of one-slam-wonder who definitely should have won more slams, where as Kuznetsova was much more "one-slammy" ®, and should consider herself fortunate to have the one slam that she does. Their records, as you listed, certainly prove that point.

In fact, Kuznetsova hasn't failed to disappoint since that USO. Other than a mediocre QF showing at the AO, she's had a horrible year in 2009, and doesn't seem to be turning it around anytime soon. While not as blatantly "one-slammy" ™ as her compatriot, Myskina, I think we all agree, she's no Clijsters.