Kim Clijsters: It's still fun to be out there.. We'll see what the future holds

Former World No. 1 Kim Clijsters, of Belgium, says she is not sure what the future holds after her first round exit at the US Open Grand Slam event but added that she enjoyed competing and playing good tennis against the No. 21 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.

The former World No. 1 was playing only the third official WTA event in her comeback after a seven year absence from the circuit. She went down in three sets 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 in a late evening match on Tuesday.

This was her first Grand Slam event since a second round exit at the US Open in 2012.

After loss, Kim Clijsters says fun to be out there but not sure what's up next

During her post-match press conference, Clijsters said she was happy to be able to play some good tennis after such a long break. "I've been here for a while now without playing a match. That was a long, a long time to practice and be in the bubble for almost two weeks without playing a match. So I was excited to get out there and play my match. Obviously a late night tonight."

"But it's still fun to be out there. I enjoy it. My opponent is a great player. We had some good tennis out there. That's what it's all about, is trying to bring good tennis."

The Belgian, a three-time former US Open winner, says she knew that losses would be part of the process when she decided to comeback but added that the interrupted schedule and the global health situation has left her future plans uncertain for now. 

"It's a process. That's what I told myself at the start when I took this challenge on, was that it's going to take a lot of hard work and losses. That's part of it.

"We'll see what's up next. To be honest, I'm not sure at the moment yet. We'll see. It's been a strange year, obviously. When I started in Dubai and Monterrey, I was excited to play more tournaments, have the family travel with me. But that obviously didn't happen. We'll see what the future holds."

It remains to be seen if the Kim Clijsters, who has recently moved base to the United States, will now travel to Europe to play the clay court events, given the global health crisis and the fact that she is a mother-of-three.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/31U7tYC