Defending champion Kim Clijsters says this is her last Australian Open and given that the Belgian is about as straight forward a person as they come, you have to believe her.
Unlike some others, her career has not been full of high drama from one major to the next, but it has been thrilling nonetheless and her incredible effort in fighting off four match points in her 46 76(6) 64 victory over 2011 finalist Li Na in the fourth round is a testament to her mental fortitude.
About an hour and a half before she nearly wept with joy after pulling off the dramatic victory, Clijsters poured tears of pain after twisting her right ankle. But she knows that 2012 will be her last visit Down Under. She is a wife and mother and has plans to add to add to her family. But as a committed champion, there was no way in creation she was going to retire while ever her leg was going to be able to hold up her weight.
“It definitely crossed my mind at some point," the 28-year-old said of potentially retiring. "But I knew if I could just try to kind of let the medication sink in or if I could get through the first 20 minutes, half hour, I think the pain would go away a little bit and then maybe with the adrenaline I could just fly through it. Yeah, I did, and I'm happy that I didn't give up."
Given that it took Clijsters nine appearances to win her sole Australian Open, it’s not surprising she did not want to give in. But don’t think she was not afraid that her body might not break down. In the past nine months she suffered a slew of injuries that have largely kept her out of contention, including a hip injury that forced her to retire in Brisbane in the opening week of the year. Sometimes a player just has to put aside the worry and hope that somehow she can bear through it all.
“I think the first few games you're also scared and you have to get a feel for it and you have to get over that yourself,” she said. "I was able to. I think it stayed in the back of my mind throughout the whole match, but I was able to just focus on trying to change my tactics a little bit and try to finish off, be a little more aggressive and hit the ball a little more flatter than I would do normally. At one point you think, ‘Okay, I'm just gonna go for it’. Once I made that decision, I didn't think.”
Clijsters was fortunate that on Li's final match point China’s top player decided to push a botched drop shot right back at the Belgian, who was able to lift a topspin lob over the tight Li’s head. But being able to keep your hands from shaking and convert match points is a necessary part of winning majors and at least this time around, Roland Garros champion Li was unable to sustain her nerve.
Clijsters has proved since her comeback in 2009 that she can and now she will confront a young player who has yet to do consistently at a major, No.1 Caroline Wozniacki. Last year, the Dane held a match point against Li in the second set in the semifinals and was unable to convert it. After that, she did not to hit another winner for the rest of her three-set loss.
Like Clijsters, Wozniacki came into the tournament with an injury, as the 21-year-old hurt her left wrist in a loss to Dominika Cibulkova in Sydney. But she has hung tough in her first four matches and fought off a comeback attempt by former No.1 Jelena Jankovic in a 6-0, 7-5 victory on Sunday night.
Last year, Wozniacki’s camp intimated that their steed had not developed enough as a player to really believe she could best Clijsters. On Sunday, she watched Clijsters’ match against Li and thought her elder was headed out of the tournament, but appreciated how hard she fought to come back.
As good as a defensive player as Wozniacki is, she has yet to show she can match Clijsters’ offense and has lost their two meetings at the 2009 US Open and 2010 WTA Championships. In some ways, Wozniacki resembles the pre-Grand Slam winning Clijsters of 2003 through late 2005 when the Belgian won her first US Open – an incredible mover and dogged competitor who wasn’t quite sure when she should take the gloves off and go for her shots at crunch time against the elite players.
That was the Clijsters who lost a tight three-setter to her country rival, the steely Justine Henin, in the 2004 Australian Open final. At this tournament, Wozniacki has shown more willingness to rush the net and has also added some variety to her weaker forehand side.
Wozniacki seems to think her best is good enough to match up against Clijsters, but she’s going to have to prove that on Tuesday.
"I just need to play my game and play the same way as I did today. If I do, Kim really needs to play well to beat me," Wozniacki said. "It's important to think about myself and I believe I'm a great player. So if I lose to someone who just played better than me that day, I'll just take my hat off and say, 'Well done.' It's going to be a tough one. I'm really looking forward to it."
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