Kim Clijsters beats Vera Zvonareva to win US Open
Kim Clijsters intends to play on at least until the 2012 London Olympics, although she admits that plan could change depending on injuries and how daughter Jada grows up.
The 27-year-old Belgian won her third US Open title on Saturday night with one of the finest performances of her career, destroying Russia's Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-1 in 59 minutes.
It capped a wonderful 13 months back in the sport for Clijsters, who retired in May of 2007 to start a family and only returned to action a month before last year's US Open, which she won as a wildcard.
Her stunning form against Zvonareva and her rise to third in the world rankings shows that she has the ability to add to her Grand Slam haul, which currently stands at three — all won in New York.
But with a husband and daughter to consider, life for Clijsters is more complex than for most of her rivals.
"I would like to keep going until the Olympics, but then again you never know what can happen. You know injuries — my main goal is to try and just stay injury-free. If I can do that and if I can practice hard and work hard, the Grand Slams will always be my focus," she said.
"Now that I am playing well, obviously I am not just going to give it up. I just want to keep it up. As long as it's worth balancing and if I'm able to balance it with the family.
"Jada is not obligated to go to school yet, so obviously it becomes a totally different story once it becomes mandatory."
Clijsters' win was her third in a row when reaching a Grand Slam final, but prior to that she had the heartbreak of finishing runner-up at the Australian Open (2004) and at the French Open (2003 and 2001) while her best at Wimbledon has been two semi-final appearances (2006 and 2003).
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