Former world No. 1 Kim Clijsters on Thursday said that she knew her return to tennis was never going to be a smooth ride after the Belgian’s opening-round defeat to Katarina Siniakova at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, dropped her to 0-5 since returning to the WTA Tour.
The 38-year-old, who retired for a second time in 2012, but returned to action in February last year, went down 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 to the Czech.
Clijsters had knee surgery in October last year and returned to the court at last week’s Chicago Fall Tennis Classic, where she lost in the first round to Taiwanese No. 1 Hsieh Su-wei.
Photo: AFP
“Last week in Chicago I started off well, but had a few games where I really wasn’t into the match,” Clijsters told reporters. “Here too, looking for my rhythm, my anticipation again, reading my opponents, getting used to playing on a bigger court again.”
“I fought my way into the match well in that second set, and I kind of put her under pressure a little bit better. Overall, there’s definitely moments where I’m feeling really good out there, and there’s moments where I feel too inconsistent,” she said. “That’s part of this process in general, it’s not going to be a smooth ride and that’s what I’m going to try to improve every time I’m out there.”
Clijsters fell behind 3-0 in the first set as she struggled to find rhythm with her serve, but the four-time major champion turned the tables in the second, pounding winners to the delight of the supportive crowd on an overcast day in the southern California desert.
Momentum shifted back in the Czech’s favor in the fifth game of the decider when Clijsters missed an open forehand on game point that would have put the players back on serve. From there, Siniakova was able to coast to the finish.
Siniakova, a former world No. 1 doubles player who won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games playing with Barbora Krejcikova, next faces 10th seed Angelique Kerber.
Taiwanese world No. 196 Liang En-shuo also fell to an opening-round defeat, 6-2, 6-2 to Alison Riske of the US.
Meanwhile, Andy Murray was “back in the good books” with his wife after his wedding ring and stinky shoes were returned to him.
Murray wrote on Twitter that his shoes reeked so badly in his car that he decided to leave them under the vehicle outside his hotel in California overnight to air them out.
When he went back to get the shoes he found they, along with the ring he had strung though their laces, were nowhere to be found, prompting Murray to ask for help in recovering the missing items.
Murray, who married Kim Sears in 2015, said in a video posted on Instagram that the ring had been returned after he made calls to hotel security.
“Little update for everyone. Would you believe it?” Murray said before taking a big whiff of the footwear. “They still absolutely stink, but the shoes are back, the wedding ring is back, and I’m back in the good books.”
Three-time Grand Slam champion Murray was due to face France’s Adrian Mannarino in the first round of the men’s singles yesterday.
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