NEW YORK (AP)—Kim Clijsters is expecting a much quieter New York showdown with Serena Williams this time around.
Clijsters will play Williams in the Billie Jean King Cup on March 1 at Madison Square Garden. It’s a rematch of the U.S. Open semifinal, which featured Williams’ infamous outburst at a line judge and a record $82,500 fine.
“It will be a happy atmosphere on court, not as serious as Grand Slams,” Clijsters said Tuesday in a conference call from Bree, Belgium. “You want to win, but it’s a little bit more fun.”
The exhibition highlights the three Grand Slam winners plus Venus Williams. In the other one-set semifinal, Venus will face French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. The winners will play a best-of-three final for $1.2 million in prize money.
Clijsters called it a “sad” way to end the match against Williams at the U.S. Open in September. Williams was called for a foot fault on a critical serve, then unleashed a profanity-laced tirade at the line judge that cost her a point penalty, which ended the match.
“We both played an extremely good match and it gets overpowered by the ending,” Clijsters said. “I hope we can bring the level we both had at U.S. Open at Madison Square Garden. That would be the best thing for both of us.”
Clijsters and Serena Williams recently joined forces in an Australian Open exhibition that raised funds for earthquake-hit Haiti.
“We played mixed doubles against each other, sitting together watching the men play and chatting away having some fun conversation on the sideline,” Clijsters said.
“It’s lucky our (microphones) weren’t on,” she said, laughing.
Serena Williams picked up her 12th Grand Slam victory at the Australian Open, tying King in the record books. Clijsters is coming off a “frustrating” 6-0, 6-1 loss to Nadia Petrova in the third round.
Clijsters won the U.S. Open in just her third tournament back from retirement. She’ll return to New York with her daughter, Jada, who will be celebrating her second birthday.
Clijsters will compete in Madison Square Garden for the first time since the 2000 Chase Championships. The BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup is being held at the Garden for the second straight year.