Three-time U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters, who will contest her final tournament at Flushing Meadows, tells USOpen.org that the game is passing her 29-year-old body by. Clijsters has played sporadically this season due to injury.
“(I am) too old to play the game that I want to play physically," she said. “I've put my body through enough strain and everything. The whole lifestyle, that's what I'm dealing with now, the lifestyle I've had for the last 15, 20 years. I have no regrets. I know I always gave myself 100 percent," she said. "The U.S. Open will be a special occasion for me to be playing there and to end my career there. I'm sure it will be emotional."
Clijsters added that the younger generation of players aren’t as honest with themselves as her group was.
"I think for me the most important thing is I've always followed my heart," she said. "I've always done what I felt was right. I've always stayed true to who I am. Players change. There's so many other things involved than just tennis and practicing. I think you see players kind of losing the true sense of life, and of the sport."