To hear Kim Clijsters tell it, her weekend wasn’t much different than that of any other high-powered New Jersey working mom trying to balance family duties with work life. “It’s taken some time to get the right balance, but I’m getting the hang of it,” Clijsters said Sunday after a 60-mile commute from Wall, New Jersey, to New York City for a work obligation.
The start of the weekend was all about her mother role, as Clijsters was celebrating the second birthday of Jada, her daughter with her Jersey-born husband Brian Lynch. After baking a birthday cake and preparing and hosting a brunch for 24 of her husband’s relatives on Saturday, Clijsters changed into her work clothes—a Fila warm-up from its new Center Court Collection—to fulfill some promotional obligations for her apparel sponsor on Sunday. The tour culminated at Madison Square Garden, where Clijsters squared off with fellow Fila endorser Svetlana Kuznetsova in a Wii racquet sports contest and then took photos with disadvantaged kids as part of MSG’s Garden of Dreams Foundation program.
Clijsters is in town for the Billie Jean King Cup/BNP Paribas Showdown at the Garden, where she, Kuznetsova, Venus Williams and Ana Ivanovic will really get down to business, competing in a single-elimination exhibition event for $1.2 million in prize money.
TENNIS.com caught up with the reigning U.S. Open champ for a few minutes on Sunday.
TENNIS.com: So when did you become a Jersey Girl?
Kim Clijsters: Just before the [2009] U.S. Open. We feel it’s important that Jada knows both of the worlds her parents come from. So we bought our first house together [a 2,700-square-foot three-bedroom house in southern New Jersey]. Brian already had a house in New Jersey that was really nice because it was close to the [Jersey Shore] beaches, but it had a really small garden. So we went inland a little bit more to get a bigger garden for Jada to play in.
Will New Jersey be your new home base?
For now, just a few weeks here and there. I still have a house in Belgium for when the tour is in Europe, but we’ll come back to New Jersey for the American hardcourt season, at least for a while after the Miami tournament [in March], then a few weeks before Cincinnati [in August], and, of course, the Open and probably a week or so after it’s over.
Did Jada get the Kim Clijsters Barbie Doll for her birthday?
No, she already has that one, along with the little one they made of her. But my mother-in-law gave her a regular Barbie, and Brian and I got her some paints for coloring because she’s starting to get pretty creative now.
Speaking of Barbies, which is more special to you: The role-model Barbie created in your likeness [others so honored by Mattel Toys are Oprah Winfrey, J.K. Rowlings and German Chancellor Angela Merkel], or being nominated for this year’s Laureus Comeback of the Year award [along with Lance Armstrong and Brett Favre]?
Oh wow, that’s really hard. Laureus is like the Oscars of sports and to be nominated so soon after I started back in tennis is really special. But if I had to choose it would be the Barbie, because Jada can play with it now and she’ll realize how special it is when she’s older.
Are you getting a lot of endorsement offers after the U.S. Open win for family-oriented products? Seems like you would be a natural pick for a mom-mobile brand like Volvo or some kind of mini-van soccer-mom thing.
There’s a lot more sponsor interest now than when I won the U.S. Open the first time [in 2005]. But not really the family kind of sponsors. Nothing from Volvo or other auto companies. At least they haven’t contacted us so far.
Are your tattoos—Jada’s name on your left wrist and Brian’s first initial on your ring finger—there for inspiration during tight matches?
Once in a while when I’m waiting to return serve I look down at them. But there’s a more practical reason for the “B” on my finger. I used to wear my engagement and wedding rings, but Jada would get scratches from the diamond when I was changing her diaper. So Brian and I went to the tattoo store.
How do you feel about Serena Williams pulling out of the exhibition here in New York?
Disappointed. It would have been nice. We’ve had some great charity matches. I just like her a lot. She’s a fun girl to hang out with.
Bill Gray is TENNIS magazine’s gear editor. Read his blog, The Pro Shop.