09/03/02
Kim has lost her come-back match at Indian Wells, having some sort of sinusitis...

Nathalie Dechy of France beat top-seeded Belgian Kim Clijsters 6-2, 7-5 Friday in the second round of the Pacific Life Open.

Clijsters, a career-high No. 3 in the WTA Tour rankings and finalist at last year's tournament, hadn't played since sustaining a stress fracture to her upper right arm at the Australian Open in January. Her time out of action was evident against Dechy, ranked No. 35 in the world.

Many of Clijsters' shots sailed long as she committed 55 unforced errors, while hitting 24 winners. Dechy, who lost to Jennifer Capriati in the semifinals last week at Scottsdale, Ariz., hit only eight winners but made just 19 unforced errors.

Dechy breezed through the first set, then took control of the second with a service break in the 11th game.

07/03/02
Kim has received a bye in the first round, and in the second round she'll play against French Nathalie Dechy. 3 years ago, they played the Bratislava Semi Final azgainst each other, with Kim winning in three sets.

05/03/02
Kim is this week 1st seed in the Tier I tournament of Indian Wells. She climbed this week another spot on the WTA-ranking, and reaches that way her career-high record: being world number 3. This is meanwhile the highest spot ever reached by a Belgian player.
This week, she plans her comeback after being out since the Australian Open in January. Last year, she reached the final at Indian Wells (falling in 3 sets against Serena Williams in the youngest final ever), after defeating world number 1 (back then) Martina Hingis in the semis. Justine Henin is seeded 3th.

22/02/02

Clijsters & Henin Receive Lifetime Sports Award In Belgium

Earlier this week, Prince Philip of Belgium presented Kim Clijsters (world
No. 5) and Justine Henin (No. 7) with the 2001 Trophee du Merite Sportif
(Trophy for National Sporting Excellence) in the Town Hall of Brussels. Also
in attendance were Belgian sports dignitaries and former recipients of the
award such as Jacques Bastin (football in 1934), Brik Schotte (cycling in
1950), Jacky Brichant (with Philippe Washer for tennis in 1957), Gaston
Roelandt (athletics in 1972) and Ingrid Berghmans (judo in 1982), among
others.

Honoured together, Freddy Thielemans, mayor of Brussels referred to Clijsters
and Henin as 'the two jewels of tennis' in his welcome speech. 'Justine and
Kim have written their names in gold letters in the history of the Trophee. I
hope that they will be an example for our youth to follow.'

It is very rare in the history of this honour that two people are jointly
named. It can only be received once in an athlete's career. The award has
been given annually in Belgium since 1933 and it is only the second time that
tennis has been honoured (the last coming in 1957 with joint recipients Jacky
Brichant and Philippe Washer).

The following is a look at the accomplishements of Clijsters and Henin during
2001:

Kim Clijsters
* Upset World No. 1 Martina Hingis en route to final of Tier I Indian Wells
* Reached Roland Garros final - first Belgian player ever to get that far in
a Grand Slam, with a come-from-behind win over country woman Henin in the
semifinals before extending Jennifer Capriati 1-6, 6-4, 12-10 in the longest
third set finish to a French Open final in history
* Won Stanford in a field that included Venus Williams, Lindsay Davenport and
Monica Seles, defeating Davenport in the final for her first win over the
American in five meetings; cracked Top five with that win
* Also won titles in Tokyo and Luxembourg, was a semfinalist at the
season-ending Sanex Championships, and a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon and the
US Open
* By season's end, improved her ranking from No. 18 to No. 5

Justine Henin
* Upset World No. 2 Venus Williams enroute the semifinals of the German Open
* Semifinalist at Roland Garros falling to country woman Clijsters after
holding a 6-2, 4-2 lead
* Ended Jennifer Capriati's Calendar Grand Slam bid in the Wimbledon
semifinals and stretched eventual winner Venus Williams to three sets in the
final; cracked the World's Top Five briefly afterwards up from No. 87 exactly
a year earlier
* Also won titles in Gold Coast, Canberra and 's-Hertogenbosch (def.
Clijsters in three set final); was a quarterfinalist at the Sanex
Championships
* By season's end, improved her ranking from No. 48 to No. 7

21/02/02
Kim will not play at Scottsdale. Doctors told her that she has to rest even more. She'll leave this week for the USA, to see Hewitt back, and to train for the tournament at Indian Wells. There, she has a lot of points to defend. So Indian Wells and maybe Key Biscane will be on her list. Hamburg will not be added. To train her for Roland Garros, she'll play the tournaments at Berlin and Rome, than rest again one week to start at Roland Garros. She'll not play any double or Fed Cup match.
Still, next week she'll raise a spot to reach the 4th place on the WTA Tour ranking, behind Capriati, Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport.

15/02/02
Kim will probably play her next tournament at February 25th. That would be the State Farm's Women Tennis Classic, in Scottsdale. Jennifer Capriati, Martina Hingis and Serena Williams would be present too. Lindsay Davenport won last year, defeating Meghann Shaugnessy in the Final. Kim reached last year the Quarter Final.

13/02/02

Kim doesn't play a tournament this week, due to an injury. Doctors believe that she'll be back on track in a couple of weeks. Kim wants to restart at the end of this month (February) in the US. We'll keep you informed.