Clijsters balances emotion and expectations ahead of Dubai return

The first tennis match for Kim Clijsters in about eight years will come at this's year edition of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship event. Despite being away for a long time the 36-year old looks ready and in shape for this event. The draw wasn't kind as she is set to face Mugurza in round one.

When she announced her return last fall many were shocked. She has achieved a lot of things in her career. There isn't much to win for her that she didn't already. But she was clear in explaining she wasn't returning because of that:

“It was a feeling that I had inside, a feeling that I had inside for a little while. Kind of talked to a few people. Once in awhile that feeling would go away when I was home with the kids. A couple of times it would come back. It got stronger and stronger. "

She was referring to her desire to play competitive tennis away. Whatever she did, the desire never went away:

"I talked to my husband. He was like, ‘Why not? Stop worrying about why and ask yourself why not.’ He made a very good point. I was like, All right. Yeah, why not? "

Many wondered if she was going to be able to do it as she postponed her return which was originally scheduled for January. An injury prevented her from return earlier but Clijsters assured everyone she will be back. She spoke about the process a bit more:

“I've enjoyed the challenge," Clijsters said. "I've enjoyed it since the day I've decided to go for it. It's been with ups and downs. Being 36 years old, you know that's how it's been for your whole career. It is with ups and downs. It's how you mentally stay through it, how strong you stay through those kinds of situations. It's been an interesting but very challenging process that I'm really enjoying.”

Despite a strong desire to compete Clijsters is realistic about her expectations and isn't putting too much pressure on herself.

"I have expectations. I don't think they're the expectations [you guys] would like to hear from me. They're not result related or ranking related. They're more individually for myself."

“It's getting a feeling of how I want to play out there,” she added. “That's the expectation or the goal I'm trying to get to. I have moments now where in practice, ‘This is it, this is how I want to play.’ I just have to be able to do it in matches now.

“We'll see if I'm capable of doing that. I'm sure it will take time.”

You can see Clijsters play Muguruza later today. We will also have a recap of that so stay tuned.