"I had a panic attack, I felt like I was being a drama queen": Harrowing experience on Indian Wells return told by Kim Clijsters

The former world No. 1 Kim Clijsters commented on a panic attack she experienced in the 2021 Indian Wells. The Belgian returned to tennis for the second time in 2020 after 7 years since her retirement and played two tournaments in the Dubai Open and Monterrey Open, but her comeback was halted when the Covid-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of tournaments between March and July of that year.

After the pandemic, she barely played a couple of matches before contracting COVID-19, which once again kept her off the courts. In October 2021, Clijsters participated in Indian Wells, which was postponed from March to October, and was eliminated in the first round against Katerina Siniakova.

The 4-times Grand Slam champion was invited to the program "Served with Andy Roddick" and commented that she experienced a panic attack for the first time while preparing to participate in Indian Wells.

"I remember hitting with Kiki Bertens and Ajla Tomljanovic and I had such good practices, be it practice sets, be it beating girls in practice, but I just wanted to kind of prove it in a match,” the former world No. 1 started.

“And during one of the practices I just started like, yeah, really I had a panic attack on the tennis court. For a second, I felt like I was being a drama queen," Clijsters added.

"My trainer was like 'Just lay down, put your legs up', and that, like, me calming down, or that wasn't working at all. So I was like, to my tennis coach, 'Go stand at the net and hit towards me'. So I had the rhythm and the sound of the ball, and my breathing rhythm came back," she concluded.