Although Kim Clijsters has retired from tennis, the Belgian continues to be an advocate for equality in the sport.
In an interview on the International Tennis Hall of Fame Youtube channel, Clijsters spoke about the state of tennis today, highlighting various notable moments that have occurred in the sport over the years.
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"Our sport is such a well-known sport around the world," said the former World No.1. "We play in Australia, Paris, Asia, South America, Europe, the States, everywhere. It’s a sport that is very well-known around the world, and we’ve had some great leaders on our side that have been able to step up and show the world that women’s tennis is as fun to watch as men’s tennis.
"And over the 50 years, we’ve seen Billie Jean King and the whole group of women that stepped up when men’s tennis was growing and women’s tennis was kind of left aside. They stepped up and they offered their careers and their tournaments to stand up for themselves and the future of our sport.”
The four-time Grand Slam champion believes the gradual increase in prize money for women was facilitated by the brave acts of her predecessors, and hopes the next generation appreciates this fact.
"And everything that’s happening now, the increase in prize money and the bigger stadiums and the interest all around the world, is because of what happened back then," she added. "And I think that is really important for our younger generation to realize: it doesn’t happen overnight, it doesn’t just happen because of a few volunteers or some big sponsors. It’s because of the passion that a lot of people in our sport have for that goal, to grow.”
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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