The joy of motherhood. The joy of winning the U.S. Open.
Clijsters made history Sunday night, capping a comeback from two years out of tennis to become the first unseeded woman to win the Open — and the first mom to win a major since 1980 — with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki.
When it was over, Clijsters collapsed to the ground and started crying — tears of joy, probably mixed in with a little bit of shock, too. Her 18-month-old daughter, Jada, watched from a suite with a pacifier in her mouth, but later came down to the court to take part in the celebration.
Guess what mommy got for you, sweetie! A Grand Slam title.
“It still seems so surreal,” Clijsters said. “Because it wasn’t in the plan. I wanted to come back here, get a feel for it, play a Grand Slam so I wouldn’t have to come back next year and learn the new experiences all over.”
Talk about your quick transitions.
It was all quite a different scene from the night before, when Clijsters’ semifinal win over Serena Williams was closed out on a foot fault, an outburst and a point penalty, and the 26-year-old Belgian stood behind the baseline, looking bewildered as Williams ran over to shake her hand.
Williams’ tirade may have been the talk of the U.S. Open. But Clijsters was the winner.
This was her second U.S. Open title, the other coming in 2005 — her last appearance at Flushing Meadows and before a spate of nagging injuries eventually drove her out of the sport and led her to start a family. These days, she has her baby’s name tattooed on her left wrist, near the scar from an operation she needed back in her first career.
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