2005 Pacific Life Open News
By Eleanor Preston  |  March 19, 2005

There is nothing tennis fans love more than a good comeback story and Kim Clijsters provided just that by winning the Pacific Life Open title one year after sustaining a career-threatening wrist injury at the very same tournament. The symmetry of Clijsters' victory in Indian Wells was apparent to everyone in the stadium court, not least the woman herself, who had to fight back tears in her first few moments after beating Lindsay Davenport 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

"It's amazing. I was sitting, after we shook hands, on the chair and I just couldn't believe it.," she said. "I was just sitting there looking at my mom and my coach in my box, saying, "You know, this is true." It felt like it's been so long. It's an incredible feeling after the tough year last year, to be able to have this now and so soon.
It's very satisfying."

The tough times Clijsters was referring to comprised a twelve month period in which she had to face up to the fact that her career might be over at the age of just 21. Doctors warned her that her wrist might never heal properly and, is if that wasn't enough to cope with, she was also going through a painful and very public break-up with her fiancé Lleyton Hewitt.

Both Clijsters and her coach Marc Dehous clearly believe in the old adage that what doesn't finish you off makes you stronger and the match against Davenport – and the performances that preceded it – provided much evidence to bear out their contention that she is a better, more ambitious player than she was before the lay-off.

"Definitely that's something that has always maybe been on my mind when I was not playing, is that there's still so many things that I would like to achieve in tennis," she said. "Maybe, you know, that's what the injury happened for, was to make me more mature."

Dehous agreed. "She's playing better because her time off cleared her head a little," he said. "She's mentally fresh and physically fitter. She had problems after breaking up with Lleyton, but luckily she had a lot of time to cope with those things. She grew up and moved on."

That may be true but there was still much in the win over Davenport that was vintage Clijsters, notably the way she battled back from 0-4 down in the first set, snapping a run of 24 games that Davenport had been on since before her 6-0, 6-0 semi-final drubbing of Maria Sharapova. Davenport felt she had been the better player in that set but Clijsters proved the better fighter and that, more than anything, was the story of the match.

Troubling for Davenport, she seems to have lost the ability to dig deep when she is in trouble against big-match players, as witnessed by her Australian Open final capitulation to Serena Williams two months ago. It was depressing to watch her do much the same thing against Clijsters, especially in front of her home crowd and at a tournament to which she feels a particular emotional attachment, feelings probably heightened by the knowledge that her career is winding down and she may not be back. Perhaps that was the problem – she wanted to win too much.

"I don't know. It could be," she said, when asked if she had just given her farewell speech to the tennis fans in Indian Wells. "It's definitely not the farewell speech of my career, so that's a good point. It would be great if I could give another speech to them next year but you never know if you're back in a final. The fans here really do mean a lot to me. I feel like I started it all here. If it is or if it isn't, I just wanted everybody to know that I do love playing here and appreciate everything."

There was much to appreciate, too, in the men's semi-final between Hewitt and Andy Roddick, which Hewitt won 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 after two hours and 32-minutes. It would be hard to hope for a closer, more keenly contested battle and while Roddick played easily well enough to win, there is nothing Hewitt loves more than a skirmish. If it is wrestled out in front of a (politely) hostile crowd then so much the better. This was a clash of egos as much as shots and that made it all the more watchable as Hewitt and Roddick postured and pouted in between lashing the ball at each other.

The little dance Hewitt did after Roddick's final backhand had sailed wide and the hard stare which the American shot at him in response were both priceless. Anyone who says that tennis is short of characters has clearly never watched either of these two - who were sporting and gracious toward each other afterwards - go toe-to-toe or, more accurately, eyeball-to-eyeball on court.

"I think the crowd appreciated that we were giving them a show," said Roddick. "I'm disappointed but I'm not upset because I know I played a really good match. I hit the shots I wanted to hit. I have to give incredible credit to him. No-one plays defense like he does."

While Roddick must go and find a way to beat a man he has now lost to six times in seven matches, Hewitt must work out how to shake Roger Federer out of his comfort zone in Sunday's final. The Swiss was as serene as ever in beating Guillermo Canas 6-3, 6-1 to keep the defense of his Pacific Life Open title on track.

Hewitt and Federer have played a remarkable 15 times, with the World No.1 enjoying an 8-7 edge in their rivalry. He did, however, win all six of their matches last season and it is that statistic which makes Hewitt's task particularly tough.

The irony of Clijsters and Hewitt potentially winning his-and-hers Pacific Life Open titles in Indian Wells just a few months after their split has escaped no-one in Indian Wells. They managed it once before, in 2003, in the days when they were tennis' golden couple.

To Clijsters, tennis' new comeback queen, that must seem like a different lifetime.

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