Kim Clijsters is not the only member of her family who played tennis professionally.
Clijsters came from a sporting background, with her father, Lei, making 40 appearances for the Belgian international football team.
She went on to win four Grand Slam titles in her career, and spent 20 weeks as the world number one, but she was not the only major tennis champion in her family.
Kim’s younger sister, Elke Clijsters, enjoyed Grand Slam success as a junior, but her career did not pan out in the same way as her sibling.
Elke Clijsters retired from tennis at just 19 years old
Elke Clijsters is nearly two years younger than her sister Kim, who had already reached her first Grand Slam singles final before she played her first WTA match.
While she did play singles, Elke’s main success came in doubles, where she won two Grand Slam junior titles in 2002.
The first of those came at Wimbledon in 2002, with Elke winning the title alongside Barbora Strycova.
Elke would then go on to win the US Open junior title just months later, this time with another partner in her compatriot Kirsten Flipkens.
| Grand Slam | Elke Clijsters’ Doubles Partner |
| Wimbledon 2002 | Barbora Strycova |
| US Open 2002 | Kirsten Flipkens |
This was when she was just 17 years old, but two years later Elke had already retired from professional tennis at 19 years of age.
Elke was forced to retire from tennis due to a persistent back injury in 2004, which disrupted her once promising career.
This meant that Elke was never able to win a WTA Tour main draw singles match, with a career-high ranking of world number 389.
Elke’s best doubles ranking was world number 244, which she achieved in October 2003.
Did Elke Clijsters ever play against Kim Clijsters?
Kim and Elke Clijsters’ tennis careers went in very different directions, despite both players achieving success from a young age.
While they may have faced one when growing up, Kim and Elke never actually played a professional match against each other.
However, Kim and Elke did play a doubles tournament together, joining forces for their home WTA tournament in Antwerp.
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They got off to a very impressive start, with Kim and Elke losing just one game in their first round match.
The sister pairing would lose their subsequent match, in what turned out to be one of the final tournaments of Elke’s career.
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