Kim Clijsters names her three tennis ‘heroes’ growing up who inspired her into the sport

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Kim Clijsters enjoyed a superb career on the court, which involved 41 WTA titles and a rise to world number one.

Clijsters would love to play Aryna Sabalenka, with the latter currently occupying the role of WTA number one as she looks for more success at the 2025 Miami Open.

The Belarusian boasts three Grand Slam titles in her stunning career so far, one short of the tally Clijsters finished her career with.

The Belgian won three times at the US Open and once at the Australian Open, as well as reaching four other Grand Slam finals.

Now retired, the 41-year-old has been looking back on that stellar career, which involved a fantastic win-loss record of 523-132.

Steffi Graf among Kim Clijsters’s ‘heroes’ growing up

Speaking at the recent Indian Wells tournament, she explained the story behind her current role as honorary president of the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

“So I got inducted in 2017 together with Andy Roddick, and we had an amazing kind of four days of celebrations, to a point where I feel like it was so overwhelming, to be celebrated like that where you get to see your own career, reflect on your own career, but then also, it takes you all the way back to where tennis started for me and who my inspirations were,” Clijsters said on The Sit-Down podcast.

READ MORE: Kim Clijsters says what Serena Williams did in her career that ‘doesn’t get enough recognition’

“To see my pictures or my memorabilia, my trophies, next to Steffi Graf’s trophies, and Monica Seles and Arantxa Sanchez.

“All those women, they were my heroes growing up and so the connection and the warmth I guess too that you feel when you’re there and when you can celebrate it that weekend was the reason I think why I said yes when Todd Martin called me a few years ago asking if I wanted to join the team.”

Kim Clijsters thanks Billie Jean King for paving the way on the WTA Tour

Clijsters’s heroes are, of course, also true legends of the sport, and have all left a superb legacy behind them.

The current generation will be doing their utmost to follow in their footsteps, with the likes of Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff perhaps leading the way at this moment in time.

Despite saying goodbye to her playing career, New Jersey-based Clijsters remains a huge tennis fan, having also been inspired by a handful of other female icons.

READ MORE: Kim Clijsters has noticed an issue with Iga Swiatek that has caused her form to dip in recent months

“I love the sport, like I fell in love with it when I was almost five years old, and I still love playing,” she said. “People ask me do you miss playing here? And I’m like, no I don’t, I don’t miss playing here. I still love playing tennis, and it can be in a local, small little tennis court in New Jersey or any public court.

“I love the sport, and yeah it’s a true passion. And I know it’s very rare. I see it with my kids too, I know it was really rare to have found something very naturally that wasn’t kind of pushed on me from my parents or anything, to find something that you’ve loved from such a young age, and to grow have it grow into me still being connected into the sport, right?

“And I never thought when I was a professional player that I would still be connected and have this whole tennis family at the Hall of Fame, and now being able to do the Be Legendary program, and talk to young kids around the world.

“I never thought of those things, and it’s amazing how tennis kind of brings people together. And that’s the beauty of the sport, is that we get… the sport is so well known around the world, and we have to thank a lot of the women that kind of paved the way for us early on. “The Billie Jean Kings, and from there on [Martina] Navratilova, Chrissy Evert, there’s so many to name.

“I’ll never forget that, I was 18 years old when I played, no I was younger, but I played the juniors at the US Open and listened to Billie Jean King speak.

“She has a very powerful personality, and her passion is so strong, and just listening to her at a young age, I think I was 14, and listening to her talk about the impact and what it took for them to get to the level where tennis was back then, and I’m talking maybe 1998, or so, it just stuck with me to always be ready to sign your autographs, take the pictures, be available, accessible to the media, the fans, and that’s what it is.”