Kim CLIJSTERS (°1983)
Profession: Professional tennis player 1997-2007, 2009-2012 and comeback in 2020
Nationality: Belgian
Why an honorary doctorate?
In May 2013 Kim Clijsters receives an honorary doctorate from VUB.
Tennis star, wife, and mother. All in one.
Along with four other women, Kim Clijsters receives an honorary doctorate from VUB in May 2013. The university has an active gender policy and continuously strives for a healthy balance in the representation of men and women in academia. Paul Knop, the rector at the time, put it clearly and serenely: the five women are excellent leaders who have all achieved the very highest in their fields.
Throughout her career, Kim mixes the flamboyant tenacity that is indispensable for a pro athlete with the gentleness of a mother. She spreads her social wings and is an ambassador for SOS Children's Villages. Kim not only puts Belgian tennis on the world map again and again, but she never forgets that in addition to being a star, she is also an ordinary wife and mother.
The tenacious one wins.
There are many euros involved, with the sports career for which Kim Clijsters earns the world’s unconcealed admiration. But it is not wealth that drives her to glorious achievements, but passion. The remarkable love of sport and pushing boundaries. Where many stop, few continue. And where disbelief in ability arises, stubbornness in persistence rises. Where giving up is exchanged for obstinate perseverance, that is where the real profit lies.
“Stubbornness makes athletes do things that people say we can’t do”
About her career
Grand Slam victories 2005: US Open, 2009: US Open, 2010: US Open, 2011: Australian Open
Singles: 523 wins versus 127 losses
Doubles: 131 wins versus 55 losses
Prize money: € 22,321,058
Golden Ball
8 June 1983, it is Wednesday. In the family of Lei Clijsters and Els Vandecaetsbeeck, Kim makes her way into life. That sport is destined to play a central role in her life is as predictable as the daily sunrise. Father Lei is a professional footballer and former Red Devil. He even has a Gouden Schoen (French: Soulier d’Or) to his name. Kim's mother Els is a high-level gymnast.
1989. A quick path to the tennis racket. Kim is barely six years old when she already beats girls two years older on the tennis court. It is her strength, insight into the game, speed and feeling for the ball that makes the difference. Her very first coach is betting on it: she or Elke will one day be among the twenty best players in the world.
Clijsters may have grown up in an environment of pro athletes, but her parents do not think of putting her under pressure. Above all, it must be fun.
10 June 2001. Kim Clijsters has just turned 18 and is the first Belgian tennis star to play the final of the Roland Garros grand slam tournament in Paris. She beats compatriot Justine Henin in the semi-final but loses by a narrow margin to Jennifer Capriati. Her career has definitively been launched. Like a rocket.
In 2005, after reaching the semi-finals and final in four previous grand slam tournaments, Kim wins her first grand slam tournament - the US Open - against Mary Pierce. Kim enchants the (sports) world not only with her top performances, but also with her engaging personality. She is loved by everyone and receives the 'Karen Krantzcke Sportmanship Award' for most popular player several times from her colleagues.
Kim makes the national and international press. She appears in (inter)national TV shows and, together with Justine Henin, is credited with being the first real international star - even though Eddy Merckx, Jacky Ickx and Jean-Marie Pfaff already paved the way - in Belgian sports history. She wins the "Belgian Sportswoman" and "Belgian Sports Personality of the Year" awards several times. Lei Clijsters watches over his daughter like a pit bull and keeps the outside world and anything that smells of abuse at bay.
In 2007, Kim announces her retirement. The past few years had taken their toll on her body and mind, and she is struggling with injuries. At the Diamond Games in February of that year, she is given an emotional farewell during which Clouseau sings her praises.
In love, Kim has the wind in her sails again. On 13 July 2007, wedding bells herald the union between her and American basketball player Brian Lynch. The couple later have three children: daughter Jade and sons Jack and Blake.
In March 2009, the year she loses her father to cancer, Kim Clijsters delights friend and foe with the announcement of her official comeback on 10 August. She plays and wins at the WTA tournament in Cincinnati. Not long after, she also snatches a win at the 2009 US Open.
Many intense matches follow with much joy and also disappointment, but in December 2012 she says goodbye to tennis - at the Diamond Awards. Until the year 2020, when she celebrates her second comeback just before the COVID crisis. Kim hopes to shine once again at the US Open, which will kick off on 31 August.
What is an honorary doctorate?
VUB has awarded honorary doctorates every year since 1978 to personalities from the most diverse backgrounds who have made a remarkable contribution to their field and to society. From this solemn moment of recognition, they bear the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa of VUB.