Kim Clijsters super mum
Kim Clijsters win at the US Open, after entering on a wildcard and only 5 weeks back into international 
competition, shows how powerful motherhood can really be.
Unbelievably, she is the first mother to win a grand slam since Evonne Goolagong Cawley, from Australia, at Wimbledon in 1980.
Here is how Kim explained her win in The Times Online:
“Really, I’d only hit the ball three or four times since my first career ended,” she said. “I had become pregnant, there was a further nine months of breastfeeding, I was helping take care of my father, who was so sick [Leo died of cancer in January never knowing his daughter would play professionally again], there was my husband to look after. To tell you the truth, having ten minutes to myself was a major relaxation.”
Armed with a cause - to get herself truly fit again - Clijsters took up the same programme she had when she played first time around, but with a greater intensity than before. “It was really a lot of physical work and then we kind of added tennis back on when I got closer to playing,” she said. “There was Jada to think of, of course. I didn’t want her to be so connected with me that I couldn’t leave her side, it’s important she is around a lot of family, she can sleep at her grandparents, she can sleep at my sister’s.
“At first, when I was leaving to go and train, I’d see her at the window crying and I’d have to rush back in and give her a big hug. I don’t know if that was the right thing to do. Now, I say to her, ‘Mummy’s going off to practise’ and she says, ‘Bye-bye’. Because she knows I’m coming home, everything is fine.
“It is nice to know that what I have done here might inspire a few people. Even before I started to play again, everyone was interested to know what stroller I was buying, what baby food Jada preferred, it is automatically a little different if you are a bit well known.”
Kim has shown that motherhood can be the make and not the break of your career. Well done Kim!
