(Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
It was 1980 when Evonne Goolagong Cawley won the Wimbledon Championship as a mother, but since then no other mom has been able to repeat her feat—until Sunday. Margaret Court and Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers are the only other mothers to achieve a victory at a Grand Slam.
It was fitting, hence, that the Belgian lady followed the feat to become the next woman to achieve a Grand Slam after her instant comeback, at a time when women's tennis is struggling with consistency.
Goolagong Cawley and Kim Clijsters had always been overshadowed by the more celebrated champions—the former under Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, and the young Belgian under her compatriot, Justine Henin.
After enjoying aspects of life away from tennis, Clijsters returned at Wimbledon in an exhibition match against Steffi Graf and looked extremely match fit.
She improved herself in the pre-U.S. Open series with big upsets and received a wild card for the Open, where she continued her fairy tale run by dispatching one player after other, including the two most dominant players of the era—the Williams Sisters.
It was fitting, therefore, to see her lift the trophy under the bright lights of the Arthur Ashe Stadium in the presence of her daughter, to complete her impressive comeback story with the 7-5, 6-3 victory, stories which rarely end in such a romantic fashion.
Her opponent in the final was an impressive teenager, ninth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, who has had the most successful season of her life and, in winning 62 matches, is leading the WTA in the number of victories for the calendar year.
After an unusual finish the semifinals, the outcome of the final was unpredictable. Would Clijsters be mentally tired after her victory over two top seeds and her long match against Serena Williams or would she use her experience to absorb the pressure of a big match?
Wozniacki is new to the big stage but would be extremely confident and fresh after her relatively smoother run to the Open.
Their styles of play were matched, as both are extremely solid defensive players, turning to offense when necessary, which promised to give us a dramatic final.
The match started with both players trading baseline rallies and Kim having the upper hand as she made the Dane run all over the court.
Perhaps it was her confidence boosted by returning the best server of the WTA tour a day before that she broke early to gain the upper hand.
Wozniacki showed supreme composure for a teenager as she kept on chasing ball after balls, showing good defense—especially on the backhand side.
Clijsters pushed the Dane back with clever use of her moonballs, as she quickly raced up to a 40-0 lead in the third game.
This is when the famous breakdown of Clijsters happened. She started throwing error after error—especially on the forehand wing—and gave the game to Wozniacki, who then began to dominate the proceedings.
Wozniacki played cleverly, as she robbed Clijsters of any pace—which she had utilized so effectively against Serena—and made the mom do a little extra on her groundies, which eventually resulted in errors.
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