Clijsters sets sights on 2020 comeback after seven-year absence

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SHOWS: FILE AND STILLS OF KIM CLIJSTERS

SHOWS:

EASTBOURNE, ENGLAND, UK (FILE (JUNE 2010) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

1. KIM CLIJSTERS PRACTISING

LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (FILE JULY 2017) (UK POOL - ACCESS ALL)

2. CLIJSTERS TALKING TO DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE WITH MARTINA NAVRATILOVA (RIGHT)

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA (FILE JANUARY 2011) (NETWORK TEN - NO ACCESS AUSTRALIA / .COM.AU INTERNET SITES / ANY INTERNET SITE OF ANY AUSTRALIAN BASED MEDIA ORGANISATIONS OR MOBILE PLATFORMS / AUSTRALIAN NVO CLIENTS / SMH.COM.AU / NEWS.COM.AU)

3. VARIOUS OF CLIJSTERS POSING FOR PICTURES WITH AUSTRALIAN OPEN TROPHY

NEW YORK CITY, USA (FILE SEPTEMBER 2011) (REUTERS PICTURES - ACCESS ALL) (MUTE)

4. STILL OF CLIJSTERS KISSING THE TROPHY AFTER BEATING VERA ZVONAREVA IN THE U.S. OPEN FINAL

5. STILL OF CLIJSTERS WITH HER DAUGHTER JADA AND THE TROPHY

STORY: Four-times Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters plans to come out of retirement after a seven-year hiatus, returning to the WTA Tour in 2020, the 36-year-old Belgian said on Thursday (September 12).

The decision marks Clijsters' second return to the sport after first retiring in 2007.

"I don't really feel like I want to prove something," Clijsters said on the WTA Insider Podcast.

"I think for me it's the challenge. The love for the sport is obviously still there. But the question is, am I capable of bringing it to a level where I would like it to be before I play at a high level of one of the best women's sports in the world. I want to challenge myself and I want to be strong again. This is my marathon."

Two years after winning her first major at the 2005 U.S. Open, an injury-plagued Clijsters decided to quit the game at the age of 23 to start a family, returning two years later to claim her second U.S. Open as an unranked player in only her third tournament back.

Clijsters defended her title at Flushing Meadows the following year and then won the Australia Open in 2011 en route to topping the world rankings for the first time since 2006.

With 41 titles to her name, Clijsters hung up her racket after the 2012 U.S. Open and later worked as a tennis commentator.