Kirsten Flipkens Knows The Realities Of Life

Written by: Staff on 3rd July 2013

Kirsten Flipkens Knows The Realities Of Life

at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, USA, 06 March 2013. |

Surprise Wimbledon semi-finalist Kirsten Flipkens maintains a realization of what is truly important in life following a near-death experience just over a year ago and the help of now retired former world no.1 and US Open champion Kim Clijsters has pushed her to within two wins of doing what her mentor never achieved and hoisting the All England Club’s trophy.

Flipkens, aged 27, a former Girls champion at the sport’s premier grass court tournament and currently ranked 20 in the world, won through to the last four with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win against Petra Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon champion and only remaining Grand Slam winner in the women’s draw.

But the events of April 2012 still remain clear and motivational in the Flipkens mind. She stepped off a long-haul flight from Thailand to Belgium after a tournament and felt a heaviness in her legs. On examination, doctors discovered four blood clots in her calves. Two days later, she was due to take another flight to Japan. Had she got on that plane, she was told, there was a strong possibility she might not get off it alive.

“Maybe I started to know what’s important in life,” said Flipkens who is still required to take blood-thinning drugs and wear tight compression socks whenever she flies for more than three hours.

“I think winning or losing a tennis match doesn’t make a big difference. I mean, if you lose, you have a next tournament next week, so I just started to see things in perspective.”

Clijsters, now just a few weeks from giving birth to her second child, wasn’t able to be with Flipkens at Wimbledon but tweeted that seeing her friend and compatriot do so well reduced her to floods of tears.

And Flipkens stressed her gratitude for Clijsters’ continued support after the Flemish Tennis Association pulled the plug on her funding shortly after last year’s trauma and the subsequent drop in the rankings to outside the top 250, forcing her to find a new sponsor and a new coach.

In between her obligations as a wife and a mother, Clijsters, took over part‑time coaching duties and Flipkens said: “She’s been there for me through the good and bad times. I have to thank Kim for being one of the people last year still believing in me. I could count them on one hand but I’m so, so happy now you cannot imagine.

“When everything is going well, everyone’s your friend. But in hard times you learn who your friends are. But I knew I could fight back and prove them all wrong.”

A year ago Flipkens could not even get into Wimbledon’s qualifying rounds but she has no doubts what has kept her going besides the support of Clijsters. “The love for the sport,” she said. “I think I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs throughout my career. I’ve had so many injuries.

“Even after the juniors – I was a world champion junior, then the year after I had a really bad back injury. All the doctors said my career would be over normally. But I’m just the kind of person that doesn’t like to break, and I just keep on fighting back every time.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Belgium tennis news, Flipkens blood clots, Kim Clijsters, Kirsten Flipkens, Petra Kvitova, Wimbledon tennis news

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10sBalls_com says:

July 3, 2013 at 9:45 am

Kirsten Flipkens Knows The Realities Of Life – http://t.co/0hoI7ZfvUU @FlipperKF @Wimbledon @BleacherReport #tennis
superslamtennis says:

July 3, 2013 at 9:51 am

RT @10sBalls_com: Kirsten Flipkens Knows The Realities Of Life – http://t.co/0hoI7ZfvUU @FlipperKF @Wimbledon @BleacherReport #tennis