U.S. teen enjoys experience in loss to Clijsters
NEW YORK — After what could have been the last match of Kim Clijsters’ career — and, instead, might one day be remembered as the first significant match of Victoria Duval’s — the two players posed in the locker room for a photo.
No, it wasn’t the 16-year-old Duval who requested the picture.
It was the 29-year-old Clijsters who wanted a snapshot.
“I thought that was so nice, because I was the one that should be begging her for a picture,” Duval said, giggling all the while. “She’s definitely my idol.”
There are, it’s fair to say, plenty of other up-and-coming tennis players who feel that way about Clijsters, who extended her U.S. Open winning streak to 22 matches by beating wild-card recipient Duval 6-3, 6-1 on Monday night in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Clijsters has left Flushing Meadows as the champion each of the last three times she entered the field — in 2005, 2009 and 2010. She missed the hard-court Grand Slam tournament in 2011 because of an injured stomach muscle. That’s only one in a long line of ailments that have dogged Clijsters throughout her playing days, which she says will come to an end after the U.S. Open, no matter how well she fares.
“It was a special occasion. ... I was nervous, maybe almost as much as she was,” Clijsters said of facing Duval, who is ranked 562nd and was making her tour-level main-draw debut after winning the under-18 U.S. national championship.
“I’m happy that I’m still here,” Clijsters added, “and still winning some matches.”
It’s not clear how much longer some other members of her generation will keep playing and winning — players such as seven-time major champion Venus Williams, who is 32, and 2003 U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick, who turns 30 this week. Both were scheduled to be in first-round action on Tuesday, along with Williams’ younger sister, 14-time major champion Serena, and defending champion Novak Djokovic.
