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Kim Clijsters opened up about a panic attack she experienced while practicing for the 2021 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
Clijsters marked her second tennis comeback in 2020 after over seven years of retirement. However, after appearances at that year's Dubai Tennis Championships and Monterrey Open, her return came to an abrupt halt as the COVID-19 pandemic saw tournaments from March to July 2020 canceled.
The Belgian's season was eventually cut short after her first-round exit at the 2020 US Open, as she underwent knee surgery. In January 2021, the former WTA World No. 1 contracted COVID-19, and her next outing came at the Chicago Fall Tennis Classic.
In October 2021, Clijsters featured in the postponed Indian Wells Masters, where she lost to Katerina Siniakova in the first round. It ultimately proved to be the four-time Grand Slam winner's penultimate tournament. As COVID-19 continued to wreak havoc on tennis worldwide, Clijsters decided to call time on her illustrious career in April 2022.
The 40-year-old recently featured as a special guest on an episode of the Served With Andy Roddick podcast. During the episode, Clijsters told Andy Roddick that she experienced a panic attack for the first time during her preparations for the 2021 BNP Paribas Open.
"I remember hitting with Kiki Bertens and Ajla Tomljanovic and I had such good practices, be it practice sets, be it beating girls in practice, but I just wanted to kind of prove it in a match. And during one of the practices I just started like, yeah, really I had a panic attack on the tennis court," Clijsters said (1:37:07).
The former World No. 1 went on to talk about how she felt like a 'drama queen'.
"For a second, I felt like I was being a drama queen," Clijsters added.
The four-time Grand Slam winner also revealed the distraction she used to put an end to the panic attack when nothing else seemed to be working.
"My trainer was like 'Just lay down, put your legs up', and that, like, me calming down, or that wasn't working at all. So I was like, to my tennis coach, 'Go stand at the net and hit towards me'. So I had the rhythm and the sound of the ball, and my breathing rhythm came back."
Kim Clijsters won the BNP Paribas Open twice and finished as runner-up once
Clijsters won the BNP Paribas Open women's singles title twice; in 2003 and 2005. The 2003 edition, known as the WTA 1000 tournament saw the Belgian triumph over Lindsay Davenport in the final following a 6-4, 7-5 win.
The 2005 final was a rematch of the 2003 final, with Clijsters beating Davenport yet again. However, this time around, it was a much tighter affair, but ultimately, the Clijsters prevailed 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
Clijsters finished as runner-up in 2001 after losing to Serena Williams 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the final.
