Clijsters hails Henin decision to play again

KIM CLIJSTERS has welcomed Justine Henin’s decision to join her in coming out of retirement and returning to the WTA Tour.

Henin, 27, will make her comeback in January and will be looking to add to her seven grand slam titles.

She topped the world rankings when she suddenly retired in May 2008 and Clijsters believes her fellow Belgian’s comeback will benefit the women’s game.

Clijsters hailed the return of compatriot Justine Henin to professional tennis as “brilliant”.

“I think that Justine’s comeback is good news for women’s tennis but even better news for Belgium in general,” Clijsters said yesterday.

“Justine worked really hard in the past to achieve great results that she recorded in her first career. For tennis it is brilliant that she’s back.”

Clijsters and Henin were both ranked world number ones before they shocked the tennis world and Belgium when they quit the sport within a year of each other.

Henin, who announced her retirement 16 months ago, is expected to make her comeback at the start of the 2010 season in Australia.

The former world number one said she was full of admiration for Clijsters, who came out of a two-year break last month and won the US Open 10 days ago.

Henin added that completing her grand slam collection by winning an elusive Wimbledon title was one of the reasons behind her comeback.

“It (Wimbledon) is a dream of mine. I want to work to get it. I make it a priority,” the seven-times grand slam champion said.

Just 16 months away from tennis was enough for Henin. She’ll return in January ahead of the Australian Open, complete with a new serve. Henin’s goal is to achieve 70% success on her first serves. That improvement, along with her daunting whip backhand, will have opponents scrambling.

“We said that perhaps, one day, we will get there,” Henin said. “I am not (tall), so technically it has to be perfect.”

At 5 feet, 6 inches, accuracy and consistency on her first serve had been a problem.

With more than three months before her first competitive match, she has time to retool her serve and improve delivery.

“Justine is convinced we can reconstruct her serve,” coach Carlos Rodriguez said. “We have time.”