Clijsters has been a popular figure Down Under since she was engaged to local hero Lleyton Hewitt in the early 2000s. Since then, Hewitt’s world ranking may have fallen away, but Clijsters’ broad smile and sense of humour have continued to endear her to the Australian public.
After this final, Na ruefully commented that “it was a Belgian crowd tonight.” Clijsters needed all the cheers she could get after a challenging first set, in which Na outpunched her from the back of the court. Pounding her forehand into the corners of the court, the underdog broke serve three times in the first set. It appeared then that China might soon be celebrating a grand slam singles champion for the first time.
But Clijsters responded with a similar change of tactics to the one Andy Murray had come up with against David Ferrer on Friday night. “I tried to mix it up a little bit,” she said afterwards. “Put some slices in, also hit a few higher shots that drew her make some unforced errors.”
Soon Na began to look harried and distracted: she ranted angrily to her husband and coach, the poker-faced Jiang Shan, and then became involved in a debate with the umpire over whether she was receiving advice from her box.
“I saw her get a little bit aggravated,” Clijsters said, “and I just tried to hang in there.” Na then proceeded to rail about everything from the crowd noise to the court-side photographers.
Her state of agitation contrasted with the focus she had shown against Caroline Wozniacki, the world No 1, in the semi-final. But it did seem that, as soon as Na moved within one set of a grand slam title, her racket arm began to cramp up.
This has been the story of women’s tennis for the past three years. The trophies continue to pile up in the same cupboards — usually those belonging to Clijsters and Serena Williams — while a procession of emerging challengers have lacked the nerve to dislodge one of the big names that they grew up watching on TV.
Clijsters wound up as a 3-6 6-3 6-3 winner, her grip over the match tightening as it went on. As she admitted afterwards, she had never expected to have such swift success after reversing her retirement and returning to the game in 2009. Yet her two years away, which she spent raising baby Jada with husband Brian Lynch, seem to have added an extra ounce of steel to what was already a winner’s mentality.
Clijsters was once accused of choking at crucial moments, having lost her first four Grand Slam finals. Yet this claim has now been wiped away by three major titles in as many seasons: two US Opens and now this first success outside New York.
The question now is how long she will go on for. “I do think this is probably my last full season,” she said. “But I would also like to try and keep going until the Olympics, because I’ve never played n the Olympic Games.” The same ambition is at the top of Roger Federer’s to-do list.
Raising a family while maintaining a professional tennis career is a difficult double-act to pull off, but Clijsters takes two-year-old Jada to all her European tour commitments, even if short trips to different time-zones are too much of an ask.
The retro styling of Clijsters dress was a reference to that other great maternal champion, Australia’s Evonne Goolagang Cawley, whose record of winning two major titles as a mother she has now eclipsed. And there was another traditional touch to this story, as this was the first grand slam final between two married women for 30 years. The last one also involved Goolagang Cawley, who beat Chris Evert at Wimbledon in 1980.
Na’s husband has had an entertaining walk-on role in this tournament, mainly as the butt of her jokes. After beating Wozniacki, Na claimed that his snoring had kept her awake, and threatened to make him sleep in the bathroom instead.
This time, the ever-entertaining Na signed off with an unusual romantic message. “It doesn’t matter whether you are fat or skinny, handsome or ugly, I will always love you.” And they say there are no characters in tennis.
