Iga Swiatek, Serena Williams: Kim Clijsters builds the ‘perfect’ tennis player

Kim Clijsters has put together her ‘perfect tennis player’, which consists of components from a number of iconic stars. 

The four-time Grand Slam champion joined the US Open tennis podcast, where she was asked to build her perfect tennis star. 

Clijsters referenced a number of players, both past and present, including Serena Williams, Iga Swiatek and Ashleigh Barty. 

Starting with the serve, Clijsters was quick to name Williams as her choice.

“Serena’s”, she stressed. 

Next up, the former world number one acknowledged her own ability and said she’d take her return game above anyone else’s. 

“Maybe I’ll take mine. That’s maybe the one. I just trusted my instinct of reading my opponent’s serve, which is something I felt very comfortable with. So let me just keep that confidence in that shot.”

Clijsters also stressed that the now retired Barty came close to being the perfect tennis player, but that it was Steffi Graf’s forehand that she’d choose ahead of the rest.

Graf won 22 majors during her illustrious career and was renowned for her run-around forehand. 

“I mean Ashleigh Barty, to me, comes close to the perfect tennis player. Let me just go back a generation and I’m going to go with Steffi’s forehand because, in my childhood, that was the shot that I wanted to hit. I wanted to have the footwork to run around. So I’m going to use Steffi’s forehand.”

For volleys, Clijsters’ had no doubts about picking the great Martina Navratilova. The 65-year-old won a staggering 31 Grand Slam doubles titles over the course of her career and was outstanding at the net. 

“I played legends and I played doubles against Navratilova,” she said. I mean, she was already older when I played her and was still incredible. I will pick Martina’s