Clijsters defeats Sprem in Fed Cup meeting

By Etienne Stekelenburg
April 25 2004

(Bree, Belgium) Kim Clijsters, the Leading Lady of the Belgian Fed Cup team, did what she had to do for her nation. The Croatian rising star Karolina Sprem could not take advantage of Clijsters’ wrist injury and lost 6-1 6-3.

The Belgian Fed Cup team is one victory away from moving on to the next round of the competition.

“Kim just played great, she didn’t make any mistakes, she has a great forehand”, Karolina Sprem said about her opponent.

“I am tired and I want to go home, I just came from America and I need to prepare for Berlin and the French Open”, she said about the way she is feeling at the moment. “I was nervous just one or two games but I was feeling good in the match”.

“Being 3-1 up in the second set doesn’t mean anything when you play against top players like Kim or Serena. But Kim was better today then when I played Serena. She made more mistakes, Kim was just too good today”.

Kim Clijsters said that she played better than yesterday. “I was more consistent than yesterday and I could keep her under pressure. I made fewer errors as well.”

“Yesterdays match also helped to get my rhythm back. I had no injury problems I only hit the backhand with my body more than using my wrist. I did a lot of running, biking and swimming in Miami, I am physically 100 %.”

“I just have to take my time to prepare for Roland Garros, Fed Cup is no Roland Garros. It's more matches to play and playing against top ten players is different. I had not expected to be on this level so soon. She (Sprem) gave me the opportunities to get into my game.”

Clijsters also said that she just doesn’t want to do too much of work.” I am not going to use the backhand if I don’t have to. With the ankle injury I could do nothing but now I can prepare myself to be top fit for the French Open.”

The No.2 of the ranking said that some blame the WTA tour schedule when injuries are keeping players from competing. “You have to listen to your body, You can take your own decisions about whether to play or not. You have to take your rest when needed, but the pressure not to lose too many points is also great. When you are young you play as many tournaments as you can but when you get older you have to play less to prevent injuries.”

"I altered my backhand to play with the brace, I rather play without it because it is quite irritating for the wrist bone and muscles”.