Meeting a Champion

Choosing a title for this post was tough; I wasn’t sure whether “Champion” or “Hero” was more appropriate, I thought perhaps “Supermom” would be an appropriate title too (given an article my brother Pete recently shared). “Always Bring Your Camera!” also came to mind, and any of these would have been equally appropriate. A picture here is worth more than a thousand words:

If you’re not familiar with tennis, that’s Kim Clijsters, currently ranked #2 on the women’s tour, and the defending U.S. Open and Australian Open champion. She’s in town for the Rogers Cup, which started today (Saturday) and wraps up this coming Sunday. Today was just the qualifiers, so entrance to the grounds was free, and with the kids getting bored late in the day we decided to head out. On arriving, we were hesitant – everyone else was leaving, and the bus driver said he thought the last match was probably over or almost over. We pressed on anyways and in one of the back courts, Kim Clijsters was practicing for an upcoming game. After finishing her practice session, she graciously and generously spent some time with the fans that had discovered her presence, signing autographs and taking pictures.

To me, this isn’t just a photo with a famous person; Kim is my favorite player in all of tennis. A part of this is how well she plays; her trademark sliding split returns are just amazing, even though I think even she herself described them as something she should be trying to avoid. But the much bigger part is her attitude and character. At a previous Rogers Cup event I attended – I believe in 2005, but my poor memory is a big part for writing this blog – she was playing on center court, and the linesman made a poor call in her favor. This happens all the time, and gave us some of the defining moments in John McEnroe’s career. Kim recognized that the call was in error, and gave her opponent the point – in a tier 1 tournament with a $2 million prize pool. I’ve never seen someone with that much class despite the fierceness of competition at top levels; that move earned her my lasting respect.

As if this wasn’t enough, her return in 2009 after retiring in 2007 to have a child is inspirational to any parent (and probably to most non-parents too). From a wildcard spot, she won the U.S. Open that same year (the first mom to do so since 1973), and has taken two grand slams since then. My brother recently posted a link to “Killing Off Supermom“, which debunks – generally correctly – the notion of great mom’s that have everything under control. But I think we’d all agree, letting your 18-month old daughter hoist the U.S. Open trophy with you is pretty darned “super”.

Despite all this success, Kim is as personable as ever. As she made her way off court above, security personnel tried to ensure that she didn’t get mobbed by fans, and – doing their jobs – they tried to shoo people away. She intervened and insisted on posing with us and others, even though she’d already signed autographs and taken pictures with several other groups earlier. That’s just amazing, and it’s why she’ll be my favorite regardless of how she does in this or any other tournament.

I really owe Wen who took the above shot and wish he could have joined us in the picture too (at least we did get Linxi in there!). I also wish I had been lugging one of the DSLRs around, but fortunately the above shot from the Canon S90 still captures things fairly well! Finally, given that I’ve ranted about Rogers broadband speeds in the past, I do have to be grateful that they continue to be the title sponsor of the Rogers Cup, and in doing so, bring people like Kim Clijsters to town – today, I definitely owe them one!