Elke Clijsters biography
Date of birth : 1985-01-18
Date of death : -
Birthplace : Bilzen, Bree, Belgium
Nationality : Belgian
Category : Sports
Last modified : 2011-06-09
Credited as : Professional Tennis player, WTA tour, Kim Clijsters
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Elke Clijsters is from a sporting family: her elder sister Kim Clijsters (b. 1983) is an international tennis star, and her father Lei won the 1988 Gouden Schoen (Golden Boot) as Belgium's top soccer player. Elke Clijsters was once considered a rising star on the junior tennis circuit: in 2002 she won junior doubles championships at Wimbledon (with Barbora Strycova) and the U.S. Open (with Kirsten Flipkens). Not long into her career, however, she was sidelined with a back injury. She retired from professional play in 2004 and teaches tennis in Belgium.
Elke won the girls' U.S. Open doubles title in 2002 and reached a highest ranking of 389 on 15 September 2003. She played in the Belgium Fed Cup team in 2002, 2003 and 2004, losing all four matches, of which one was a singles match. In 2004, she reached the finals of two ITF singles tournaments, winning the one in Bournemouth. In the same year, she also reached the finals of two ITF doubles tournaments, of which she won one. She retired in 2004 due to a persistent back injury.
She married Standard Liège footballer Jelle Van Damme on 31 May 2008 in Bree. They had their first child in 2009, a boy. They gave birth to their second baby, a girl in November 2010.
